WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE BUYING A HOUSE IN HENDERSON

Are You Ready For A Home?

WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE BUYING A HOUSE IN HENDERSON

Looking to purchase a home? Do you have enough saved for a down payment? Have you hired a licensed real estate agent? Do you know what you need and what you can afford in your next home? These are questions you will want to ask yourself. You may also want to ask your friends and family what to know before buying a home, as there are potential challenges and choices that you haven’t thought of yet. Below is a list of things you will want to know before buying a home.

A GOOD CREDIT SCORE CAN SAVE YOU THOUSANDS

Mortgages and banks look at your credit score to see how well you make payments on time and how much debt you have. The better the credit score, the lower the interest rate you may be able to qualify for. Interest rates are huge and having a percent or two lower will save you thousands of dollars over the life of your loan. So before you buy your home, build up your credit score.

GET PREQUALIFIED

Choose a lender and get prequalified. This will show you how much money you have to work with as you are looking for a home. An example of prequalification is that a bank will give Joe a letter that says that they will lend him up to $150,000. If Joe finds a house for $160,000, he will have to make up the $10,000 difference in cash plus whatever down payment amount was agreed upon between him and his lender. If Joe finds a home under the $150,000, he will only have to pay the agreed-upon down payment.

YOU NEED A LIST OF REQUIREMENTS

After you get prequalified and know how much you can afford in a home, make a list of your needs and wants. You may need 3 bedrooms for your household and you may want a home with a view. Separating out your two lists will help you focus on what to look for. Discuss your list with your real estate agent, they will be able to tell you how many of your needs and wants will be met versus how much you can afford. If you have a large budget, you may be able to get most of both lists taken care of. If you are tight on funds, your real estate agent may offer some advice so that all your needs are met, like suggesting you look outside the area you initially intended, or show you homes where you can improvise on your needs. Be sure that you and your Henderson real estate agent are on the same page for what kind of houses you are looking for.

YOU NEED TO BE CERTAIN ABOUT THE AREA YOU LIKE

If you have an area you are determined to live in, drive there at night with the windows rolled down. If you find this experience scary or find that a neighbor has a really loud, obnoxious garage band, you may want to look elsewhere.

BE ON THE SAME PAGE AS YOUR CO-BORROWERS

If you are buying a home with multiple people, make sure you are all in agreement as to the details of the real estate purchase. Are you going to utilize down payment assistance? What price range are you looking in? What do the monthly payments need to look like? What will the home be used for? Be sure to sit down, write everything down, and have everyone involved sign what you have written so there is no confusion later.

KNOW THE STATE OF THE REAL ESTATE MARKET

This will help you determine if now is a good time to buy. If real estate experts are saying that the housing market is in decline, you may want to wait till it’s at its lowest to get a great deal on a home. Purchasing a home at the start of a decline will leave you underwater and that is not a great place to be, especially if the market will continue to decline. This could result in you being stuck in that house till the housing market turns around, or you will have to short sale or foreclose on your home which will ruin your credit and make it impossible to purchase a home for the next few years.

PREPARE YOURSELF FOR A 30 YEAR COMMITMENT

No, you probably won’t be stuck in that house if you need to move, but are you ready to take on a loan that will take you 30 years to pay off? If you are interested in having a family in 5 years, should you be buying a 2 bedroom? Make sure that you are ready to be in this house for at least two years (the time it takes on average for you to pay off enough of the loan to be able to sell the home and not continue to owe money on it). If you stay in the home longer than two years it’s possible that you will get money from the sale of your home, so think of this purchase as at least a 5-year commitment