When you buy your first home, it's easy to get caught up in the fun of looking at houses and imagining life in your first home. You also might be worried about managing mortgage payments and dealing with chores of being a homeowner. The following tips might ease some of your worries about buying that first home.
While you need to decide what type of home you want and where you wish to live, the first thing you need to consider is how much you can afford. To get an initial picture of how much you can afford, get pre-qualified for a loan. This usually costs nothing and often takes just a few minutes, and you can even do this online. Basically you just share some basic information with a lender such as your total income, your debts and whatever assets you already possess, such as you vehicles.
This doesn't mean that the lender will give you a loan, but it can help to simply get an idea about the ballpark of price ranges that you can look at. From there, you need to sit down with a pen, paper and calculator and truly gauge how much you can afford for a mortgage payment. Be sure to include every monthly expense, such as utilities, cable, gasoline or transportation expenses, food expenses, monthly car loan payments, student loan payments and everything else you can remember. Don't forget that you also will have to pay property taxes and house insurance and possibly homeowners' association dues.
After you work it all out and decide what fits within your comfort zone, then you need to go to a lender and begin the process known as loan pre-approval. This is a much bigger deal than pre-qualifying. The lender will run your credit report, study your income, look at your debts and assets and determine a figure that they are willing to lend to you. It might end up being less than the pre-qualifying amount but it's far more accurate and it's much better to have this loan pre-approval before finding the house you want to buy.
When searching for homes, the most important aspects to consider are the location of a home and the "bones" of a home. A busy street, an undesirable neighborhood or a home too far away from your workplace, friends and family all might make the home's location undesirable. Just remember, the location can never be changed nor can the size of the yard and, for the most part, the size of the home. However, you can change wall colors, knock down some walls, rip out wallpaper and update floors and countertops. Perhaps you cannot do that right away, but if the home has a good layout with good-sized rooms and the location is great, this might be an excellent choice if it's comfortably within your price range.
In Texas, one of the most desirable areas is Texas Hill Country, and if you want to search for homes for sale in Fredericksburg or homes for sale in Kerrville or perhaps San Antonio, contact a real estate firm that specializes in this popular Texas region. Nixon Real Estate has been helping clients find homes in this area for more than three decades and can help first-time home buyers through the entire process of finding and buying their new home.
While you need to decide what type of home you want and where you wish to live, the first thing you need to consider is how much you can afford. To get an initial picture of how much you can afford, get pre-qualified for a loan. This usually costs nothing and often takes just a few minutes, and you can even do this online. Basically you just share some basic information with a lender such as your total income, your debts and whatever assets you already possess, such as you vehicles.
This doesn't mean that the lender will give you a loan, but it can help to simply get an idea about the ballpark of price ranges that you can look at. From there, you need to sit down with a pen, paper and calculator and truly gauge how much you can afford for a mortgage payment. Be sure to include every monthly expense, such as utilities, cable, gasoline or transportation expenses, food expenses, monthly car loan payments, student loan payments and everything else you can remember. Don't forget that you also will have to pay property taxes and house insurance and possibly homeowners' association dues.
After you work it all out and decide what fits within your comfort zone, then you need to go to a lender and begin the process known as loan pre-approval. This is a much bigger deal than pre-qualifying. The lender will run your credit report, study your income, look at your debts and assets and determine a figure that they are willing to lend to you. It might end up being less than the pre-qualifying amount but it's far more accurate and it's much better to have this loan pre-approval before finding the house you want to buy.
When searching for homes, the most important aspects to consider are the location of a home and the "bones" of a home. A busy street, an undesirable neighborhood or a home too far away from your workplace, friends and family all might make the home's location undesirable. Just remember, the location can never be changed nor can the size of the yard and, for the most part, the size of the home. However, you can change wall colors, knock down some walls, rip out wallpaper and update floors and countertops. Perhaps you cannot do that right away, but if the home has a good layout with good-sized rooms and the location is great, this might be an excellent choice if it's comfortably within your price range.
In Texas, one of the most desirable areas is Texas Hill Country, and if you want to search for homes for sale in Fredericksburg or homes for sale in Kerrville or perhaps San Antonio, contact a real estate firm that specializes in this popular Texas region. Nixon Real Estate has been helping clients find homes in this area for more than three decades and can help first-time home buyers through the entire process of finding and buying their new home.
About the Author:
Pammy McGrath likes reading about real estate blogs. If you are searching for licensed real estate Fredericksburg TX agents, or to discover a homes for sale in Fredericksburg TX, please visit the NixonRealEstate.com site today.
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