Skip to main content

Tips For First Time Home Buyers


If you are currently in the market for your first home, you probably have a lot of questions. You are about to make an important decision for your future, a great investment of both money and time. Here are some tips that can help make your home buying process more successful.

Do Your Homework
The key step in buying a home is doing the proper research. Educate yourself on local schools, neighborhoods, and the kinds of homes available. By reading available materials and talking with experts, you can start to put together your idea of the perfect home.

Start Planning
Most decisions benefit greatly from proper planning and home buying is certainly no exception. Start a filing system with sections such as home buying, home financing and service providers. By forming a home buying plan you can more easily focus on the most important factors and help give structure to the entire process.

Get Pre-Approved or Pre-Qualified
Attaining the right mortgage is a key step in the home buying process, but it doesn't have to be a stress-inducing one. Most lenders offer pre-approval and/or pre-qualification to help you know where you stand. Let me explain the difference between the two.

Pre-Approval:  A written commitment from a lender to finance your home purchase up to a set amount. This indicates that the lender has taken a close look into your financial history and has agreed to lend you a specific amount of money, reliant on certain details like a finalized sales contract and professional inspection.

Pre-Qualification: A preliminary estimate of how much you can afford to pay for a home based on information you provide. Because credit and employment information aren't validated for pre-qualification, it can only be considered a rough idea of a monthly mortgage payment and loan size. This can be a useful guide as you begin the home buying process. 

Look For Value
When shopping for homes, it is important to consider potential value. Even if you are not planning to sell the home some time down the line, it is a good idea to consider the future value of the home. You may not think of a new home as a means to make money, but it is an important investment that requires caution.

Decide What You Are Looking For
Settle on the home features that are important to you (covered parking, hardwood floors, architectural style, etc.) and make an ordered list. Having well established guidelines will help narrow down your search and will prevent you from being shown properties that lack your key amenities. 

Relax
You do not have to make an offer on the first home you see. Make sure to look at other listings in the area to get a feel for the marketplace. When you decide to make an offer on a house, consult with a real estate professional so that all of your questions are answered.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Home Buying Tip: How To Save Up For A House

Are you thinking about buying a home and just don’t know where to start? Before you even begin looking at homes, consider how much you may need to save to make the process as smooth as possible for you, especially in the long run. While there are situations where you don’t need a large down payment for a home, having one can save you money down the road.  Saving for a down payment is slightly different than other large savings, like retirement. With those savings, you can set aside smaller amounts or invest the money. Because you will need your down payment sooner rather than later, those saving methods won’t be beneficial to you. Here are some steps to take to save up for your dream home! 1. Determine How Much You Need There is a general rule of thumb in real estate, the rule of 28, that says your maximum mortgage payment should not exceed 28% of your gross monthly income. Sitting down with a mortgage lender will help you find out how much of a mortgage you qualify for ba...
Post a Comment
Read more

When To Use A Professional For Home Projects

As homeowners, we want our properties to reflect our styles and the designs of the current day. If you have purchased an older property, or you just want to update your current home, a certain degree of work and projects are required to bring your property up to the level you strive for. While many of us have experience with home projects, there are some of us that don't. Below are some of the common projects homeowners embark upon, and suggestions on when it's best to do it yourself or call a professional for help. Walls Most painting jobs are DIY, pending you have a steady hand. Should you have structural repairs or water damage, call a pro, especially if you're going to demolish the existing wall, replace or re-frame anything, install new Sheetrock or drywall or anything else that is labor intensive. Floors Floor repairs can be fairly easy, from cleaning to repairing small nicks in the flooring. If you want to take on a larger project, it might be worthwhile to...
Post a Comment
Read more

6 Reasons Your Home Won't Sell

Are you ready to sell your home and want it to have a great first impression on the market? Or maybe your home has been listed for a few weeks or months, and you can't figure out why it won't sell, and you know your agent is working hard to market it. We've listed below the top 6 reasons your home may not make a good impression and end up stagnant on the market. 1. IT'S OVERPRICED To be clear, an overpriced home is the #1 reason a home won't sell. We often times want our homes to be worth a lot more than we may see based on the data, but if you put your home on the market for the number you wish it will bring instead of the price it actually needs to be, your home can sit on the market for months without getting a single showing. If you're thinking you need to price high to leave room for negotiations, statistics show that views for your property, for buyers in your price range, can drop a whopping 90% if it's priced too high. Discuss with your agent ...
2 comments
Read more