Buying a house (your dream house perhaps) is one of the biggest financial decisions a person makes in his entire life. By the biggest decision alone means that you have to do thorough research, understand the current housing market trends, home prices, home inspection. You need to practice due diligence when buying a house for the first time.
Believe it or not, still, there are a lot of first-time home buyers who actually are clueless as to what they need to do. With that, Carolyn Sun of Entrepreneur gives some tips for first-time home buyers to maximize and to make your home buying experience worth it. Read the article below and learn from the experts themselves.
5 Tips for First-Time Home Buyers
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The average age for first-time home buyers in the U.S. is around 33, a relatively young age for such a big life choice. That said, buying your first home at any age can be a stressful and time-consuming experience.
Luckily, there are a few crucial pointers that will help make the journey to homeownership a less bumpy ride. Here are five tips to get you on your way.
1. Draw up a hard budget and stick to it.
Let’s say you’re interested in a home, but you’re not sure it’s in your price range. That’s a problem. Before you start browsing, it’s crucial that you iron out important questions such as, what is the most you can afford? What is your ideal price range? To help you get started, use an online mortgage calculator to determine the maximum monthly payment you can afford based on the price of the home after you put down a down payment and over a 30-year-mortgage.
“Make sure your monthly budget considers the total mortgage and maintenance costs of a property,” says Maria-Stella Fountoulakis, a realtor at Halstead Property.
If you fall in love with a house but the monthly payment is more than you can afford, when including all your other fixed expenses, it’s time to move on.
2. Make a short list of your non-negotiables.
Before you start seriously shopping, consider your lifestyle and values. What features would enhance your well-being? And what would make you miserable? From there, make a list of non-negotiables, says real estate company Remax — from location, to square footage, to amenities — that you must have in your future home. This will also help guide your realtor.
“There is nothing better than knowing exactly what you want, but it’s hard to find everything in one property,” Fountoulakis says. “The best way to gauge your options is to visit open houses in the area and get acquainted with the local market. Visit apartments that are both above and below your budget to see how values differ with features and location.” See full post here…
First-time home buyers must set or work on a budget and stick to it. Before you even start browsing for for-sale homes, it is crucial that you must already have the ideal price range. If you plan on paying it via mortgage loans, include in your computation the total mortgage as well as the maintenance cost. This will give you an idea of what you can afford to pay for a home.
I’m sure as first-time home buyers still got some important questions in which the answers could help a lot in their decision making. To help newbies further, check out this article written by House Logic. Check out their awesome article below.
Your Questions Answered: Best Home Buying Tips for First-Timers
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Buying your first home is a big freaking deal. How do you know which loan is right for you? How do you swing the down payment? How do you ensure your offer isn’t too low or too high? What don’t you know that you don’t know? Ack!
Breathe, friend. The process doesn’t have to painful.
To prep you for the journey, HouseLogic hosted a Q&A series on Facebook. Here are the top-10 Q&As from the first event, which was hosted by Meg White, the former managing editor of REALTOR® Magazine — and a homeowner, herself.
#1 Getting Started
Q: Where should a prospective home buyer (and their significant other, if applicable) start their buying journey? What do you do first?
A: The first step should be to look inward and have some super-honest conversations. This worksheet is a great way for you and your buying partner to get on the same page.
Talk openly about your priorities: Where do you see yourself in five to 10 years? Create a checklist of must-haves in your new home and neighborhood. Hash out a budget, and talk about the kind of lifestyle changes you might be willing to take on (and the ones you won’t be willing to do).
Finally, check your credit, correct any errors in your report, and start taking steps to build a positive financial profile.
#2 The Down Payment
Q: Is there any wiggle room on the 20% down payment, or should I just plan on making that?
A: It’s actually quite common to put less than 20% down. My family only put down 10%, and many other buyers put down even less. (For example, FHA borrowers might put down as little as 3.5% on the purchase price.)
Keep in mind that when you put down less than 20%, you’ll probably have to pay PMI, or private mortgage insurance; it’s a monthly fee the bank charges to secure their investment in you, since you have less skin in the deal. Click here to read the rest of this post…
Perhaps the most common question asked by these newbies is how to start their very first home buying journey, or what are they going to do first. Having at least this information will definitely help them work their way up until they find the home to buy. Another important question newbies would ask is how much they need for the downpayment.
While there are steps and tips that first-time home buyers should follow, there are also several things and mistakes to avoid to make buying home for the first time very huge success. Elizabeth Weintraub of The Balance listed some of the most common, but costly mistakes to avoid for first-time homebuyers.
Tips for Buying Your First Home—And Mistakes to Avoid
Image Source: The Balance
Buyers need a basic overview. This is especially true for first-time home buyers who aren’t familiar with the process. Bear in mind that the steps in the home buying process can vary from state to state, depending on local custom.
However, when you strip away all of the crap—which may or may not happen to you—there are only five basic steps to buying a home. You can do these five steps in any order you want.
Hire an Agent
You don’t have to hire a buyer’s agent if you prefer to go to open houses and look through a mumbo-jumbo of homes online, but hiring an agent will save you time. Here’s why:
An agent can send you listings directly from MLS that fit your parameters, and you won’t waste time looking at active short contingent listings that are under contract.
Agents often know of new listings coming up that are not yet on the market.
You can waste the agent’s gas and not your own when you tour homes.
Some agents will preview homes for you.
An agent can generally spot overpriced listings and advise you accordingly
Find a Home to Buy
Buying a home can be an overwhelming process and emotionally draining. Finding the right home is not always an easy task. Schedule a maximum of seven homes at a time because any more than that will make a buyer’s head spin.
Most buyers conduct a lot of research online before ever stepping foot in a home. Buyers spend an average of six to eight weeks, according to the National Association of REALTORS, trying to figure out where they want to live. Once the neighborhood is selected, most buyers end up buying a home after two or three home tours. Learn more about the mistakes here…
Be honest in yourself. If you really are not confident with your own knowledge and understanding of the housing market nor the home buying process, then you can always hire an agent to help you. Majority of these real estate agents know the old and new listings that are not yet available on the market. In addition, they can know if the listings are overpriced. These agents come in handy for things you aren’t sure of in the market.
Purchasing a home for the very first time entails a lot of responsibility on your part. You need to study the housing market trends, real estate news, recent home prices, among others. Also, you need to follow or observe the do’s and don’ts advice from the experts. However, if none of these makes sense to you, or simply you don’t have the time to do these things, better yet hire an agent to get things done for you. Dependable Homebuyers can help you on your journey towards owning your very first home. Visit Dependable Homebuyers at https://www.dependablehomebuyers.com and we look forward to hearing from you.
