Mortgage planning is the process of evaluating your mortgage options in the context of your overall financial objectives. Your mortgage is most likely your single largest debt, and your home is most likely your single largest asset. The strategy you use today carries financial consequences that can impact your life for years to come.  As a Certified Mortgage Planning Specialist (CMPS®), my mission is to help clients improve their life by the proper use and consideration of various mortgage options. Here’s how:

Step #1: Initial Conversation
Our initial conversation will focus on these questions:

  1. What are your housing objectives and why?
  2. What does your current cash flow situation look like?
  3. What large expenses should we take into account as we help you develop a budget for the future (college funding, retirement planning, elder care needs, etc.)?
  4. What can I do to help?

Step #2: Analyze & Evaluate Your Options
The next phase of our relationship will focus on:

  1. What are your housing, debt planning, and cash flow options?
  2. What, if any, mortgage products and strategies would be useful to you?
  3. What is the likely short and long-term impact of these mortgage options on your overall financial situation?

Step #3: Develop & Implement Your Personal Mortgage Plan
Once we’ve discussed your options, and how these various options may impact your overall housing and financial situation, it’s up to you to decide on which plan of action works best for you. I’ll be here to answer any questions and be a resource to you in any way I can. I’ll also coordinate the whole process with you and other professionals such as CPAs, CFP® professionals, attorneys, realtors, builders, insurance professionals and other qualified advisors.

Step #4: Monitor Your Mortgage Plan Through an Annual Mortgage and Housing Review
Mortgage planning is a life-long process because your financial situation is likely to change from time to time. As your mortgage planner, it’s my role to help you monitor these changes as needed and through an annual conversation. Most often, this process involves a periodic assessment of:

  1. Your fluctuating cash flow needs
  2. Changing interest rates and housing market conditions
  3. Family changes and life events, including job changes, college funding, retirement planning and elder-care needs

Here’s how mortgage planning is different than the traditional “shopping for a mortgage” experience:

mortgage-planning

About the Author
David Reznikow is a licensed loan partner at Fairway Independent Mortgage. A Brookline native and BHS graduate, Reznikow is currently a Newton resident but has remained part of the Brookline community. As a Brookline Chamber of Commerce Director and business member Reznikow has had the opportunity to add to the vibrancy and diversity of the business community, while helping to raise funds for local charitable organizations through many Chamber initiatives. Both Reznikow’s parents have businesses in Brookline, still live in the home where they raised three children, and can often be found playing with their grandson, Cameron, at Dean Park.