Knowing When Your Ready To Buy
All across the United States, there are millions of people looking
to a buy home - either now or in the future. Recently, lower
interest rates have come along, making it more affordable than ever
to buy a home. When most people stop and give it some thought -
buying a home makes a lot more sense than renting a home or an
apartment.
In order to buy a house, you’ll need to begin saving your money and
have sufficient funds for the closing costs and a down payment. Your
down payment will normally need to be around 15% of the price or the
value of the property - whichever is lower. To be on the safe side,
you should always try to have 20% to put down. If you aren’t able to
put 20% down, you’ll need to buy some private mortgage insurance,
which will cost you more in terms of your monthly payment.
Overall, the closing costs will run you around 5% of the property
price. Before you purchase the home, you should always get an
estimate. An estimate won’t be the exact price, although it will be
really close. You should always plan to save up a bit more money
than you need, just to be on the safe side. It’s always best to have
more than enough than not enough.
You’ll know your prepared buy a home when you know accurately how
much you can afford, and you’re willing to stick with your plan.
When you buy a home and get your monthly mortgage payment, it
shouldn’t be any more than 25% of your total monthly income.
Although there are lenders out there who will say that you can
afford to pay more, you should never let them talk you into doing so
- but stick to your budget instead.
Keep in mind that there is always more money concerned with a home
other than the mortgage payment. You also have to pay for utilities,
homeowners insurance, property taxes, and maintenance. Owning and
caring for a home requires a lot of responsibility. If you’ve never
owned a home before, it can take a bit of time to get used to.
Prior to filling out any applications, you should always look over
your credit report and check for any slip-ups. Although you may
think you don’t, you can easily get an error on your credit report
and not even realize it. If you have an error on your credit report,
it can cost you a lot of money in interest rates. An error will
decrease your credit score, which will put you in a higher interest
bracket and ultimately cost you a lot more money in the end.
Therefore, you should always know your credit before you approach a
lender.
If you check your credit report ahead of time, you may leave
yourself enough time to fix any problems and get your credit back on
track. Rebuilding credit can take time though, sometimes even years.
You should always plan ahead - and give yourself plenty of time to
fix your credit.
Buying a home will involve a bit of work on your behalf. You should
always strive to get the best possible deals, which means knowing
your credit and where you stand. This way, you can get the best
interest rates. You don’t want to buy a home with bad credit, simply
because you’ll pay a lot more money for the home. If you take the
time to fix any credit problems and save up some money - you’ll be
able to get a much better home for your money.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bob Schwartz, is a Certified Residential
Specialist, CA licensed real estate broker with
www.Brokerforyou.com. Bob
has over 27 years of residential real estate experience, authored a
number of published articles and served as an expert witness for
San Diego lawyers. You can contact
Bob via e-mail at bob@brokerforyou.com or visit his highly popular
San Diego real estate website at:
http://www.brokerforyou.com
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