Tips for Buyers
5 Tips to prepare for when buying a home
Tip one:
Do not Buy or finance high ticket items. As a buyer, a bank qualifies you based on the income that you pay taxes on, your debt obligations, as well as your credit score. When you finance a high ticket item, your monthly debt obligation increases, which means your qualifications decrease.
Tip Two:
Don’t rush.
When a buyer is rushed they can potentially make a bad investment decision. Real estate is one of the best investment vehicles on the planet when done properly. If you’re rushing the process because you don’t want to pay an extra six months in rent when in reality, those extra six months in preparation and savings puts you in a position to make a better investment decision – then you can be making a mistake!
Tip Three:
Tip number three is to purchase the property that can serve you the longest amount of time. When you purchase a home, you will have closing costs on the front end and when you sell a home you will have closing costs on the backend…which means you may potentially be into your property for tens of thousands of dollars more than you actually purchased it for. When you have owned a home for 10-15-20 years – in the future if you decide to sell it and even if the market is down, you have owned it long enough for appreciation to kick in. You have paid down some of your mortgage throughout that 10-15 year timeframe which means your chances of being upside down on that property in that long of a timeframe is nearly 0. Make sure when you’re purchasing a property I can serve you the longest amount of time if need be.
Tip Four:
Tip number four, closing costs. Often buyers wait too long to speak with their local realtor or banker, and they don’t realize that they have closing costs in addition to their down payment. The closing costs for every area are different depending on where you are. The best thing you could do as a buyer is reach out to your local realtor who can put a team around you to make sure that you are preparing your finances properly. That way closing costs do not end up a surprise. They end up being something you’re prepared for which brings us to…
Tip Five:
Tip number five, waiting too long to reach out to a local realtor. If you are looking to purchase a property, we recommend you reach out to a local realtor, roughly 12 months in advance. As we stated earlier, your realtor is going to put a team around you to make sure you are preparing properly. Too often buyers either do not want to address their current financial circumstances or they feel they are wasting the realtors time. The information that a realtor has to share with you is very important over your preparation. They are also going to make sure that you are preparing properly. Meeting with your realtor is free. Take advantage of it. as a buyer, you do not compensate your realtor. So find your local expert, reach out to schedule a meeting with them and start preparing properly today.
