First-Time Home Sellers’ Remorse

If you sold your home in the past year or two, you probably made a killing. You had first time home sellers aren't happy with their results.

Hi, I'm Rob West. You've heard of buyer's remorse. Now it seems first time home sellers have remorse about how their transaction went down. I'll talk about it today, and then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Okay, some interesting results from a new survey by Zillow. If you can believe it, 84% of first time home sellers said they would like a do-over on the timing, pricing, or marketing of their sales. A full 90% of the 2,000 first time home sellers surveyed think they could have sold for more money if they'd done things differently. The top four regrets were not pricing the home competitively, not paying attention to curb appeal, trying to time the market, and not doing needed repairs. Let's go over these in case you're planning to put your home on the market this spring, whether you're a first time home seller or not.

Okay, so first is not pricing competitively. You'd think that most sellers would regret pricing their house too low, but pricing too high always causes problems. According to Zillow, a house that's listed at a competitive price will usually sell within 31 days. If your list price is too high, the house will linger on the market for a median of 73 days. That'll cost you money if you have to buy a new house that's increased in value. You could also lose out on getting your dream house if you've picked one out. To avoid this, you have to check out what comparable homes have sold for in the last six months in your neighborhood, and your selling agent will usually do that for you. It's a good idea to listen to your agent's advice on pricing your home, even if you think it's worth more. The second regret was not paying attention to curb appeal.

They say you rarely get a second chance to make a first impression. You're likely to get a positive return on money spent to spruce up the front of the house. Invest in things like landscaping, including new flowers and shrubs, or trimming shrubs below the bottom of windows. You want your house to be seen, not hidden behind overgrown greenery. A fresh coat of paint, at least to the front of the house, will probably cost more, but again, it'll make a great first impression. And with so many buyers now looking at homes online, curb appeal extends inside the house as well. If your agent is taking pictures for an online listing, and most do now, you want the house to look clean, tidy, and uncluttered. Zillow says that listings on their site get more saves and views if they have virtual three-dimensional home tours with interactive floor plans.

Some sellers are now investing in professional and even drone photography to show off their homes. That means that staging is more important than ever, and less is more when it comes to staging furniture. Rooms should only have appropriate items. For example, a bedroom would have a bed, a dresser, small end tables, and maybe a trunk or a seat at the foot of the bed.

The less furniture, the larger the rooms appear. The next regret mentioned by first-time home sellers was trying to time the market. It doesn't work with stocks, and apparently not with houses either.

About a quarter of those surveyed said they mistimed the market. Many sold their home and then rented for six months or a year, waiting for home prices to come down before buying their second home. That has happened in some areas, but certainly not all, and in the meantime, mortgage interest rates went up significantly.

So those folks were not only out the rent money, they're now paying more in interest with a new mortgage. Another note about timing, you certainly don't want to sell your primary residence if you haven't lived there for at least two years. Otherwise, you'll be subject to capital gains tax.

The last major regret was not making necessary repairs, and these weren't major projects like a new kitchen or roof, which usually don't pay off at the closing table. According to Zillow, smaller ticket items like interior painting, carpet cleaning, and landscaping will usually pay for themselves. Now, I want to mention something about real estate agents. It's true that you can eliminate a six or seven percent commission by selling your home yourself.

That's if you list the house at the appropriate price and successfully navigate through all the potential snags that can happen when you sell a house. But you very often get your money's worth and possibly more by having a knowledgeable agent who knows your market. Proverb 1616 reads how much better to get wisdom than gold.

To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver. All right, your calls are next. The number, 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. Much more to come just around the corner. Stick around. Well, I'm so thankful to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West. We've got a few lines open today here during the Holy Week. We'd love to hear from you with your financial questions or maybe a testimony of God's faithfulness in your financial life. 800-525-7000 is the number to call. Again, 800-525-7000. Let's head to the phones to Cedar Lake, Illinois.

Excuse me, Indiana. Hi, Bob. Thanks for calling. Go ahead. Hi, Rob.

Thank you for taking my call and your ministry. Just had a couple questions here. We are thinking about going with a certain firm to invest our money with, and we looked at FINRA. What is the difference between broker or brokerage and an investment advisor? We know they're both, we think, fiduciaries, but can you please explain both and their differences?

Yeah, I'd be happy to. And one is likely not a fiduciary, and that's the broker, in a sense. They operate by a different set of rules. And so a broker is basically somebody who facilitates a transaction that you want carried out if that's the type of professional you're looking at. On the other hand, an investment advisor, which would be registered generally with the Securities and Exchange Commission, if they're smaller, they may be registered with their state, but they're taking discretion over the account and making those buy and sell decisions for you based on your goals and objectives.

They have to know their client, so they have to get to know you. And as a fiduciary, they're required by law to put your interests above their own, which is obviously preferable. So we recommend the Certified Kingdom Advisor designation. This is a designation that means that they've met high standards and character and competence and experience. They've been trained and given evidence through a proctored exam to delivering biblically wise financial advice at a professional level. But underneath CKA, in terms of those advisors who earn CKA, they could be both an advisor offering more like a traditional broker, or they might be an investment advisor, what's often called a registered investment advisor, and that would be the fiduciary. That would be my preference for you, Bob, is to have somebody who is an investment advisor, assuming you're looking to delegate this responsibility to the advisor to act on your behalf. But given that fiduciary requirement, they do have to act in your best interest. Okay.

All right. So at this point, you'd say lean toward the investment advisor. We just thought the broker thing from what we're kind of looking and reading on, there could possibly, I don't want to say be a conflict of interest sometimes, but you want to mean it's the investment advisor would be definitely working, you know, toward your, your goals and, and, you know, that's right. I think that's okay. Oh, yeah, they have a fiduciary responsibility to do so. And that's where that it becomes pretty important. So I think you're exactly right.

That's probably what you're looking for. Bob, thanks for your kind remarks about the program, sir. And we can help with anything further. Give us a call back to Florida. We go. Hi, Scott. Thanks for calling. Go ahead. Hey, Rob. Thanks for taking my call. I appreciate it. Sure.

Yeah. My question is my folks have a piece of property on along the beach in Florida. And they've been talking for many years about leaving that to my brother and I in their will. But just recently they're talking about wanting to transfer that property to us in something like a quick claim deed. And I think probably it's to be getting out from under some of the expenses of maintenance, insurance taxes on that property.

And I just was wondering, what are the benefits or drawbacks to either one of those positions? Yeah, well, there is a significant drawback to them transferring it to one or both of you through a quick claim deed, even though it is very simple to do as long as you have the documents set up properly and then filed with the county deeds office. But there is this major drawback with regard to the capital gains tax. So if you receive it through a quick claim deed, you would preserve their original cost basis from when they bought it. So if you then turn around and sell it, your selling price minus their cost basis, that profit would be taxable as a long term capital gain versus you or your brother or both of you receiving it through an inheritance. You enjoy what's called a stepped up basis so that cost basis on the property is stepped up to the date of death. And then if it was turned around and sold at that point, there would be no capital gains because it had been stepped up to the market value as of the date of death. So that's one major drawback.

I guess the work around on that would be if you all are intending to take over the responsibility, the financial responsibility of the property because maybe they're unable to do so based on their financial position prior to death, you could essentially make those gifts to them knowing that someday you're going to get this property, assuming they don't change the will, and then they could turn around and make those payments and then you receive the property someday once they pass away and you then enjoy that favorable tax treatment. Does that make sense? Yeah, it makes perfect sense. Yes. Thank you, Rob. Yeah.

Okay. Very good, Scott. Thanks for checking in with us.

God bless you, sir. 800-525-7000. We've got a few lines open today.

We'd love to hear from you with your financial questions. Let's head to Ohio. Hey, Betsy. Thanks for calling.

Go ahead, Rob. Yes, ma'am. Oh, gosh. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

It's a pleasure to talk to you, Rob. I live. I live in a highly desirable community in northeast Ohio in a small home.

Pardon me. My home was not even on the market. I received a phone call from a real estate agent telling me that a buyer was interested in not building a larger home.

That's okay. He gave me what the offer was. The offer was well above what I really would have expected, and I said write the deal up because I'm 67.

I was thinking of selling the home anyway. He wrote it up, you know, whatever. I'm happy to tell you. Tell me what numbers you want. I'm happy to tell you everything so that you know. Yeah, at this point I don't need to know that. Go ahead with the rest of your dilemma.

Okay. Sold the home, but I'm still in the home until May 8th. I began looking for a small house, I mean really small, maybe a thousand twelve hundred square feet to rent, and I am in shock by the cost. They are one to one and a half times what I was paying, and I was still paying a mortgage here. Had to pay my house off. Really, I should have done this before moving, but it's too late now.

I'm very worried, Rob. Well, I certainly understand that we're in this really unusual market right now where this is the case in many cities across the country where rent prices are higher than the prices to purchase. Now, that has changed a bit just because of the rise in interest rates, which has made home affordability, you know, it's taken it down just because the cost of the debt is now so much more expensive. You know, at six percent that mortgage is quite a bit different than a mortgage at three and a quarter where it was a year ago, but nevertheless because of the shortage of homes, the lack of inventory, you know, many folks are getting premiums not only for the sale like you enjoyed on this home sale, but then for the rental prices it's driving that market up and we haven't dealt with it despite the softening in the economy, the higher interest rates.

We've moved from a raging seller's market to more of a buyer's market, but prices aren't coming down and they're still paying in many cases premiums above asking. So let's do this. I've got to take a quick break, Betsy, but I'd love to talk this through with you in terms of where you go from here. So you don't mind, you stay right there and we'll be right back on Faith and Finance Live. Stay with us. So thankful to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West.

We've got some lines open, 800-525-7000. Just before the break, we were talking to Betsy in Ohio. Betsy's got some sticker shock going on. She got a call out of the blue from a realtor wanting to buy her house. That sounds great, right? She sold it well above what she thought would be the market price, so she was thrilled to get a premium on it, only to then turn around and try to go rent something much smaller to be really blown away by where rental prices are right now.

And Betsy, as I was sharing, I'm not surprised by that. What we've seen happen in the housing market with low inventories and has pushed the rental prices up. The median rental price right now in the U.S. as of February last month was $1,937 a month. That's the median rental price. Now, that's down, so we're starting to, well, at least we're seeing the increases begin to slow now in the single digits, but we're still up 20% higher than where we were two years ago on the median rental price in this country, and it's just a function of what's going on in the housing market.

So, where do you go from here? Well, I think the good news is you got quite a bit more than you expected for your house, and so perhaps this is a time for you to look to make another purchase, which I assume you could do with cash. Assuming you're looking for something much smaller, you could buy something hopefully with cash because of the money you got out of the house and then get back into something else. Yes, you're paying top dollar in the sense, but in one respect, the market is quite a bit softer than it was six months ago where people were having bidding wars with 20 and 30 and 40 offers in 24 hours and paying 20 and 30% above asking price.

I think we're still seeing the average home selling at about 97% of the asking price, so you're not going to get a big discount, but if it's priced right, you shouldn't be paying a huge premium and there probably won't be quite as much competition, although over these next few weeks, we're into the big buying season, so you're going to get more and more competition all the time as we head through the month of April. So I think at this point, perhaps you start looking not only for rentals, but what about another purchase? Have you considered that?

I have not considered it, Rob. I got to the point with this home, and this is a small home as is. It's a 63-year-old home, and so things were starting to happen.

I mean, a roof. I mean, big things were starting to happen, and that worried me. I have no desire to own again. I really rather not, and I'm in transition, so meaning I need some downtime now to think, and that's why I didn't want to buy. So what falls into that too is I had a 3.25 percent on this house, and it would kill me. I just can't bring myself to do it, Rob, and I just don't want to.

Can we kind of take that off the table and perhaps make some other suggestions for me? Yeah, well, I think the next step then is to look for maybe a six-month lease or something like that because maybe look for a year because, you know, all indications are we're headed toward a recession. That's going to cause this housing market to continue to soften, which is going to bring down home prices as well as rental prices, and then there's going to be a point probably later this year or more likely early next year where mortgage rates are going to start to fall because interest rates are going to start coming down as the Fed gets to the end of this cycle. We're into a recession, and they're going to have to back off the gas pedal in terms of raising interest rates, and that may create an environment for you, Betsy, where you can be grateful that you got what you could believe to be a premium above what you should have, you know, on your existing home. You were delighted in what you received. You were, with an older home, entering perhaps a period where you would have had quite a bit of expense to maintain it.

We can be grateful that you're now out from under that. That's somebody else's responsibility, and you get into a 12-month lease with something you can afford, and then, you know, you go from there and look to buy something, you know, maybe when the environment is a little bit more favorable. So you could look at that option.

You could also look at a senior living community rental where, you know, in some cases those are even subsidized if that was of interest to you. But I think, you know, if you're focused on a rental, let's just ask the Lord to give you some, you know, wisdom here and allow you to find just the right thing, and be grateful for the things you got, which is out from under the expense of maintaining it, and you really got what you believed to be a really fair, if not even more than fair, purchase price on that sale of your existing home. I did. Rob, I want to ask you about the two debts I have with respect to paying them, because I know what I have in the house proceeds. I've already paid the house, you know, I owed on the house.

I already took that out of it. It was a chunk. And I have two credit cards. I feel like I want to say this to you. I was the queen of paying every bill off at the end of the month. Then came the lockdown. Then came my business failure. Then whatever I was spending was going on to my credit card. So I have a credit card that has $21,000 on it because I have such great credit. I have an excellent credit. Well, I have a superb credit score and a high credit limit, but that's not the point.

I'm not even accustomed to carrying a balance. Would you recommend I pay that off now and in full, the $21,000? What were the proceeds from the house?

So the proceeds, when all was said and done, it was only $187,000. That's what I have left. Okay, yeah. And if you pay off this credit card debt, are you in a position to live within your means just based on the income that you have? I have Social Security only right now and my business has not come back, but with some time to think and so forth and so on. I mean, I am 67. I would not want to work anymore, but I realize I will have to work. I get that.

Sure. But with the rental prices, you think you're going to have to pay, but let's say this credit card debt is gone. Do you think you could structure your budget to live just on Social Security or are you going to need something beyond that? No, I'll need beyond and I do have IRA accounts beyond, but are they enough? Yeah, well, I think I'd go ahead and pay that off.

I mean, I'd rather you not carry that 21,000, especially with these interest rates where they are right now. I'm going to have to take a break. Betsy, thanks for your call today.

God bless you and we'll be right back. So you're having trouble staying on budget. You just keep going right past the limit there in some of those budget categories. Maybe it's eating out.

Maybe it's entertainment. Well, having a spending plan and a way to control the flow of money in and out is really critical to living within your means, which is the key to every financial success. So check out the FaithFi app. If you'd like some help with that, you can find it on our website, faithfi.com. That's faithfi.com. Just click app.

You can use the tried and true envelope system in a modern digital expression to connect to your accounts, set up your budget and stay on track during the month. Again, faithfi.com. Just click app. All right. Let's head back to the phones to Chicago. We go. Hi, Elizabeth.

Go right ahead. Hi. Hi there. Hello.

Yes. Oh, hi. Um, I am calling my husband passed away last week.

I am finding credit cards that were in just his name or his name and his business's name, which he owns the business. Now I'm the partner, um, with data. And, um, I responsible for that as well as for some of the hospital bills that we have incurred that is again under his name. Yeah. I'm so sorry, Elizabeth, to hear that.

Um, yeah. So your husband's estate is responsible for paying off personal credit card debt that's solely in his name. If you didn't sign for the card, even if you're an authorized user, technically you're not responsible for paying for it, although you may want to, uh, if the estate doesn't have the funds to pay off the cards, the issuers take the loss. As for the business, if it was the sole proprietorship and you don't intend to keep it going, I mean it could be sold or liquidated. What is your plan with regard to your now business interest in his business? He owned by two other partners. So there were three partners, my husband and two others. So I am now the partner. Okay. Would there be a desire on their part to buy you out?

They don't have the funds to do that, unfortunately. Um, so yeah, you know, I mean our estate is, is everything's gone to me, but then I'm the estate, correct? Sure. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, so you'd want to check with the, um, may assume he had a valid will and this is going to go through the probate court. So you're going to want to, uh, you know, normally any assets that were his, uh, would be available to settle any debts that he had prior to it coming to you. And the, uh, are you the executor on the estate? Yes, the executor.

And then everything basically went to me. So yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

So, so typically that would be paid off prior to everything coming to you or out of the proceeds of those funds. So I would just, have you been in contact with the probate court? What is the status of this?

I realize it's still fairly new. No, I haven't got it. I mean, he passed last week and I've called the credit card companies to, you know, stop the credit, um, being used if anybody would use it. I doubt that, but, um, also to hopefully not get any finance charges on, you know, balances that haven't been paid. Yes. Um, and the hospital bills, I'm assuming then would need to be paid as well.

Yeah. Typically that would come out of the estate as a part of the settling of the estate. And I realize it's, it's fairly simple in that everything's passing to you as the spouse, but typically that would be settled as a part of that and those bills would be paid. So you're going to want to just work as you work through the probate court to settle all of this.

Just get some counsel. If you have some questions, you could check with the attorney that drafted the will. Do you have a relationship with an estate attorney that perhaps set this up?

Yes, I do. I'd probably make that call and just have that person walk you through the steps on this Elizabeth, just so you know what to pay and when and kind of how to handle this from here. How are you doing in terms of the financial side of this and, and you know, having the income you need to cover your bills? Um, yeah, he was the breadwinner. I did not, um, work and make much.

This is a small bit, um, to cover things. We own a house that his parents rent from us, but he promised to not raise their rents. I mean, they're paying the same thing they've paid for 12 years. And so I need to look into other family members to help with that, um, because I don't have his income now to cover it.

And the parents aren't even aware of us covering it for them. Okay. Oh yeah. Yeah, that's challenging.

Uh, would it be helpful to have one of our coaches, you know, walk alongside you, Elizabeth, just to try to help you get things in order and get your budget set up and just kind of help have a sounding board as you try to put all this together? Yeah, I mean, sure. I am, you know, I've never gone through this before.

I understand a lot overwhelming with the lab emotion and, and then to find these other cars. I'm like, oh, I didn't even know you were using me to pay some of the medical bills. And now I found out today and I'm like, oh gosh. Oh, I'm so sorry. Yeah, that's a lot.

I mean, so we're just going to ask the Lord to be near to you and help give you wisdom here. What I'm going to do is have my team get your information and there's not going to be any cost to any of this, but we'll have somebody just kind of help you pull all the pieces together and just be a sounding board as you try to collect all the pieces and parts, get an accurate record of where, you know, what are your assets and liabilities? What does your budget look like? You know, how do you deal with the expenses that you have?

How do we right size that to the income? Obviously, there's going to have to be some hard conversations with family and, you know, just with regard to this home that your parents or his parents are in and, you know, just all of that. So it's a lot, but you can do this and the Lord is with you and we're just going to, we're going to walk alongside you and try to help in any way we can here, Elizabeth. So let me pray for you. Father, we just, we know you're near to the brokenhearted and Lord, we're just so thankful for the hope of heaven. And we just ask that you give Elizabeth wisdom.

You'd give her strength that the Holy Spirit would just depend, descend upon her and bring the peace that passes all understanding that you'd help her navigate these conversations with family members and with in-laws and just all that comes with this difficult season. And yet Lord, we just tell you today, we trust you and we know you are there in the midst of this. Thank you that you are our provider and sustainer. And we just ask all of this in the matchless name of Jesus.

Amen. Well, Elizabeth, thank you for calling. Again, I'm so very sorry for your loss and we will try to help in any way we can and try to walk alongside you. So you stay on the line and we'll get somebody in touch with you very soon. God bless you.

So difficult. All right, to Tennessee we go. Hi, Don. Thank you for calling, sir. Go ahead. Hi, Rob. Good to talk to you. You too.

Go right ahead. Yes, I'm 73 years old. I live alone and my home is paid for. I have no debt. And I've got about $75,000 cash that's just sitting in the bank. And I'm wondering what you might suggest do with that. I've looked into like 12 month CDs and I see where I think Allegiant Credit Union is paying like 5%. Ally Bank is about four and a half percent. So just like Smith Price on what to do with the $75,000 to try to offset some of the inflation.

Yeah, sure, Don. Is this your emergency fund or do you have some money aside from this that's available if you needed it for the unexpected? This is excess cash. I do have an emergency fund. Okay, above and beyond this $75,000? Yes, I've got about $30,000. Okay, good.

Yeah. So if you don't want to take any risk with it, like investing it, then I think a CD would be a great option. There's some great rates out there right now. It's all relative given inflation. But I was just looking today at Marcus at marcus.com.

That's the retail of Goldman Sachs. They've got a 10 month CD at north of 5% right now. So there's some great options.

I'd go to bankrate.com to see the very best rates and terms right now. And you'll find the one that's the best fit for you. I think that's a great option. We'll be right back. Great to have you with us today.

I'm Rob West. This is Faith and Finance Live. Hey, if you're a part of the faith and finance family, that's a lot of F's, and you'd like to support the ministry, you can do that on our website, faithfi.com. That's faithfi.com.

Just click give. We'd certainly be grateful. All right, let's head back to the phones.

To Tennessee we go. Hi, Ellen. Thank you for calling. Go ahead. Thank you for my call.

I learned so much from listening to your show. But my question is I have an 80, sorry, I have an 87 year old father in excellent health. He has a $50,000 CD that is maturing very soon and he's wondering should he let it renew or are there better investment options for him at this time? Yeah, it's a good question. We'd have to define better investment options and that's all dependent upon what he's trying to accomplish. Yes, there are better options in the way of his potential to get more return, but there's always a trade off and that trade off is going to be he would have to take more risk. For instance, if he wanted to put that in a stock and bond portfolio. If he doesn't want to take any risk, then rather than just letting it roll over, I would probably have him look around just to see if he could get a better rate somewhere else and I'd probably stay on a shorter term CD just so he can take advantage of higher rates as they come available. So I'd mentioned to a previous caller, I was just looking at a CD, a 10 month CD earlier today at 5.05%. It's probably going to be a much better rate than he had had previously and he would only have to lock it up for 10 months and then he could look to roll it over again. But if he's looking for more return than even what you can get in the CD today and he's willing to take a little risk, then there could be quote unquote better options out there. But what do you think is the best fit for him at this point, Ellen? Well, he gets Social Security and he has a pretty good pension, so he doesn't need the money and he's in excellent health. So I think probably checking around and finding a shorter term but a good rate will probably be best for him. Yeah, okay. So the one I was looking at was Marcus.com.

I like them a lot. They're low, no fees, they pay pretty much the highest rates across the industry. But the other option he could look at or you could on his behalf was his bankrate.com where you could look for the length of term CD he's wanting and then do a search and it'll show you all the banks with FDIC insurance and rank them according to the strength of the bank but also what their current yield is for a one month or an 18 month or a six month CD, whatever you're looking for.

And then you'd be able to see kind of who has the best rates out there right now and compare that to what he's being offered with his current bank and decide whether or not to make a change. Okay, sounds great. Great advice as usual. Thank you so very much. All right, take care. Let's head to Chicago. Sonia, you're next on the program. Go ahead.

Taking my call. Um, I, I have a living trust. And before the living trust, I had designated individual beneficiaries for my IRAs 401k and pension. And again, then I, I switched it to a living trust, the title on it. Now I'm hearing that that was not the best thing to do because there may be tax problems for the beneficiaries that are in the trust and due to the requirement of the 10 year rule for inherited IRAs.

Hmm. Yeah, I'm not sure why it would be different from a tax standpoint if it's in the trust versus through a beneficiary, but that's a good question. So what I would do, do you normally prepare your taxes or do you have a CPA that does that?

I do not have a CPA. Sometimes I do it myself or sometimes I'll go to some type of organization that would do it for me. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. So, I mean, both of them are going to ensure that the, the assets get to the appropriate person, whether it's through the, the trust and the trustee distributing those assets versus a beneficiary designation. But um, you know, I would check with the CPA just on the tax treatment of that because there's so many, you know, the, the law is constantly changing with regard to, you know, how those IRAs get distributed and over what time period, depending on the age of the person that, that, um, you know, it has passed away and when it was set up and, uh, you know, how long they have to distribute the money, whether they're a spouse or a non-spouse. So I would check with a tax preparer just on the, the pieces and parts of that to determine, you know, which is going to give you the most favorable tax treatment and, and how you should set that up.

I unfortunately can't, wouldn't be able to tell you that just without knowing a lot more information. So I'd probably connect with the CPA, um, and maybe you just pay for a couple of hours of their time for a visit just to kind of walk through everything. You could do the same thing with an estate planning attorney who could help you navigate that as well.

Maybe the person who set up the trust who are, you already have a relationship with, but I'd get some counsel on that just to make sure that you know the very best way to do that and that way you will be well planned. So I'm sorry, I can't give you the final information on that, but I do think you have a great question and I would get some, some counsel on that. We appreciate you checking with us.

Uh, to Ohio. Hey Linda, go right ahead. Hi, thank you again for the call. Um, I'm calling on behalf of my friend. Her 58 year old husband lost his 13 months battle with cancer Sunday and he's in heaven. He has multiple health problems and is housebound.

They have debt and the father, the husband's will was made out a long time ago and the beneficiary is his deceased father. So that eventually will probably work out. But what I would love to know and be able to find out more about for her is I think she would really appreciate it and want a coach that could walk her along the way with some of these huge visions that she has coming.

Um, how would that happen? Yeah, we'd be happy to make someone available to her. So, um, we have a team of certified Christian financial counselors here.

And in fact, in the next couple of months we're going to make those more publicly available. So all of our listeners will be able to go in search and find a certified Christian financial counselor that they could connect with. But in the meantime, I'd be happy to get your information or perhaps you give us her information and we could have one of our coaches connect with her just to see if they can help her sort through all of this and make some decisions on that. Um, so perhaps you could just stay on the line, give us her information and, um, we could get that over to her and we'd be happy to do that just as our gift to her. I would also refer her to a ministry called Widow Connection. Um, it's a, it's a wonderful, um, ministry that, um, has helps a lot of folks in this situation. Miriam Neff and Valerie Neff-Hogan, uh, are just a wonderful mother daughter team that, um, their whole ministry is just serving widows in this situation. Um, and you can find it online at Widow Connection. Uh, I'd encourage you to have her check that out as well.

But if you stay on the line, we'll get your information and we'll get one of the coaches in touch with her. Okay. Thank you so much. Thanks for what you do. All right. Happy to do it. God bless you.

Uh, let's head to Florida. Francis, thank you for calling, sir. Go ahead. Hey Rob, um, I thank you for taking my call.

Um, I've been, I've been talking with the Lord about something and he said, get Rob a call and listen to what it says. Okay. Now the pressure's on, but no problem. You go right ahead.

Well, I'll try to make it quick. Um, in 2015 I built my home and, uh, it was great. 3% interest, uh, $1,200 a month mortgage. And my mother-in-law got sick in about 2021 and we didn't want to put her in a nursing home. So we sold a house and we all moved into an Airbnb.

We were there for a year and mom passed away while we were living there. So last year in August, we found another home. Now the situation is a lot different instead of, you know, now the mortgage is like 2,800 and we're running into some difficulties, but I found out I have an annuity. It only, it's only going to pay me maybe a hundred a month.

Should I pursue that and see if I get the lump sum or do I need to try and maybe sell the home and moving to just trying to figure out what to do because I didn't really realize how hard this was going to hit with this economy and the mortgage was double what it was. Yeah. So did you already buy your next home or are you still living in the Airbnb? No, we, we, we've moved out of the Airbnb and we rented for a year so that we could have room for nurses to come in and take care of her and things like that. Okay. But you haven't purchased the next house. You've just been shopping around.

Is that right? Well, we, we, we, we've signed a mortgage. We moved into a new home last year. Oh, okay. So we're in it, but it's, it's 20, it's really, really high and we were doing finals till about a month ago.

We started running until it's kind of caught up to us. Yeah. Yeah. Now tell me this. I mean, when you, if you really kind of tighten your belt, so to speak on the budget, are you able to make ends meet with the mortgage and all the other expenses?

Yes. If we tighten it up and learn how to boil hot dogs, you know. Yeah, I get it. Well, I think I'd probably sit tight right now just because, I mean the, the cost of the transaction to sell and buy again is going to be high plus mortgage rates aren't any better. So Lord willing, you can, if you can kind of make your way through this, you could refinance maybe in a couple of years when rates are better. That doesn't change the fact that you just kind of got caught in this timing while you're trying to serve your family really well. And I am grateful you did that. And I realized you gave up a really attractive mortgage and the market just turned on you.

And I understand, you know, that just can happen based on the timing. With regard to the annuity, I would get some more information on that and see what the lump sum would be versus the annuitized payment just to see if you'd be better off. I'd, I'd prefer you to get the lump sum unless it just doesn't make sense and you'd be better off to get that annuity stream. You know, it could be that that annuity stream is what helps to close the gap on the, the income that you're short to, you know, balance your budget and have a little bit of margin.

But if it was a fairly attractive, I'd probably get the lump sum just so you could have access to the money if you needed it. Okay. Thank you so much. The Lord told me to call you. Well, I'm glad you did, my friend. I hope that was what the Lord wanted me to tell you.

But we certainly ask him to give us wisdom when we, when we give this advice out. But we appreciate you man. And listen, all the best to you. I know it's not going to be easy, but you got this.

And if we can help along the way, don't hesitate to reach out. Wow. That covered a lot of ground today.

Some hard topics. So grateful the Lord is on the throne and here we are at Holy Week celebrating Good Friday tomorrow and the resurrection on Sunday. Thankful for my team today. Faith and Finance Live is a partnership between Mooney Radio and Faithful. We'll see you next time. Bye-bye.