First Time Home Buyer Tips

It's crucial to be prepared for a home purchase. This entails saving for a downpayment and ensuring your credit is in good order. Since it takes time to do both of these things, it's good to prepare at a minimum of at least six months in advance. The more money you have saved for a downpayment, the more affordable your mortgage will be. When it comes to your credit, if you have any blemishes, now is the time to discover them and have them fixed with the credit bureaus.

Before you begin to look at homes, you'll need to know what you can afford as a first time home buyer. By partnering with a top-rated mortgage broker, such as those at DOT Mortgage, they will be able to crunch the numbers for you, use the current interest rates on mortgages, and give you a great idea about what you can afford. This is important because you want to ensure you stay within your budget so that you don't get into a home that may leave your lifestyle lacking in other areas.

When choosing a real estate agent, you need to find one whom you can trust and who has your best interests at heart. Consider their passion for the industry, their experience, and their honesty. You should check their reputation within the community by talking to others who have worked with that real estate agent, visiting their website and social media sites, and reading any online reviews they may have. Also, ensure you get along well with your real estate agent and that you have a good rapport, which will make the experience of buying your first home a pleasure instead of a pain.

Purchasing a home is one of the biggest investments you will make in your lifetime. Thus, you want to be sure you make the right decision, not only for your lifestyle, but also for the future. You'll want to be patient and take your time. Investigate neighborhoods and the surrounding amenities. Take a look at the school district if you have kids or are planning to have kids, and look at the surrounding homes in your desired neighborhoods. Will this be a place you can see yourself in five, ten, or more years down the road? Will your home's value appreciate? These are all great things to consider as you look to buy your first home.

Buying a home for the future is an incredibly exhilarating expertise and very exciting, especially if you've been saving for a while for a down payment. It also can be a very emotional time. It’s entirely possible that you fall in love with a home that may not be the right fit for you, but you can't see that without a different perspective. Instead of going it alone, bring along a friend or family member whose opinion you trust that will be honest with you about the flaws they see in your future home. It’s possible that they may notice something you’ve missed that could make or break the entire deal.

Many people find the home of their dreams and start making plans once they've moved in, only to have those dreams shattered by a home inspection report that revealed major structural flaws with their dream home. Having your future home inspected before you sign on the dotted line has now become a must-do. After all, no one wants to purchase their first home only to find out it has to have thousands of dollars of work done to it on day one.

Once your home inspection is complete, you will have a final walkthrough, which is your last chance to see your new home and find any flaws that may need to be addressed with the seller before you sign on the dotted line. When closing day finally arrives and you've signed the mountain of paperwork, enjoy it! You've worked hard for this so celebrate!