Hello World! Welcome Friends! Buying your first home can be one of a kind journey that, like any large project, in order to be successful is all about getting your details right from the beginning to the end. If you are a first-time buyer, you know how difficult is to follow all of the steps, tasks, and requirements, and how uneasy it can be dealing with the anxiety of making an expensive mistake. And we all know the common what-ifs and questions – will I get in the right neighborhood, how good house installments will be, will it payout in the long run, and so on.
But what if we told you that you can make the process easier by reading this simple guide on all the things you should know when buying your first home? Let’s start.
Double Check Your Budget Size
Buying a home has one critical rule: don’t purchase more than you can afford. And by this, we mean that you not only need to do a major inspection of your finances, but you also need to be prepared for the purchase itself and all of the ongoing expenses for up to the next six months.
You need to look at your savings – once you make a purchase, you will also face the down payment and closing costs. Besides, you will need to take emergency funds and moving costs into consideration. To cover for the latter, however, you can look for the best local moving companies online. For example, if you are doing a home purchase in London, you can look for the best London removal company on one of the comparison websites, and choose the more convenient option.
One of your biggest tests will be to be able to provide enough money to live and cover all the expenses while dealing with inflation. Therefore, if your plan is to make a good purchase, you will need to start making savings asap. Also, the easiest way is to start with the 28% rule, meaning that your mortgage shouldn’t be higher than 28% of your gross monthly income.
In the end, you will need to check and strengthen your credit score, as it will decide whether you’ll qualify for a good home loan in the first place. This means that your maximum debt-to-income should be 43%, together with paying your bills on time. However, there are good housing programs even for those with lower credit scores and incomes, as is the case with single moms.
What Kind of Home Do You Need?
Once you decide on your budget, you can start thinking about your dream house. The best advice is to start off with practical questions – what do you NEED? Once you decide the most important features your home should have, you will unveil the options you can choose from. Some of the most popular and common home types are:
- Single-family homes are the best and most popular options as they are freestanding buildings that don’t share walls with other residences. In this case, a homeowner owns both the building and the land the home sits on.
- A semi-detached home is usually somewhat cheaper, as it still is a single-family dwelling that shares one common wall with a neighbor, and the house design is mirrored.
- Tiny homes are the newest trend and are between 60 and 400 feet in size. They come in various styles and designs with a tendency to become more interesting each year.
- Mobile homes are reserved for adventurers and people who are always on the go and comfortable with a simpler lifestyle. Like tiny homes, they have become more popular recently and come in great cozy designs suitable for both singles and families.
- And more…
Learn How Big a Mortgage You Qualify for
As a first-time buyer, aside from clarifying how much you can afford to spend, one of the most important things to fortify before you start purchasing is the amount of money a lender will be willing to give you for a home.
You might want to qualify for a $500,000 house, while a lender will hold you at $300,000 based on things like your salary, current job, credit score, monthly income, and the size of your debt. The first thing to do is to make research on the type of mortgage you can choose, and then, you can start working out the one that will suit you the best.
Definition of the First-Time Home Buyer
We will finish off this article by explaining what a first-time home buyer stands for in legal terms. As per the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, a first-time homebuyer is any person that meets the following requirements:
- Someone who in the last three years hasn’t owned a principal residence.
- A single parent who only shared the homeownership with a former spouse.
- Anyone who was displaced from the previous home owned together with a spouse.
- A person who was holding the ownership only of the property that was not in agreement with local, state, or model building codes.
- Anyone whose principal residence was not attached to a permanent foundation, following relevant regulations.
Once you’ve read all of the important points, you can start making your first purchase. All the best of luck!
Click the links below for any posts you have missed:
Renovate Your Home With Professional Help
Get the Best General Contractor
FHA vs. Conventional Loan: What’s the Difference?
Types of Concrete-Effect Wallpaper
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Toodles,
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