Home Buyers Guide

Owning a home is part of the American Dream and more and more people each year are taking the step to realizing the pride of purchasing their first home.  There are many other advantages to home ownership:

  • Freedom to live the way you choose.  Creating the type of environment you want with your home and its surroundings.
  • Accumulation of equity.  You can borrow against the equity in your property to finance vacations, automobiles, college educations, etc.  The interest on home equity loans may be tax deductible.
  • Where rent payments may increase annually, mortgage payments generally remain stable.  This allows you to plan effectively for monthly indebtedness.
  • Any home improvements you choose to make may icrease the value of your home.
  • Real estate generally increases in value over time.  Even if you do nothing to your home in the way of improvements, you will likely realize an increase in the value by a percentage of appreciation.

Shopping for a home should begin by speaking with a lender to determine your buying power.  This will be determined by analyzing your monthly debts, lifestyle, credit history, employment history, etc.

The next step should be choose a Realtor who will explain your options in looking for homes (including Buyer Agency) and then help you search for the homes best suited to meet your needs.

Home Buying Tips

Although your Realtor will ask questions to narrow down the scope of your home search, each property you view should be evaluated based on the criteria you've established for your wants and needs.  Using objective rather than subjective describers is helpful, such as "I want less than ½ acre lot" as opposed to "I want a large yard".  "Large" is a term open to lots of different interpretations.  "Less than ½ acre" is easy to understand.

Understand that the questions your Realtor will ask are designed to help him/her assist you in narrowing the search.  You should be prepared to say what you like and what you do not like after each showing.  This again will help the Realtor know more clearly what you are looking for, what is more important and less important to you.