Buying a home is arguably one of the biggest decisions and financial investments that you will make in your lifetime. With this amount of pressure tied to one choice, many people get anxiety about how to go about the process and get the best home for their needs. But especially for first time home buyers, it can be hard to know what to do and what not to do to make the most of this situation. To help with this, here are three home buying tips for first-time home buyers.
Start Saving ASAP
As a first-time home buyer, it can be a real challenge to save up the amount of money necessary for a down payment. In general, you should ideally put at least 20 percent down on a home. But for those who are buying a home for the first time, it can be very hard to gather together this amount of money. Knowing this, Emily Starbuck Crone, a contributor to NerdWallet.com, recommends that you start saving for your down payment as soon as you can. Luckily, you can often get by with a lot less than 20 percent when buying your first home. While this will cause you to have a larger mortgage payment and PMI, it will at least allow you to move into a home sooner.
Get All Your Documents In Order
The process of acquiring a mortgage and buying a home can be arduous. The amount of paperwork and planning it takes to get into a new home can be intimidating for many people. So to ensure that you’re getting everything taken care of in the right way, Sheyna Steiner, a contributor to Bankrate.com, suggests that you start getting all your documents in order well before you plan to speak to a mortgage broker or real estate agent. The paperwork you’ll need are recent pay stubs, tax information from the last few years, bank statements and more.
Learn About Negotiations
Although you may have negotiated other purchases before, negotiating for a home can be quite different. To help you prepare for this event, Elizabeth Weintraub, a contributor to The Balance, shares that it’s crucial that you look at comparable sales before you even think about negotiating. Just because you want something at a cheaper price than its being offered doesn’t mean that it will be possible to get that. But if you have data to backup your request for a price change, the chances of actually making this happen can greatly increase for you.
If you’re a first-time home buyer looking to get into your own home, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you make this process as painless as possible.
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