5 Tips That Can Help You with Choosing Your First Home for After the Wedding
For most newlyweds, purchasing a home is one of the most important financial decisions that they’ll make during their married life together. While shopping for a new house can be fun and exciting, there’s a lot of important factors to consider before beginning the search for your dream starter home. The following five tips can help ensure that your first home lives up to your expectations and gets your marriage off to a stellar start.
1. Put Your Financial House in Order
A history of paying your bills on time and steady work experience demonstrates to a lender that you’re a good risk when it comes to paying mortgage payments on time. Check your credit reports and take steps to improve them if needed. A poor credit report may require a high-interest loan that can price you out of the market. It also isn’t wise to simply dive into buying a home if you do not have some sort of savings. Before buying a home, consider renting a place for a few years and build up a small savings so that you can get a better rate for a loan.
2. Factor in All Expenses Before Deciding How Much to Spend
Couples have a tendency to focus on monthly mortgage payments, neglecting to consider all of the other expenses involved in home ownership, such as property taxes and home insurance payments. Your combined monthly household income also needs to cover maintenance and repair costs as well as any home improvements needed now or later. In the end, it is usually recommended that all of these monthly expenses do not exceed a third of your monthly income.
3. Discuss Your Long-Terms Plans and Expectations
Before shopping for their first home, newlyweds should have an honest conversation about long-term financial and personal goals to resolve any conflicts. One partner may want to retire early, for example, while the other wants to return to school to earn a degree. Expectations about how much to invest in decorating a new home should be discussed as well. This will give you a good idea if home ownership is a good idea right now, and what sort of investment you want to make.
4. Choose a Neighborhood that Matches Your Lifestyle
Around 40 percent of newlyweds report that their jobs are the dominating factor when choosing where to live. When a couple works in a metropolitan environment, a city apartment or condominium can serve them better than a detached home in the suburbs. Texan newlyweds, for example, may wish to rent a loft in Houston that provides easy access to local shops and restaurants, as well as to their jobs.
5. Have the Property Inspected Before You Buy
Before making a commitment to buy any property, newlyweds should have the home assessed by a qualified home inspector. Any problems discovered during the home inspection may allow you to negotiate a better purchase price, and this measure will protect your from buying a home that is riddled with expensive problems and issues.
Assessing a couple’s current and future goals, needs, and expectations gives newlyweds the information that they need to choose a home that best suits their needs and budget.
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Category: Housing
