Steps to Take to Buy Your First Home
This week, Maggie is chatting with Elizabeth Renter, a Data Analyst at NerdWallet. In this episode, they talk about the steps you can take to buy your own home, and why this goal might be a little harder right now.
Related Links:
–
Elizabeth Renter is NerdWallet’s Data Analyst. She loves hunting for stories in datasets and crunching numbers for her monthly personal finance column. She also produces data reports and studies covering an array of topics including pandemic savings and first-time buyer affordability.
–
To learn more about Maggie and her coaching and speaking services, visit www.maggiegermano.com.
The theme music is called Escaping Light by Aaron Sprinkle. The podcast artwork design is by Maggie’s dear husband, Dan Rader.
TRANSCRIPTION
Maggie Germano 0:05
Hi, and thanks for listening to the money circle podcast. I’m your host, Maggie Germano, and I’m a feminist and a financial writer, speaker, educator and coach for women. I’m passionate about making personal finance less scary and more approachable so that women can improve their relationship with money and take control of their finances. Every other week, I will interview an amazing, inspiring woman to talk about the issues that impact our money, our health, our independence, and more. We will touch on the societal and structural issues that we need to work together to change and the actions that we each have the power to take in our own lives. If you’d like to learn more about me and the work that I do, visit my website at Maggiegermano.com or follow me on Instagram @MaggieGermano. Thanks again for listening and I hope you enjoy.
Maggie Germano 0:55
Hey there, and thanks for listening. I’m your host Maggie Germano. And this week, I’m chatting with Elizabeth renter, a data analyst at NerdWallet. In this episode, we are talking about the steps you can take to buy your own home and why this goal might be a little bit harder right now. We each also share our own experiences in buying homes and what we like about owning our own homes. If you hope to be a homeowner someday this episode is for you. Enjoy
Maggie Germano 1:30
Okay, welcome. Thanks so much for being here today.
Elizabeth Renter 1:33
Yeah, absolutely. Maggie, I’m happy to be here.
Maggie Germano 1:35
Yeah, I’m happy to have you. So why don’t we start off by having you introduce yourself. Tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do. Yeah.
Elizabeth Renter 1:43
So I’m Elizabeth renter. I am currently based in a very small in the middle of a small town in the middle of Kansas. I recently moved here in January after living in North Carolina for about 15 years. And as for work, I’m a data analyst and senior writer over at NerdWallet, where I have been for seven and a half years now.
Maggie Germano 2:05
That’s great. What prompted the move.
Elizabeth Renter 2:08
Um, a lot of things. I’m an empty nester now. So my daughter is in college, she’s situated. I always dreamed about owning a big Victorian, and I found one at a reasonable price back here. And I’m originally from the Midwest. So it’s sort of like everything converged to make it a good time to go.
Maggie Germano 2:27
That’s great. Yeah, no, I asked. I just moved earlier this summer, from the Washington DC area to where I’m from in Syracuse, New York. So um, um, well, that was a big move for us. So I’m always
Unknown Speaker 2:39
well, I’m see I tell people Oh, yeah, I moved halfway across the country. But you moved, like, all the way. Thinking Washington state, you said dc dc.
Maggie Germano 2:49
Yeah. So yeah. I’ve been further than you then. Well, great. And so how did you find yourself kind of in the line of work that you’re doing? And, you know, finding yourself at at NerdWallet?
Elizabeth Renter 3:02
Yeah. So prior to working at NerdWallet. I was a freelance journalist for several years. And I covered a really wide variety of topics like most freelance journalists do, primarily in health and legal sort of areas. And then I saw that NerdWallet was looking for writers. And so I went through the application process. And as I was going through that process, I really fell in love with what we were and are trying to accomplish, which is to help people through all of the financial decisions that come around throughout their life and really be an approachable sort of, like, nerdy friend, that can that can guide people. And so I joined on, like I said, Seven and a half years ago, and during that seven and a half years, I’ve covered a wide variety of personal finance topics. But in the for the majority of the time, I’ve really focused on data centric topics. And so what I generally do is look at data and try to glean insights and come to conclusions that can help people make decisions about their finances and sort of like, look at the numbers from places like the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the census and say, like, Okay, but what do these numbers really mean for normal people?
Maggie Germano 4:19
Right, because yeah, and the everyday person is not going to be looking at the Bureau of Labor Statistics and getting that information and then also understanding that information. So it’s helpful to have someone make it into kind of plain English, right?
Elizabeth Renter 4:32
Not everybody finds it as interesting as I do. So I’m happy to take that burden off of people.
Maggie Germano 4:37
That’s great. That’s good to hear. We need people like you. So I have you here today to talk about a topic that I think has been top of mind for a lot of people over the last year and a half with the pandemic and also just the crazy housing market. Boom, it just everything that’s going on right now. But so you know, talking about Buying a home for the first time. So how did you kind of make that happen for yourself buying your first home? What was that like for you?
Elizabeth Renter 5:09
Okay, so I’ve actually bought three, I’m no spring chicken. And the first one was, you know, a long time ago, I was in my late 20s At the time, and I was with a partner. And we had our daughter. After that separation, I ended up renting for several years. So by the time I purchased again, which was technically my second house, it was kind of like starting from scratch. And I was buying as a single mother. So I was doing it by myself, my daughter. Definitely moral support. She was in high school at the time. So we had a lot of fun looking at houses. But it was it was my process, right, as the sole breadwinner breadwinner. So that was probably in my mid to late 30s, that I purchased that second house. And then most recently, as I said, I bought this one just this year. So I would say the most significant purchase for me was that second one that I did on my own, the most exciting one, definitely this last one.
Maggie Germano 6:03
Okay, you said it’s always been your dream to own a Victorian home. So it sounds like you achieve that.
Elizabeth Renter 6:09
Yeah and what’s interesting is, you know, thinking I was right before you called I was thinking about these last these three purchases, and how much I paid for the houses. And this one, I really think once I factor in inflation, this one was probably the most affordable, which is kind of wild in this housing market. I mean, that’s, that’s what you get if you’re willing to move to a town of like, 3000, in the middle of Kansas. But But yeah, it made it possible for me to purchase this grand old house that I can really sort of sink my teeth into.
Maggie Germano 6:43
That sounds like fun. I’m a big fan of old houses, too. We just our houses almost 100 years old, in the town, right near where I grew up, and you get a lot more bang for your buck here than you do in Maryland, right outside DC.
Elizabeth Renter 6:57
Oh my gosh, I can imagine. And I lived on the outskirts of Raleigh for 15 years. And so I mean, still in a fairly affordable place. It’s not like DC or, you know, Los Angeles or New York or anything like that. But even moving from there, the outskirts of Raleigh to here was a significant change. And yeah, the cost of living is just much easier to handle here.
Maggie Germano 7:17
Oh, I bet. So you know, you were saying that that second house, it was really like you were starting from scratch, it was definitely the most significant kind of purchase out of the three. So how did you and you said, you’re a single mother as well. So what kinds of steps did you take to get yourself to a place where you were able to afford to buy your own home? I know, there’s a lot of people out there and my audience is typically women, a lot of single younger women. And if this is on their horizon, or they hope to have homeownership on their horizon, what are those some of those steps you took that they might want to kind of follow after?
Elizabeth Renter 7:55
So don’t I would say the biggest thing is don’t buy into the long held sort of rule of thumb that you have to have 20% down of a purchase price to buy a house. That isn’t the case anymore. And there are a greater number of options available for people with lower down payments now than there have been in the past. So for my house for that second house, I use an FHA loan, those loans are backed by the federal government, you can put far less down. And then also I qualified for downpayment assistance. Because first time homebuyers often do and those programs. first time homebuyer programs vary from state to state at NerdWallet. You can look at what the ones in your state are. But essentially what it is, is it says okay, if if your income or the property or you meet these certain standards, like the state will either tack in additional down payment amounts onto your mortgage, which allows you to move forward with the purchase a little faster than you would have thought or they will like pitch in to help with that downpayment. So those were the two things that helped me buy that house as a single mother was the fact that it was an FHA or a lower down payment loan. And there are conventional loans that are lower down payment as well. And then also I qualify for downpayment assistance. So I think too often we think of when we when buying a house is like this long off goal, and we’re looking at home prices, and we’re thinking about down payments, and it’s just it just seems massive and insurmountable. And there are really things that you can do and tools that you can use that can make it far more approachable auction.
Maggie Germano 9:39
Yeah, and, and I think that’s so important what you said that, you know, don’t listen to that old advice that you have to have 20% down or you’re totally you know, you’re either not going to get a mortgage or it’s not going to be worth it. I mean, I still hear that from people and I even had to like when I bought this is my second house too. So when I bought my first house with my husband We decided to only do 10% down because we wanted to keep cash for renovations because the house needed a good amount of work. And people were like, wow, you’re gonna pay mortgage insurance and like mortgage insurance is like 60 bucks a month versus like having, you know, actual cash in hand instead of having to wait forever to actually be able to do anything. And it didn’t really change what that mortgage actually was, and what that monthly payment was by a huge amount, it ended up being much more worth it, I think. And even with this current house that we’re in, we didn’t do 20%, we did 15% This time to be a little because it was so competitive. We were like, here’s something we can add here. Right? So we’re like, we’ll take on just like the small amount of mortgage insurance, so we have a little bit more cash on hand. So we’re not as strapped later. So I think that that’s really good advice.
Elizabeth Renter 10:51
Yeah, and I think that’s an important call out is like, this isn’t a one size fits all thing, right? You have a lot of options, like for some people, it will make sense to put 20% down or that’s something they want to do, because it’ll save you loads of interest in the long term. Like that’s undeniable, it will save you loads of interest in the long term. But if the goal is to get into a house like and that is like that takes priority for you over like how much interest you’re paying over the long term, then there are options available to so I think like it’s not a black and white thing. There are like levers right that you can adjust as a homebuyer and and how you purchased your house, the mortgage, you get the downpayment you put down, that’s not going to look the same as the situation might be for your neighbor.
Maggie Germano 11:37
Right, exactly. And you also mentioned they qualified for downpayment assistance. How did you kind of find out that that was something that was available to you? And where do you kind of recommend people look for for programs like that? Yeah,
Elizabeth Renter 11:51
so they can look on NerdWallet, we do have pages set up for every state, where you can see what is available in your state. Another good resource is both mortgage lenders and your real estate agent. Um, you know, one of the pieces of advice I would have for anyone that’s thinking about buying a house, even thinking about buying a house, even if you haven’t made the decision yet, is reach out to a couple real estate agents, and they’re going to know what’s available in your state. Not only that, they’re going to know the local market really, really well. But they can sort of open the door to what’s available to you, given where you live and your personal circumstances.
Maggie Germano 12:27
That’s great advice. And I think that’s another important lesson is that you don’t have to go through it alone. You’re not only working with a realtor or lender so that they can get you the house or you know, do the business for you. But they often want to help you do and link you up to resources.
Elizabeth Renter 12:44
Right, ultimately, I mean, yeah, they make money when you buy a house, but the good real estate agents know that when you are ready to sell that house, if it was a good experience, you’re gonna go back to them again. And most of them are trying to cultivate a relationship. And they have a wealth of information. I mean, you can Google stuff all you want. And you know, I highly recommend NerdWallet tools, of course, and they’re valuable. But ultimately, those relationships are really going to help you get over the line into homeownership.
Maggie Germano 13:12
Yeah, I totally agree. And so looking back on that home purchase, or any of the homes that you’ve purchased, is there anything that you feel like, were you made a mistake or anything you wish you’d done differently that you kind of tell people not to do or to do?
Elizabeth Renter 13:27
Yeah, it’s actually a way that what we just talked about was a great segue into this, because the one thing that I wish I would have done differently the second time around, what’s talked to more real estate agents. So the first time I believe it was so long ago, the first time I believe we talked to a couple. The second time I chose my real estate agent, because she was really cool. Like, we had a cool rapport, right, we got along really well. And I kind of wanted to be her friend. And I regret that because when we started the process, it became immediately apparent to me that she didn’t have the experience that I wanted her to have. She wasn’t there was a real limit to the depth of her knowledge. And, and not only that, the level of her responsiveness. And so looking back, I wish I would have taken the time to talk to more than one. And so I did that this third time, I actually talked to three local agents, and chose the one that was she was friendly. But it wasn’t the same sort of connection I had with that second one. This one I was interviewing for her professionalism. And like, When can I if I call you and leave a voicemail, when will I When can I expect to hear back? You know, am I going to be working with you or and I’m going to be working with like a team of yours. And so asking those important questions. That was something I skipped the second time around. And it definitely made all the difference in the world this third time.
Maggie Germano 14:53
That’s such good advice. I mean, you’re making one of the biggest purchases of your life. if not the biggest purchase of your life when you’re buying a home. So working with someone you can trust and rely on, I think is it’s so invaluable.
Elizabeth Renter 15:08
Right. And, you know, going back to what we were saying earlier today as the other thing is, is like, they know what is happening in the neighborhood you’re shopping in, like, you can’t get that through your real estate apps that you’re scanning on your lunch break, right? I mean, you could if you wanted to come up with a spreadsheet and look at comps and do all that, but they’re already doing that kind of stuff. So not only is this person gonna, you know, help you make decisions and help identify houses to look at and that sort of thing, but they’re going to give you really personalized insights into Oh, if you’re looking in this price range, you know, this is the kind of competition you’re seeing, you might have to put in four different offers, like they’re going to give you sort of like that real localized expertise that you can’t get anywhere else.
Maggie Germano 15:52
Yeah, that’s, that’s a big one that’s definitely is a big one that was really helpful for us, when we were selling our house in Maryland, it was our realtor happened to be she’s a very dear friend of mine. So that but I also knew that like she was born and raised in the DC area, she’d been a realtor there, she was always paying close attention to what the market was doing what was going on. So she had really wonderful and helpful advice for you know, just the things we should do to kind of spruce up the house in certain ways. And where we were like, oh, like, we don’t want to have to do that. But it ended up paying dividends for the kinds of offers we got on the house and how people are kind of responding to the house. And so yeah, just like getting that kind of expertise, not just in real estate, but in, like you said, the market that you’re buying or selling,
Elizabeth Renter 16:37
for sure. And it was helpful for me to, uh, you know, as I’ve been talking about this time around, and my choice of real estate agents, I’ve been thinking about my sellers agent back in North Carolina. But the same was true for my buyer’s agent here now, a little different for my purchasing here in Kansas, because I did buy this house sight unseen. And so I was interviewing people over the phone and zoom agents and trying to get a feel for like, okay, are they going to go into this house and tell me if something smells funny? Or like, are they gonna be I needed someone to literally be like, my eyes, my ears, my nose, everything. So yeah, that was sort of like another level of complexities. And when I was trying to find an agent here in Kansas, but ultimately, she was great. She came and gave me a video tour. And then I have family that lives about an hour away. And she came back to the house to show them the house. And so So yeah, they’re really just an advocate for you. If you take the time on the front end to make sure you’re getting somebody that you can trust.
Maggie Germano 17:34
Yeah, no, I totally agree. So when you think about homeowners, that homeownership for yourself, but also homeownership in general, what are some of the benefits that you see in becoming a homeowner because obviously, there are downfalls as well. But if someone’s may be kind of on the fence about whether or not this is something they want to do, what do you see as some of the benefits.
Elizabeth Renter 17:58
So I think, for me, and hopefully more widely applicable than me, there are three particular benefits that stand out. So the first one, definitely personal. I love DIY, like, I love it, right, my goal in this house, which this house needs work is to bring it back to the early 1900s, and how it might have looked them right. So I’m going room by room, and I’m tearing off decades of wallpaper, and I’m painting and I’m adding different wallpaper and I’m doing all sorts of work room by room. That’s something you can’t do in a rental unless like, you know, your dad is renting you dessert or something like that, like, you can’t really put your stamp on a place as much if you’re renting it as when you buy it. And so this house to me is it’s a place to live, and all of that kind of stuff that you think it houses but it’s also like a creative outlet for me. So that is a huge perk. Secondly, the equity means a lot to me. So it just feels very secure, to know that I’m putting my money into something where my money is generally safe. Now, you know, the housing market can do a lot of things like it can crash, it can rise, it’s you know, volatile, short term, but over the long term, putting money into a home is a fairly safe place for it. And then the other side of the equity is if I were to have an emergency expense of some kind that, you know, my emergency fund doesn’t cover, whether it’s, you know, I need a new roof or you know, medical expenses or something like that. I can tap into the equity in my home to help me cover those expenses. So whether it’s like a home equity loan or refinancing and getting cash out, that’s another sense of security that the equity provides. And then I guess the third thing is sort of an emotional and another personal reason and that is like, owning my house really feels like this is my place in the world. Right like it’s not just the furniture and the decor in here is mine but like this is my structure this is my land this grass out here? That’s mine too. And I think like, when you’re renting, like even though you put all your stuff in it, it does feel sort of like you’re on someone else’s spot. Right. So for me, it’s like, my place in the world. And I really love that. Now, you mentioned like, there are downsides, definitely downsides. Also, I think it’s important to acknowledge that homeownership might not be right for everybody. Like I think historically, we’ve had like, oh, yeah, owning your home is the American dream. Not for everybody, right? Like, maybe you value being able to change houses every two years. And a lease allows you to do that. Or, you know, maybe, maybe you don’t want to deal with the maintenance and the yard care and all those additional costs of homeownership. So I think by and large, you know, we found in our annual homebuyer report that most people do prioritize owning a home, but that doesn’t mean everybody and I don’t think that people who want to rent for the rest of their lives should be, you know, made to feel some sort of shame or like, it’s weird that they don’t want to own a house. It’s perfectly okay. Yeah,
Maggie Germano 21:09
I’m with you there. I mean, obviously, I now am on my second house. So I’m a fan of owning homes, even though I know that I keep buying fixer uppers. So like, obviously, I’m aware of like how much money came to have to go into a house. But I also I don’t love the saying out there of like that renting is throwing your money away or wasting your money. You’re living somewhere you have a home you have a place to to be safe, and to sleep and to rest, like do everything you need. So yeah, like you said, homeownership, I think is not for someone who doesn’t really want it. And so making sure that this is the actual goal that you have not something you’re just kind of hearing, or that’s been hammered into your head as something that you should want. Because it does get expensive, it does get grueling, depending on where you know where you live, and what kind of work needs to be done on your home or your property. So yeah, I’m with you there,
Elizabeth Renter 22:05
I kind of thing it’s like, hopefully, some of your listeners can relate to this. But as a woman, I feel like sort of it’s that expectation, like, you should be in a relationship, and you should be married by age 30. And you should own your home. Well, now you can be perfectly fulfilled, single in renting or single and home owning, or you know what I mean? Like we don’t have to ascribe to these, like long held beliefs that our grandparents did. And if homeownership is right for you, it’s absolutely something attainable, whether you’re single or not. But as a woman, possibly more attainable now than it has been in previous generations. But yeah, it’s not for everybody. So do what feels good for you and reach your goals, whatever they might be. Yeah,
Maggie Germano 22:48
agreed. And so what kind of advice would you give to someone who maybe they want to buy a house right now or in the near future, given the way that housing prices have increased? And how competitive it’s been? I know, for me, I thought moving to Syracuse would make it cheaper and easier to buy a house. And it ended up being very surprising how difficult and competitive it was and how much the prices had gone up. So that might be surprising and disappointing to people. So what kind of advice would you give them?
Elizabeth Renter 23:22
Yeah, so your point is a great one. And so I think the primary advice I would give is knowing your local market know what’s happening in the place you want to buy. And yes, prices are up, inventory is down, on average across the nation. But on average across the nation is really broad. And that doesn’t necessarily mean prices are up exponentially in every neighborhood of every city, right? There are pockets where things are still relatively affordable. So in my regular first time homebuyer affordability report, for instance, we found or I found most recently that Los Angeles home prices are typically priced at 13 times the first time homebuyer income. That’s nutso. Like that’s, that’s crazy. But in cities like Pittsburgh, and St. Louis and Cleveland, prices are at about three and a half times first time homebuyer income. So I think it’s important to know exactly what’s going on where you are looking or in places you are willing to look, rather than just paying attention to like the national headlines and what’s going on, on average. I mean, you might find that prices are up crazy where you’re looking or like there’s only two homes on the market within your budget. That might be the case. But you don’t know until you kind of look into it more closely and are really aware of what kind of competition you’re going to face where you’re looking.
Maggie Germano 24:48
Now, that’s really good advice because yeah, I think there’s a lot of fear out there and fear mongering kind of with the conversation nationally. But yeah, you never know what might be going on where you are
Elizabeth Renter 24:59
Yeah. And, you know, another thing I would say is really important to know right now, given the current market is establishing your budget before you get into the home shopping process. So we have a affordable home affordability calculator on NerdWallet. That’s good for that you plug in like your income, and what your financial obligations are. And it helps you determine how much of a house you can afford. The the an issue anytime, but especially right now with the competition that we’re seeing in general is that it’s very easy to get caught up in a bidding war, it’s very easy to write an offer, that’s more than you want to spend because you want to win the house, right? Whether you love the house, or you just are a competitive person and want to win. So I think setting that parameter before you start looking is really, really important. Now, that could be self limiting, like you could sell, set your budget and find out. Well, there are no houses within my budget where I was looking right. And I mean, they might end up that way. But I think a dose of realism is important and knowing ahead of time, what you’re going to face, or what’s possible and not possible is really crucial.
Maggie Germano 26:05
Yeah, I’m with you there. I mean, like you said, the competitiveness and just kind of going going all in because you’re sick of looking and then regretting it because you can’t do anything to your house or you can’t do anything in your life. All your money has to go on the house. I mean, we one of the houses we bid on which thank God we didn’t get. It was like over $100,000 More than this one. And it was it was newer, so we wouldn’t have had to put as much into it. But that it also wasn’t exactly what we wanted. We were kind of like justifying it and like, oh, well, I mean, we have to offer this much if we’re gonna get it. And I’m just so glad we didn’t because we bought a more affordable house that obviously needs more work, but it’s in an area we like better style of house, we like a lot more. And I think you know, plus our mortgage is a lot more affordable.
Elizabeth Renter 26:55
Yeah, for sure. And you raised another point there is we have found consistently, we ask questions every year about regrets regarding your home purchase, we find people consistently underestimate the cost associated with homeownership. So you get really caught up in the sticker price on the house or the list price and how much your offer is for what you forget is your homeowners, your HOA dues, excuse me, your insurance, the cost to keep your yard not looking like a jungle, the fact that you’re gonna want to set a little more aside every month just in case the appliances break down, or your roof leaks, or you know, like homeownership brings with it a whole bunch of additional expenses that people tend to underestimate or completely forget to add into the equation when they’re thinking about their home budget.
Maggie Germano 27:47
Yeah, absolutely. That’s it’s easy to forget that the not fun stuff. So is there anything else that you haven’t mentioned yet that you want to make sure folks kind of understand when it comes to buying their first home or, or thinking about what they might want to do when it comes to buying a home?
Elizabeth Renter 28:07
Yeah, so one of the things that I think is important for first timers to know and I, I feel like first time homebuyers now know this more than say, when I bought my first home, which was, you know, I don’t know, 15 years ago, I feel like this is more widely known, but it’s still worth driving home is, is shopping for a home is one thing shopping for a mortgage is another you have a lot of power. When it comes to choosing a mortgage, you know, like, my parents probably went to their local banker, and he found their mortgage, and that’s how they got their mortgage. Me in purchasing this past this House in January, you know, I look at different online lenders, I compared what they have, I compared their interfaces to see how easy it would be to go through the purchasing process, once I settled on a company that I wanted to go with, and I compared all sorts of mortgages with varying interest rates, varying terms, like 20 or 30 year mortgages. So I would say get educated about what’s available to you when it comes to the loan. And you know, another normal calculator. So I mentioned this one, I used the heck out of the NerdWallet mortgage calculator when I was shopping this last time around. So I was able to put 20% down on this house partially because the price was so reasonable. What that allowed me to do was consider a 20 or 30 year mortgage, and also I was looking at different interest rates and different points and all these things. So this mortgage calculator allows you to put all the numbers in and play with those things and see how they change how much interest you’ll pay over the life of the loan, how they change your monthly payment, how all of those factors. So I’m saying all that to say like the mortgage decision, maybe not as big as choosing the house but it needs to be a big decision, right? You need to give it the same weight. Because there are a lot of options available to you have a lot of power in choosing how you finance your home.
Maggie Germano 30:07
I love that I think that’s a good takeaway, because I think we forget, especially when we’re, you know, afraid we’re not going to get a house or we’re afraid we’re not going to get approved for a mortgage that you can get in that kind of mindset that everyone else is in control. And so I think remembering that you have control over what lender you go with, and what kind of mortgage you end up choosing that that’s a really good thing to remember.
Elizabeth Renter 30:31
Yeah, I mean, you’re the customer here, you’re paying all of their bills are the one in control. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to sort of examine all of the options that are available to you and make decisions that are best for your long term financial health.
Maggie Germano 30:47
Great. And so how can folks follow along with your writing and the work that you do?
Elizabeth Renter 30:53
And so they can follow me on Twitter at Elizabeth renter, that’s r e n t e r, I can also be reached via email at [email protected]. And yeah, reach out to me, I love to talk about houses, like I really love to talk about houses.
Maggie Germano 31:11
That’s wonderful. And I will link that in the show notes as well. And so I wanted to thank you for taking the time sharing your knowledge sharing your experience with listeners, because I know that this topic can be overwhelming and scary and feel unapproachable for some people. So I appreciate you coming on to chat today.
Elizabeth Renter 31:30
It’s been fun, Maggie, thanks for having me, of course.
Maggie Germano 31:32
Thanks again for listening to the money circle podcast. If you want to learn more about my financial coaching services, my speaking and workshop offerings, or just to read my blog visit Maggiegermano.com. To get in touch with me directly email me at boss at Maggiegermano.com You can also follow me on Instagram and Twitter @MaggieGermano. I look forward to hearing from you. Bye bye
