Make a Financial Difference in your Life…  Buy Your First Home!

Being a First time Homebuyer can be an intimidating experience.  How do you know it is a good time to buy?  How do you know if you are getting a good price?  Will you be able to afford the payment?

All of those questions run through your head, as they should!  Everyone should ask themselves those questions!

There are a lot of financial benefits to owning your own home.  When you add up all of the tax benefits of being a homeowner versus a renter, it costs you no more to own your own home.  Plus, instead of paying down a mortgage for someone else, you should be paying down your own! 

As equity grows in your home, you are actually saving for your future!  Imagine if you think of your home as a permanent savings account.  When you have extra money, you can send extra money in and apply it towards your principle… when you don’t, you can make your normal payment.  After years of doing this, you are technically “saving” extra money in your home, and as housing prices move up, you are building equity in the home at the same time. The extra money that you have saved up in your home can be cashed out when you sell or if you choose to access the money with a Home Equity Line of Credit.

When looking at homes, it is critical for you to not get caught up with the thinking, “if I only spend a little more, look how much more I will get in a home!”  Buy at the price that you can afford!  Once you own your own home, you can always make improvements and changes to it when you are financially ready to do so.  Getting caught up with what else is out there for a little bit more money will only get you financially strapped in the end.  You can calculate different payment scenarios with a simple tool called a “mortgage calculator”.  You can put in different purchase prices, along with different down payments, and calculate your payment to exactly what you are looking to spend.  It is very simple and very helpful!

With your Real Estate Agent, you should always review comps of the homes in the neighborhood of the home you are interested in purchasing.  You should know the prices of the last sales, as well as the listing price of all of the homes for sale.  If the price you are looking to pay fits into that equation pretty well, then you have probably found yourself a good deal.  It is imperative that you are comfortable with the price that you are planning to pay for the home. 

You also need to realize that the Real Estate Market runs like a “roller coaster” … it goes up, dips down, and always goes back up!  You should have an idea of where on the “roller coaster ride” you are when you are buying, and then you will have no surprises ahead.

Being comfortable with the Real Estate Market and knowing if it is the right time to buy can be scary, but the question to ask yourself is, “am I ready to buy and is it at a comfortable price for me?”  You will have an idea what the Real Estate market is doing from reading the news and listening to media.  If you feel that the home prices are affordable to you and you are ready to buy, then you should go for it!  It comes down to finding the home that you want, for a comfortable price, and making sure you can afford it!