Buying a house for the first time can be confusing, so here are some helpful tips for those who are stepping onto the property ladder.
Are you buying your first house? Buying a home can be a very exciting time in your life, but it can also be bewildering if you don’t know what to do. Here are some important things to remember:
Make a Wish List
Your home is probably one of the largest and more important purchases you will make in your life, so you will want to know exactly what you are looking for before you go home shopping. Sit down with your partner and discuss what your ideal home looks like and which features are most important to you. Where do you want to live, what amenities do you need nearby, how many bedrooms does your family need, what style of home are you looking for, and most important of all, what is your price range? When you are buying a home with a partner, you will have to make some compromises but make sure that both of you are happy with the search image that you finally come up with.
Getting Qualified for a Mortgage
The next step for a first time home buyer is to find out what kind of mortgage you can afford. You should do this before you even start looking for homes, so that you know what price range you should be looking at and so that you don’t have to scramble to find financing when you have found your dream home. When getting qualified for a mortgage, remember that you don’t have to buy a home for the very maximum price that you have been approved for. It is probably a better financial decision to buy a house which is in the mid range of what you can afford so that you will be able to pay if off sooner and your mortgage payments will not be very high.
Down Payment
Don’t forget about your down payment! Although some mortgages will offer you a zero percent down payment, this will mean that you are paying a much larger sum of interest over the years of your mortgage. You should have at least 20 percent of the value of the home saved up before buying so that you can pay a significant down payment and reduce the size of your home loan.
Be Organized
Whether you are working with a professional estate agent or conducting your dream home search yourself, you will want to stay organized. You might be viewing dozens of homes before you find the right one, so create a file folder or some other system of keeping track. Take photos of each home while you are doing a viewing, and bring along a paper and pen so that you can make notes while you look around. Keep all of the details together, so that you can look through them later and compare which property had the best features.
Get a Home Inspection
When you are buying a home, it is crucial to always have a professional inspection done before signing any papers. You might find that there is a serious repair issue such as a leaky roof or mould in the basement, and if you can discover this before you buy the home you can avoid the nasty surprise later after you have taken possession and it has become your problem.
These are just a few tips that will be very helpful for the first time home buyer.
This article was written by Elena Price. Elena currently contributes to a number of websites and blogs, including Fiscal Muses
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