It’s not just what you qualify for that matters, it’s knowing what you can afford, based on everything you care about, that really counts.

What can I really afford? It seems like such a simple question when you’re buying a house. All too often, this crucial question gets substituted with another: What do I qualify for? It is very important that you not confuse the two questions. Knowing what you can afford, based on your lifestyle ambitions and your long-term financial goals, reduces uncertainty in your decision and enables you to act effectively and with peace of mind.

 

The mortgage industry has been designed to provide loans based on what you qualify for – this has long been the standard practice for how people approach getting mortgages for their homes and investment real estate. But banks, with their ratio and guidelines, consider only what they have to sell and their credit risk. They do not consider your lifestyle or other things that you might care about - like your long-term financial objectives, whether you'll send your children to private schools, how much money you want to save for retirement, and what your overall financial picture looks like.

 

Your lifestyle ambitions and retirement goals make up the difference between what you qualify for and what you can afford.

Reduce Uncertainty

Opes Advisors will help you figure out the difference between what you qualify for and what you want to afford, so that your mortgage makes sense for your entire financial life. When you go through our process, we show you different scenarios so you can see exactly how structuring your mortgage in different ways will impact your finances now and in the future.

Envision Your Financial Future

As you go through our mortgage process, we will help you answer some key questions:

 

  • What’s an appropriate down payment? How do you help me assess this and do it in a manner that will also be tax-efficient?
  • How much of my monthly income should I put toward my home?
  • Can you help me with a loan that ensures I can put money away each month for long-term savings?

Opes Advantage Software

As your Mortgage Advisors guide you through our process, they use our Opes Advantage software to get a clear picture of your entire financial life – now and in the future – and they’ll show you what would happen in different scenarios. We had to build this program ourselves, because nothing else on the market could give us the data our Mortgage Advisors need to be able to analyze your financial situation - investments, savings, debt, living and lifestyle expenses, while also taking into consideration your long range plans and goals.