3 Home Buying Tips to Help on Your Next Home Purchase

Looking to continue your journey in home buying?

We will continue where we left off from last week in 4 Home Buying Preparation Tips (Part 1).

Buying a home can be a challenging process if you don’t have a guide.

Let alone today, its even more necessary you are educated on the home buying process.

Knowing how your market is performing, and the projected performance of the home you want to buy, is vital.

• See our articles on Understanding Location Location Location and Solutions for Home Buyers in Today’s Market.

We still stand by the guidance in these articles. Specifically buying new construction.

So, we left off at lender interviews in 4 Home Buying Preparation Tips (Part 1).

Let’s get started.

1) Lender Support

Knowing your eligibility requirements from the lender is an important part of preparing.

Another important step related to choosing a lender, is based upon the down payment assistance or low credit score sponsored programs, the lender supports.

Knowing which programs you want to pursue and leveraging your loan officer to support you in acquiring those programs, on your behalf, is a vital step.

We all know how much a down payment can consume from your savings account.

Why not leverage a program, if you’re eligible, to help you along the way.

• Check out Securing Grant Money: Step by Step Guide for First Time Home Buyers by C.R. Wesley for assistance with the entire home buying process and down payment assistance available in our Shop.

Utilizing a program to save your hard earned cash can be a great stepping stone to help you advance your success.

After you’ve aligned the lender with the best terms and programs you want to pursue, go ahead and get your pre-qualification from the lender if you are ready to start shopping for a home.

Being that you’ve already aligned your financial stability, affordability, credit preparation and found the lenders most suitable for you, you are ready to start shopping for your home.

2) Best Location for Your Money

It is important that you consider locations that will help you build the most wealth in the shortest period of time based upon your affordability.

• By using the Home Buying Investment Calculator, you will be fully aware of your affordability.

Your next task will be to align highly sought characteristics amongst buyers.

Because one day you will sell the property, you must think about an exit strategy even before buying.

If owners have had a hard time selling in an area you are prospecting, it is very likely you will too, when you decide to sell.

Be sure to take an ownership perspective of any property you are prospecting.

• In the Home Buying Investment Calculator there is a component to help you determine your capability to cash flow your home if you were to rent it out. This is one aspect of determining your capable exit strategy.

The next possibility to consider, in your exit strategy, is the potential selling price and/or appreciation of the property over time.

• In the article recommended above, Understanding Location Location Location, there are some key pointers to help you determine if your new potential home is in a favorable area.

After understanding the points in Understanding Location Location Location, you will want to know what the average appreciation has been for any potential home you are interested in.

Your should rely on your real estate agent to assist you here. 

There will be data that will need to be reviewed in order to determine what the average appreciation has been per year in the location you are interested in.

Outside of the appreciation factor you’ll want to consider the following in your ranking system.

• Best school districts and distance of the schools from your potential home.
• Access to transportation by highways and public transportation.
• Safety and the trend of crime in the area.
• Access to commercial needs like airports, hospitals, banks, grocery stores and entertainment.
• Your commute to work.

Rank the homes you can afford by these characteristics.

After you have determined what areas you like, you are now ready to start initiating your professional supportive relationships.

3) Professional Support

Hopefully by attending the home buyers class, mentioned in 4 Home Buying Preparation Tips, it has helped by providing some potential contacts to support you.

You will need the following:

• Attorney
• Realtor
• Home Inspector

It is possible the realtor may have some referrals for you, but its also good that you seek out your own contacts to get familiar with what your conversations will look like with each of them.

A few things you’ll want to check with each of them are:

• How much they charge for their services.
• How their availability is over the time span than you plan to purchase.
• A description of the service that they will provide to you.
• Any recommendations or requests they may have for you.

Building your knowledge of how this process goes will be instrumental in your next real estate endeavors.

As you can see, your process of interviewing your support team is important.

You will do the same thing with the realtor.

Once you know the optional areas you want to buy in, your affordability, you have your pre-qualification from the lender, you have your attorney, and you know the purchase process, you are ready to start interviewing realtors.

A few questions you may have for them may be:

• How is your familiarity with the areas I’m interested in?
• How is your availability during the time I wish to start shopping for a home?
• What is your commission and do you have any referrals for any attorney’s, inspectors or lenders?
• Are you familiar with home buying assistance programs?
• What can I do to help our relationship be more effective?
• Do you have any questions, recommendation or requests for me?

You will learn a lot when you are prepared and you understand that you are selecting who you will conduct business with. Not them selecting you…

Choose the best people that you feel comfortable with and look for trust, kindness and professionalism.

Conclusion

You are now prepared to complete the process! Congratulations!

Build your confidence by making sure you understand each step mentioned in these two articles.

Everything else that will happen after you’ve found a home will be led by your real estate agent.

Be sure you don’t sign anything with anyone before your attorney reviews it. Even the agreement with the realtor.

Thanks for joining us today faithful readers – future leaders.

Love ya and continue to strive for growth.

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Please comment if you’d thought this article was helpful or what further detail you’d like.