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Preparing To Purchase a Home

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Exploring Your Mortgage Options

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Getting Approved

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Working With an Agent

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Finding a Home

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How To Make an Offer

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Preparing To Close

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Closing on Your Home

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Managing Your Mortgage

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1.FIGURING OUT IF IT’S THE RIGHT TIME TO BUY A HOUSE

The most important thing you must do when considering buying a house is examining your situation to figure out if it remains the same in the future. It’s a major commitment to purchase a home, which is why you must think about your current situation before you start comparing mortgage rates and hunting for houses. This home buyer’s guide will explain to how you can make things easier by asking yourself the following questions:

• Are you earning a steady income?
• Do you plan on staying in this home for the next 5 years?
• Do you have plans to make major changes in your life in the next couple of years that may place some financial restrictions on you, such as having kids or starting a new job?
• Do you think you can deal with repairs to your home, or will you hire a specialist to take care of house repairs?

HOW LONG DO I NEED TO OWN MY HOUSE BEFORE IT PAYS OFF?

We would recommend that you should only think about buying a home if you’re planning to stay in that house for the next 5 years. However, several factors may affect this, such as the amount of equity you have in the home, prices of rent, and the housing market.

2.BUYING VS. RENTING A HOUSE

There are benefits for each option, and you should choose the one best suited to you. We’ll compare both options to provide you with a better picture.

BENEFITS OF BUYING

Buying a house  and becoming a homeowner is exciting; additionally, few of the benefits are:

• You have complete freedom to make changes to your home as you don’t need to deal with a landlord or get approval for anything.
• The interests on your mortgage payments will be tax-deductible, which is different to rent payments.
• You can find a tailored mortgage that is inline with your goals and budgets, which ensures that your monthly payments won’t increase if there are changes in the market.

BENEFITS OF RENTING

• The landlord is going to be responsible for all home upgrades and repairs.
• You don’t need to pay property taxes or homeowner’s insurance for the home.
• Moving is less stressful as you don’t need to find renters or sell your house.

3.HOW TO CALCULATE YOUR FINANCIAL SITUATION BEFORE BUYING A HOUSE?

It’s imperative that you are financially stable because buying a house is going to be the biggest purchase you’ll make in your life. You need to review all your billing statements and bank accounts to figure out your monthly expenditures. If you’re thinking about buying a house with another individual, such as your spouse, you must evaluate their finances, and ask the following questions from yourself:

• Are you earning a stable income and have a steady job?
• Do you manage to put some money into your savings account each month?
• What’s your plan for handling debt, such as car payments or student loans?
• Are you quick to pay your credit card bills? Qualifying for a better mortgage is easy if you have low credit card debt.
• Do you have money saved for emergencies? It’s recommended to save at least 3 months of income to deal with emergencies.
• Can you afford to pay closing costs and the down payment? Don’t use your emergency savings for these costs, as you may find yourself in a tough spot.

4.CALCULATING YOUR DOWN PAYMENT

Buying a house requires different payments and one of the most important ones is calculating your down payment will depend on factors like the cost of the house, and the type of loan you’ve acquired. Keep in mind that the more money you can put for your down payment, the more savings you’ll get on your interest and the lower your monthly payments will be. For conventional loans, you’ll need to make at least a 5% of a home’s price as down payment, and for FHA loans the down payment can be as little as 3.5%.

Apart from the down payment, you must also pay the fees that come with securing and processing your loan and the closing costs. These costs will differ depending on the type of mortgage and the price of the house but you can estimate them to be anywhere between 2% and 5% of the value of the house.

5.HOME AFFORDABILITY CALCULATOR

With the home affordability calculator, you can determine if you can buy a home by using your current debt and income.

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Further Reading

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