First Time Home Buyers

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Are You Ready For Home Ownership

Buying your first home is a major decision but being a homeowner has many advantages. A mortgage payment combined with property taxes and insurance is often the same or only slightly less than a monthly rent payment. Additionally, you will be building equity with each payment, your payments will be offset by tax savings from mortgage interest deductions and as rents go up, your mortgage payment will not.

Some Questions Prospective Homeowners Should Ask

Are you ready to buy a home?

The first step is being willing to take the risks of home ownership with a realistic expectation of the rewards. You must be aware that owning your own home is more than just decorating it the way you like. You must also be prepared to maintain your home over the years, realizing that part of your income and time will go towards repairs and maintenance.

How much can you afford?

It can be discouraging to realize that your salary won’t afford you the home you dream of. Committing too much of your income to pay a mortgage can quickly make home ownership a burden rather than a blessing. It’s better to buy a conservative home now and purchase your “dream home” in a few years as you gain equity. With a little planning and luck, you can keep your first home as an investment property.

Your debt-to-income ratio?

Mortgage lenders generally expect your overall debt to be no more than 40% of your income and your housing debt to be no more than 32%. What kind of home 32% of your income will buy depends largely on where you choose to live. First time homebuyers will often choose suburban areas for their lower home prices, larger lots and good schools. Highly sought-after urban areas will often cost more for smaller homes, but can save time and money for those that commute to work each day.

What do you want?

Do you like the idea of cleaning your own gutters? Do you shudder at the thought of lawn care? Would you rather just pay a fee every month and have everything done for you? Would obeying rules about when you can have your garbage cans out bother you, or do you want to live in a neighborhood where everything is ‘just so’? The answers to these questions can help you narrow down the search for the right type of property for you.

ROCK Properties Can Help!

You need a real estate agent with experience who puts your interests first and is dedicated to helping you find the right home, at the best price. We enjoy helping our clients find the home that will make you happy and successful in their real estate adventure.

When you employ Rock Properties to help you buy your first home, we’ll first learn about what you want and what you can afford. Then we’ll work together achieve all of your priorities to find a home that you’ll enjoy calling home.

Keep your goals in mind when viewing homes, the idea of owning a home can sometimes overwhelm your emotions, so we’ll help you make objective decisions. It often helps to keep a checklist of the features that you need in your home and judge each home by your needs instead of the fancy details that could distract you from your goal. When working with your real estate agent, you can go over the pros and cons of each home. We can help you stay on track while sharing the search for a great property.

Making an offer can be an intimidating process with terms like “earnest money”, “option period”, “inspection”, “closing”, “contracts” and more. As your agent, we will prepare contracts and explains the process as we go through it with you. It’s a dynamic process that can have many twists and turns such as, the seller rejecting or countering an offer, so it’s good to have an expert to help you stay objective and to explain what you might expect before it happens.

Get the necessary inspections. A home inspection can check for signs of harmful materials and check for things like evidence of pests, faulty wiring and leaks. This is an important part of the home buying process. Not having an inspection could means that you could find yourself owning a home with a major defect and no recourse other than to pay for its repair. Inspections typically cost a few hundred dollars but provide some peace of mind when buying a home.

Do a final walkthrough before closing the deal. We’d be happy to do this with you to make sure that everything agreed upon is completed prior to the final signing.

From the first meeting with your agent to the moment that you receive the keys, we can help you with the complicated process of buying a home. Please don’t hesitate to contact us to find out more about how we can make the home buying process fun and exciting.