A SPECIAL PUBLICATION CREATED BY REPUBLIC MEDIA CUSTOM PUBLISHING
WHAT’S INSIDE
PAGe 2
PAGe 3
PAGeS 3 & 10
New-home warranties
Water heaters 101
Ask The expert Customizing Budgeting for property closets
Backed by builders, manufacturers
Unsung hero of your new home
taxes; explaining seer ratings
PAGe 4
Organizing and storage are key
PAGe 5
PAGe 7
Beautiful bathrooms
Developments Trends in of the Month refrigerators
high tech toilets, tubs and more
PAGe 8
PAGe 8
some of the Valley’s french doors, bottom hottest developments freezers — oh my!
PAGe 9
PAGe 10
Home trade-in eastmark Grand Opening program a hit with many buyers
Camelot Homes
June 1st
three generations of homebuilders
FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013 Lk
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What home fits your finances? Important to consider length of mortgage, additional expenses
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BY DOLOReS TROPIANO
e asked some local experts for a few tips on how to save money on your mortgage as well as how to be sure you can afford your monthly mortgage payment. Here’s what they had to say.
15-year vs. 30-year mortgage
One way to save in the long run is via a 15-year mortgage instead of the traditional 30 years. Indeed, Steve Rider, president of the National Builder Trade-In Program and a Keller Williams Realty broker, encourages people to carefully consider the longterm savings of the 15-year mortgage. “People think if they go with a 15- instead of a 30-year loan they will be paying twice as much a month for their mortgage,” Rider explained. “But typically they go down a half-point in their interest rate and are only paying about 35 percent more on their monthly mortgage payment.”
Used wIth perMIssIOn Of sUB-ZerO/wOLf
Buy less not more
Jeremy David Schachter, senior mortgage advisor for Pinnacle Capital Mortgage Corporation in Phoenix, often cautions people to make sure they can afford the additional expenses of owning a home. “Many times when people are considering buying a new home, they are only thinking of the mortgage debt and not the true cost of owning the home,” he said. “This includes maintenance, utilities and home improvements as well as unexpected items such as setting up utilities and unexpected repairs.”
Debt-to-income ratio
The first thing a potential homebuyer should do, before seeing and being seduced by a new home, is determine what loan amount they qualify for. This is usually based on what is called their debt-to-income ratio, a calculation made using an individual’s monthly debt — credit card payments, car loans, existing mortgage payments, etc. — divided by their gross income. Different lenders often have different debt-to-income requirements for potential homeowners but the range tends to be zero to 45 percent. Schachter said that conventional loans backed by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae tend to be more strict about debt-to-income ratios, while government loans such as FHA are geared more for first-time homeowners and may be more relaxed about such ratios.
Keep costs clear
Schachter notes that when people are buying their first home, it is common for them to say ‘I am almost paying the same in rent, I can afford this’. “But you still have to be careful even if you are approved because lenders don’t take into account other bills such as auto insurance, food, maintenance and cell phones,” he said. “So if you take a mortgage out for the maximum amount you qualify for, you could end up being house-rich and cash-poor. It may be better to consider reducing the amount of house you buy or putting more money down.” Resources Buy New Homes Now: buynewbuynowaz.com Pinnacle Capital Mortgage Corporation: pincapmortgage.com The Rider elite Team: azeliteteam.com
Customizing your kitchen
From countertops to cabinetry to cooking and cleaning-up, today’s kitchens are high tech, high touch culinary works of art BY eLISe RILeY
S
ince kitchens have long been at the heart of most homes, it’s no surprise that homebuilders and homebuyers spend so much time focused on perfecting this culinary and cultural space.
“We’ve always paid particular attention to all the rooms in the home but we have seen the focus in the past few years in kitchens,” said Hal Looney, area president of the active lifestyle division of Shea Homes. “And we continue to design kitchens to meet customers’ changing desires.” Islands, breakfast bars, morning rooms and walk-in pantries are just some of the features of modern kitchens. When it comes to designing this central gathering space, there are plenty of decisions to make, from appliances to cabinets and colors. Regardless of whether your style is traditional or modern, one thing’s for sure: today’s kitchen is like a toy store for grownups.
“The cabinets, the colors, the style [of the kitchen] establishes the design and feel for the home.” —hal Looney, area president, active lifestyle division of shea homes
Surfaces and textures
Perhaps more than any other room of a home, colors and textures are central to the design of a kitchen. From countertops and backsplashes to cabinets and flooring, the kitchen is commonly the primary texture palate for a home.
“It’s really paints in the home. a focal point It’s not uncommon to have the base cabinets for the entire home,” Looney be one color and said. “The cabithe upper cabinets nets, the colors, be another color.” Granite continthe style….it ues to be king for establishes the Used wIth perMIssIOn Of GeneraL eLectrIc countertops, but design and feel for the home. budget-conscious Our customers tell us the kitchen is homeowners have plenty of options in the most used room in the home.” solid-surface countertops that also offer There’s no hard-and-fast rule about benefits such as antibacterial coatings. which surface homeowners should Consider adding a backsplash that has select first, but cabinetry is a great complementary colors to the counterplace to start. That’s because the tops — behind the cooktop or range is a kitchen cabinetry selection often will popular location for custom mosaic tiles. get duplicated in other rooms such as When building a new home, be sure bathrooms, dens and game rooms. to consider how textures — cabinetry, Darker-stained cabinets are most popflooring and countertops — combine ular today, and some homeowners are with one another in the kitchen, incorporating two-tone cabinet designs but also in the rest of the home. in their kitchens, with dark stains primarily and antique-white cabinets for Appliances accent areas like islands. “We do many French-door refrigerators: Gone are the homes with two and more colors in the days of narrow fridge-and-freezer comkitchen,” said Bob Grantham, project bos. Today, it’s all about the wide-open manager for Cholla Custom Cabinets. space that French-door fridges offer. “And some of the larger homes may have four, five or six colors of stains and (KITCHENS, continued on page NH8)
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Four new neighborhoods coming to the East Valley
www.TMEastValley.com Taylor Morrison/Arizona, Inc., AZ ROC # 179178B. © April, 2013, TM Homes of Arizona, Inc., AZ DRE # CO535669000. All rights reserved.
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