Do's and Dont's When Buying a House for the First Time

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Buying your home for the first time is exciting and nervous at the same time. It excites you to think that you can finally have your own place where you can do what you want, but you should be aware that the mortgage means "death grip." Having a house of your own also means you're signing on for repairs, maintenance, insurance, and taxes, to name a few.

It feels like simultaneous freedom and oppression as you can stay up as late as you want or play your music as loud as you like; but the bank insists that you have homeowner's insurance and you may not have considered just how much those annual taxes are when you were calculating how much you could afford each month. 

Because of these emotions, first-time home buyers tend to make mistakes. Here are a few tips on how to make your journey into buying your dream home for the first time, a little less stressful and more smooth-sailing.

Do figure out how much house you can afford

Knowing how much house you can afford can save you from wasting your time. As a first-time buyer, your goal should be buying a house and getting a loan with a comfortable monthly payment; and sometimes it's always a good idea to aim low.

You may use an online mortgage calculator to help you know how much is your achievable investment for your dream home and how much you can afford to borrow. It will also help you compute the possible monthly payment including the interest.

Do shop for multiple rate quotes

Remember that when shopping for a mortgage, it pays to compare offers as it is similar  to shopping for an expensive item. Mortgage interest rates vary from one lender to another, which is why it is a must to apply with multiple mortgage lenders. A typical borrower could save hundreds of euros in interest just in the first year by comparing at least five lenders.

Don't underestimate the costs of homeownership

After you buy a home, don't be surprised if your monthly bills keep piling up. This is normal and you should be ready for it. It is not just your mortgage payment that you should think of every month but also your gas bill, cable bill, electric and water bill, phone bill, association fees, you name it. Also, consider incurred costs from when you move into the property, you might find an issue that wasn't immediately clear from surveys done on the house, this could be something like a pest infestation somewhere on the land or in the property, you'll want to call in experts, such as Aptive Pest Control Delaware (or the same elsewhere more relevant) to get this solved. It's worth taking into consideration that these things can happen and that you need to set aside some money to deal with short-notice problems.

 

Going back to the burden of your regular and expected bills associated with moving house, it can help to work with a real estate agent before buying a house and ask how much the neighborhood's property taxes and insurance typically cost. Also, you may check with people in the neighborhood regarding their current major bills such as electricity, water and gas, combining all of these things can help you to get a sense of the true cost of living in a specific property, so you can budget accordingly.

Don't make a down payment that's too small

You don't have to make a 20% down payment to buy a home. There are loan programs that offer you to buy a home with a smaller to zero down payment. But that’s not always a good idea.

In the UK, lenders generally prefer borrowers to have a significant down payment of at least  5%. Some lenders may offer first time buyers a 100% mortgage with a £0 deposit, but obtaining that sort of loan will usually force one to pay at least a percent higher interest rate on their loan.

Some homeowners regret that they figured it out late, that they should have waited until they had a bigger down payment so they can secure an affordable monthly house payment, instead.

A bigger down payment means a smaller mortgage and a more affordable monthly house payment.

Don't empty your savings

Whether the home you are buying is pre-owned or not, it will inevitably need unexpected repair or minor improvements. Another growing pain for the first-time homeowners is when stuff breaks and it would save their day if they have enough savings for emergencies.

Aside from saving enough money to make a down payment, make sure you have enough finances to take care of repairs that may come up.