Top Tips For First-Time Home Buyers

The challenge of buying a home for the first time can seem so daunting that it’s tempting to either just go with the first house that falls in your price range or continue to rent. To help you with the process and get the most out of the purchase, we will explore what you’ll need to consider before you buy, what you can expect from the buying process itself, and some handy tips to make life easier after you purchase your first dream home.

What specific features will your ideal home have?
While it’s good to retain some flexibility in this list, you’re making perhaps the biggest purchase of your life, and you deserve to have that purchase fit both your needs and wants as closely as possible. Your list should include basic desires, like neighbourhood and size, all the way down to smaller details like bathroom layout and a kitchen that comes with trust-worthy appliances, garden, nearby schools and other facilities.

How much mortgage do you qualify for?
Before you start shopping, it’s important to get an idea of how much a bank can assist you with your dream home, and find out exactly what is the downpayment needed, the interest rate and how many years you can pay it off, this may depend on several factors such as how many other debts you have, your monthly income and how long you’ve been at your current job.

How many homes can you actually afford?
On the other hand, sometimes a bank will give you a loan for more house than you really want to pay for. Just like with the purchase of a new car, you’ll want to look at the house’s total cost, not just the monthly payment. Of course, looking at the monthly payment is also important, along with how much down payment you can afford, how high the property taxes are in your chosen neighbourhood or location, how much insurance will cost, how much you anticipate spending to maintain or improve the house, and how much your closing costs will be. (For help deciding what mortgage type is best for you, read Shopping For A Mortgage and Make A Risk-Based Mortgage Decision.)

Who will help you find a home and guide you through the purchase?
A real estate agent will help you locate homes that meet your needs and are in your price range, then meet with you to view those homes. Once you’ve chosen a home to buy, these professionals can assist you in negotiating the entire purchase process, including making an offer, getting a loan, and completing paperwork. A good real estate agent’s expertise can protect you from any pitfalls you might encounter during the process.

The Buying Process

Now that you’ve decided to take the purchase a new home, let’s explore what you can expect from the home buying process itself. This is a chaotic time with offers and counter-offers flying furiously, but if you are prepared for the hassle and related paperwork, Here is the basic progression you can expect:

1) Find a home.

Make sure to take advantage of all the available options for finding homes on the market, including using your real estate agent, searching for listings online and driving around the neighbourhoods that interest you in search of for-sale signs. Also put some feelers out there with your friends, family and business contacts. You never know where a good reference or lead on a home might come from.

2) Consider your financing options and secure financing

First-time homebuyers have a wide variety of options to help them get into a home, if you have been good at saving and already have the cash ready to pay for the home of your choice, then you are one of the lucky few, otherwise you have the option to get a bank mortgage loan with minimum down payment depending on the bank of your choice, you should make a comparison based on the bank mortgage rate charges and years of payment that will have a major impact on the total price for new home. So shop around it will really pay off.

3) Make an offer

Your real estate agent will help you decide how much money you want to offer for the house along with any conditions you want to ask for. Your agent will then present the offer to the seller’s agent; the seller will either accept your offer or issue a counter-offer. You can then accept, or continue to go back and forth until you either reach a deal or decide to call it quits. If you reach an agreement, you’ll make a good-faith deposit and the process then transitions into processing the paperwork and finalizing the deal either at the developer office or at Gosi if the property already has a title deed available.

4) Obtain a home inspection

Even if the home you plan to purchase appears to be flawless, there’s no substitute for having a trained professional real estate agent to guide through the process. Negotiating to have the seller make the repairs or discount the selling price are other options if you find yourself in this situation.

5) Close or move on

If you’re able to work out a deal with the seller, or better yet, if the inspection didn’t reveal any significant problems, you should be ready to close the deal.

Congratulations New Homeowner … Now What?

You’ve signed the papers, paid the movers and the new place is starting to feel like home. Game over right? Not quite. Let’s now examine some final tips to make life as a new homeowner more fun and secure.

Keep Saving
With homeownership comes major unexpected expenses, like replacing the roof or getting a new water heater. Start an emergency fund for your home so that you won’t be caught off-guard when these costs inevitably arise.

Perform regular maintenance
With a large amount of money you’re putting into your home, you’ll want to make sure to take excellent care of it. Regular maintenance can decrease your repair costs by allowing problems to be fixed when they are small and manageable.

Ignore the housing market
It doesn’t matter what your home is worth at any given moment except the moment when you sell it. Being able to choose when you sell your home, rather than being forced to sell it due to job relocation or financial distress, will be the biggest determinant of whether you will see a solid profit from your investment.

Conclusion

This brief overview should help put you on the path towards filling in any gaps in your home-buying knowledge. Remember that the more you educate yourself about the process beforehand, the less stressful it will be, and the more likely you will be to get the house you want for a price you can afford – and with a smile on your face.