You should buy a home. That’s what you’ve been hearing from friends and family right? So, by now you have weighed the benefits and decided that home ownership is the best decision for your family.
That’s a major hurdle now passed. You are focused and certain. Great!
Get Educated: There are lots of down-payment options and loan types available ranging from 100% financing to as little as 3.5% down. Mortgage terms typically range from 15-40 years and be fixed or adjustable.
Grab Your Financial Paper Work Out: Lenders will be looking for information about your job, assets, debt and income to help you decide on the best home and payment for your family. As for down-payment options, get creative. You may be able to get help from relatives and if you’re soon to be married, FHA offers a Bridal Registry program to help with your down payment.
Figure Out The What & Where: About 80% of home searches begin on the internet. With just a few clicks, buyers can research schools, hospitals and other “hot buttons”. You’ve probably defined your goals and have a pretty good idea of the type of community and home you’d like. By the time you see your first property, you are halfway to homeownership.
How Long Should It Take To Buy A Home: It depends, each family is different. A motivated buyer will find a home in two weeks. Most buyers find a home in a couple visits.
How Many Homes Should We See: Studies show that your memory dramatically improves after you consume carbs, so have a hearty meal before venturing out. The most you should look at in one day is seven homes. Any more than that and the brain is on overload and you will probably not remember specific about any of them. While touring take notes. This will help you remember what you saw later.
The “Black Dress” Shopper: Women can relate to this. Let’s say you have a special event coming up and you need a new black dress. At the first store you find a fabulous dress. You try it on. It fits perfectly. It’s glamorous and priced right. Do you buy it? Of course not! You go to every other store and buy the black dress. Do not shop for a home like this! When you find the perfect home, buy it.
It was really nice how you suggested taking a look at a maximum of seven homes in one day because the brain will experience burn out if we check more than that and make it impossible for us to remember all of them. It was my sister who plans on buying a new home, so I think it will be best that I mention this to her. Knowing that she has the tendency to forget things easily, I think it’s for the best that is aware of this as it will make the home buying process faster. Thank you.
This is some really good information about buying a home for the first time. I liked that you explained that it would be smart to not look at more than seven house in one day. I didn’t realize that after that the homes will just merge together and you can’t tell them apart.
Great tips! Thanks for sharing. I agree that you should at least know how long will it takes to buy a house and research about the process that you have to take.
It’s great to know that motivated buyers will be able to get a house in just a short period of time, so it will really depend on the buyer. I will share this information with my sister because she is worried about how long it will take to buy her own house. She just needs to buy her own house already since she wanted to have a property before even having a partner and kids.
My wife and I are getting to the point where we are thinking about buying our first home. Before I read this article, I did not think about researching hospitals along with schools. I do agree that once you decide on the type of the community that you want to have, you are halfway there.