4 Essential Tips When Buying Your First House

Buying a house is no easy feat. It’s also something that most people spend the bulk of their adult lives striving towards. This means that when you eventually get there, you need to have your ducks in a row to make the transition from renting to owning as smooth and stress-free as possible. You don’t have to be an expert in real estate and property ownership to buy your first home; all that’s required is a little research, some common sense, and a good deal of preparation. However, buying your first home can be overwhelming for any individual, especially if it’s the first time you’ve ever had to consider bills like mortgage repayments and maintenance costs.

Get A PreApproval Letter

Before you even start looking at properties, you’ll need to ensure that you’re pre-approved for a mortgage. Pre-approval is a process that allows you to receive a binding offer from a lender based on your income, debt, and payment history. This way, you’ll know how much you can borrow, which means you can make an informed decision about how much house you can realistically afford. Getting a pre-approval letter can be lengthy, so make sure you start the process as early as possible. This will give you plenty of time to find a house you can comfortably afford and close the deal on time. If you’re buying a home with a partner, ensure they are also pre-approved, as this will make the process even easier.

Decide How Much You Can Spend

Once you know how much you can borrow, you can start to figure out how much you can spend on a property. It’s highly recommended that you don’t spend more than 30% of your gross income on housing-related expenses, including your mortgage payment, utilities, and property taxes. This means that if you make $75,000 a year, you shouldn’t spend more than $1,875 on a mortgage payment per month alone. Once you know how much you can spend on a mortgage each month, you can start looking at real estate listings, and you’ll be able to narrow down your search by price. You’ll want to search for properties below your maximum spending limit, even if you don’t think you could ever afford to buy them. This will give you a better understanding of what is available in your neighborhood and how much it costs. Also keep in mind, you may run across some unexpected first time homebuyer expenses like documentation costs or repairs necessitated by inspections–never hurts to have a $2,000-3,000 cushion for these types of occurances.

Research Where You Want To Live

When narrowing your search by price, you may be tempted to focus on high-end real estate listings such as https://www.zoomproperty.com/en/buy/ras-al-khaimah/properties-for-sale. However, you should also consider cheaper neighborhoods, as they might better fit your needs. You should also examine the crime rates in different areas, school districts, public transportation systems, and employment rates. You should also consider how easy it will be to get to work and if there is anything that might make it difficult for you to get where you need to go. When you’ve narrowed your search to a few suitable neighborhoods, visit them in person.

Look Into First Time Buyers Assistance Programs

As soon as you know how much you can spend on a mortgage, you should look for real estate listings in your neighborhood and online. However, there is a chance that you might not be able to find a property that meets your needs. In this case, you might consider turning to a first-time homebuyers assistance program to help make the transition from renting to owning a little bit easier. These programs usually offer government-backed loans designed to be easier to get and have more lenient terms than conventional loans. This means that you might be able to secure a lower interest rate and lower monthly payment amount.