There are four specific things you need to do now that will save you money, reduce the stress, and help set the foundation for the home buying process.
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1. Get Your Credit Right
Your credit is basically a score based on your money relationship with banks, credit card companies, and even your monthly service providers (cable, electric, phone, internet, etc). The system has every detail of these relationships documented and your credit score is based on that. You need to do two things here:
- Find Your Credit Score
- Fix Your Credit Score
We’ll teach you exactly how to do that for free here.
2. Save for a Down Payment
A bank will lend you money for buying a house (called a mortgage). They don’t generally want to loan you the entire purchase price of the home. You have to put some money in right from the start. Saving up is key here.
3. Get A Clear Sense of Your Budget
You may want to buy a house that’s way more than you can afford but it’s a huge mistake. Understanding what you can afford is key. Here’s how we suggest you do it:
- Think about what you are currently paying in rent. If you can afford that, then use this number as your goal for a monthly mortgage payment
- Google “Mortgage Calculator”. Use any one of the online calculators to figure out how much you could borrow to have the same monthly payment as you’re currently paying in rent.
4. Understand the National and Local Real Estate Market
Getting to know the real estate market in your area is key to being ready to buy. Start paying attention now. Look at sites like:
- Realtor.com
- Zillow.com
- Search “Homefinder site [your town]” see if there are local sites for your area.
Pay attention to how much the homes you like cost, how long they stay on the market, what school districts they’rein, how much the taxes are, etc. Just generally start getting comfortable with what’s out there.
Want more advice and a community of fellow home buyers to be a part of? Check out our New Home Buyers Guide right here!
For a limited time, use the discount code CLOSING to get 25% off.
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