Christee Vacation Quick Start

Welcome to the Awesome Power of Christee!

The Vacation module has 2 distinct functionalities:

1. To Project an Affordable Vacation Home 

2. To Develop Options to Purchase a Specific 2nd Home

Please note there slight differences for optional inputs when you enter a specific purchase price. These differences are explained below with the major distinction being when you want to increase loan amount or payment you must change optional input field ‘Use Ratios’ to ‘No’.

The vacation module allows the user to analyze purchase price options plus closing cost, down payment, and options to reduce required cash.

Additionally, this powerful module:

Estimates allowable tax deduction on primary and 2nd home

Identifies areas where property taxes are increased on a non-owner-occupied home

When possible, you should allocate cash to retire personal debt such as credit cards by reducing cash used for vacation home purchase. Christee gives you the power to analyze this option.

Results will be displayed in the browser. Additional analysis and insight are available in a PDF file.

Below is a brief explanation for the required and optional inputs. Additionally, in the browser input form there is a brief description for each input.

Only Conventional Loans Are Used for Vacation Home Purchase

There are only 14 Required Inputs.

  • 1. State. Select State
  • 2. Area. Select County or City. All calculations are based upon area selected.
  • 3. Enter Zip Code for where you wish to purchase.
  • 4. Change Rate. You will see suggested interest rates. Click inside the box to change the interest rate for analysis.

    Tip. A rate of three and one eighth is entered as 3.125.

  • 5. Mortgage Term. Select from dropdown menu. Default setting is 30 Years.
  • 6. Annual Gross Income. Enter Annual Gross Income for All parties. Generally, this is W2’s or income on tax returns. If you are self-employed, commissioned, or income includes substantial overtime you should review acceptable income with loan officer.
  • 7. Monthly Debts. Enter minimum required monthly payment on debts that are on your credit report, plus child support obligations. Health or auto insurance, telephone, or utility bills are NOT considered debts.

    Tip. Your existing primary home mortgage will be included in monthly debts. Do not include here.

  • 8. Primary Loan Amount. Enter the original loan amount for primary home. Not current balance.
  • 9. Primary Loan Interest Rate. Enter interest rate on primary mortgage
  • 10. Primary Loan Date. Enter date for current mortgage on primary home.
  • 11. Primary Loan Total Payment. Enter total payment (PITI) for primary home.
  • 12. Primary Property Taxes. Enter annual property taxes for primary home.
  • 13. Credit Score. Enter a number between 550 and 850. The lowest middle score for all borrowers should be entered.
  • 14. Married (Yes or No). If there are 2 borrowers, select ‘Yes’ for married.

There are 17 Optional Inputs available to customize your report. NOT required for AskChristee Results.

    • 1. Enter Sales Price. Enter sales price of a potential property, otherwise, Christee will calculate ‘Projected Purchase’ based upon an affordable monthly payment. When Sales Price is entered and you want to increase loan amount/payment above Christee recommendations you must change the input field ‘Use Ratios’ to ‘N’
    • 2. Limit Monthly Payment. Enter monthly payment you feel is ‘affordable’. If you have not entered a sales price then results will be based upon payment amount entered. Results will include Debt to Income (DTI) which Lenders use in the loan approval process. If you have entered a sales price and you want a higher payment then enter the amount in this field and set input field ‘Use Ratios’ to ‘No’
    • 3. Available Cash. Enter total cash available to purchase a home. This is total cash, NOT down payment.
    • 4. Enter Property Taxes. If you have entered a ‘Sales Price’, you may enter the current property taxes, otherwise, Christee will approximate taxes based upon local property tax rates.
    • 5. Property Insurance. Enter annual property insurance premium, otherwise, Christee will estimate property insurance.
    • 6. Close Date. You may enter an anticipated date for closing.

      Tip. Closing cost that are date sensitive, such as interim interest or tax adjustment to seller, will be based on this date. Otherwise, adjustments will be based upon preparation date plus one month.

    • 7. Seller Credits. Enter the percent of purchase price you will ask seller to contribute toward closing cost.

      Tip. 1.5 would represent a seller concession of 1.5% of the purchase price.

    • 8. Lender Credit. Enter the percent for ‘Lender Credit’.

      • Tip. Check with Lenders for availability of ‘Lender Credits’. An interest rate of 4% will be increased to approximately 4.125% with a 1% lender credit.

      Tip. Lender credits are calculated based upon the mortgage amount, NOT the purchase price. Christee will display the dollar amount of the credit as a percent of the purchase to allow easy comparisons between ‘Seller  Credits’ and ‘Lender Credits’.

    • 9. Lender Fees. Enter amount for Lender fees such as underwriting or processing fees.

      Tip. Lender charges an underwriting fee of $1,200 and application fee of $500. Enter $1,700.1

    • 10. Loan Origination Fee. Enter amount of loan origination fee buyer will pay. Maximum entry is 2%.

      Tip. An entry of .875 means the calculations will be based upon a .875 (7/8%) loan origination fee.

    • 11. Enter percent of down payment. Typically, the minimum down payment when purchasing a vacation home is 10%. Thus the default setting requires a minimum of 10% down payment. However, you may decrease down payment to as low as 2%. 

    Tip. An entry of 20 will result in a 20% down payment or a loan to value of 80%.

    Tip. If you have entered a purchase price and wish to decrease percent of down payment you must turn input field ‘Use Ratios’ to ‘n’.

    • 12. Enter Maximum Mortgage Amount. This is applicable only if you have entered a ‘Sales Price’.

    Tip. If you entered a purchase price and wish to increase the loan amount above that suggested by Christee then you must set input field ‘Use Ratios’ to ‘n’

    • 13. Monthly Condo Fees. Enter monthly amount of existing condo or HOA fees for home you are considering purchasing. If you have not entered a ‘Sales Price’ but anticipate buying in an area where these fees are typical, Christee will base projected home price to include potential condo/HOA fee.

      Tip. Any cash entered will be distributed to down payment and closing cost.

    • 14. Calculate Monthly PMI. Enter ‘No’ if you DO NOT want PMI to be included in the Christee calculations. Default setting is ‘Yes’.

      Tip. Lender may offer an option to have PMI coverage included in a higher mortgage interest rate. This option allows you to compare normal PMI coverage to no PMI with higher interest rate.

      Tip. PMI is mortgage insurance and is required on loans exceeding 80% of value.

    • 15. Name. Enter name if you would like name to appear on the PDF file.
    • 16. Phone. Enter your phone number to have a Christee Certified Agent contact you.
    • 17. Email Address. By entering a valid email address, you have the option to have the PDF report emailed to yourself or another person.

      Tip. If this field is blank then then you may download the PDF report.

      Tip. Make sure you hit the ‘submit’ button after entering an email address.

We hope you enjoy your AskChristee experience!

Results will be displayed in your browser. Additional detail is available in the PDF file. Please review results with a recommended AskChristee Agent and Lender.

See the Resources tab for more Information. Visit Video tab for demonstration and greater insight.