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Home Owner

Things You Need to Know Before You Buy a Home

February 14, 2021 by am10756 2 Comments

I’ve compiled a list of things you need to know before you buy a home. These are things I wish I had known. My husband and I recently bought our first home and there were so many unknowns. Neither of us work in real estate or any other profession that would have prepared us for the whirlwind that is buying a home.

Things you need to know before buying a home written in white with a peach background and a picture of a house

We were so unprepared. My goal with this list is to help you be more prepared. Some of these things have been mentioned in a previous posts but I think they’re worth repeating. I’m sure I can come up with another list in the future but for now these are things you definitely need to know before you buy a home.

If you are married, only the lower of the 2 credit scores will be used

This shocked my husband and I. We had no idea that they only use the lowest of the 2 credit scores on the loan application. I’ve given this example before but I’ll give it again just in case you didn’t the last post. For example, Mr. Smith has a credit score of 680 and Mrs. Smith has a credit score of 775. For the loan application 680 will be used because it is the lower of the 2 scores. This was not something my husband and I knew going into this process. This is something that can dramatically alter the home buying process if you are unaware.

Credit score written in red with poor, fair, good, very good and excellent written in back and a black check mark next to the word good. Things you need to know if you are buying a home
Blog post on credit score coming soon…

The inspection

Before you buy a home you will need to get an inspection. You don’t have to be there when your home is inspected but I HIGHLY recommend that you are. After our inspection the inspector walked us around the entire property. He pointed out everything that he was going to put on his report and why. He also gave us tips for how to properly maintain the property. Because he took the time to explain everything we were not confused when we received the inspection report. If we had not been at the inspection there is a good chance that we would not have understood most of the inspection report.

Another thing to know is that the inspector may not find every single problem. Hopefully they will find most of the issues, especially the major ones. But there could be underlying issues that are not found. I recommend keeping money in your savings account just in case there is an issue that the inspector did not catch.

You can’t use credit while in escrow

Technically you can use credit while in escrow but you shouldn’t! One of the requirements is that your debt-to-income ratio (DTIR) stay under a certain amount. I believe it’s under 40% but I don’t remember the exact percentage. When you are in escrow the lender will review your DTIR throughout the escrow process. If you are using credit and your DTIR rises your loan can be denied. Don’t go out and buy appliances, furniture or any big ticket items on credit until you’ve closed and you have the house keys in your hand. I will link a DTIR calculator here for you to use as a resource.

There are a lot of people involved

You will have calls, emails & texts from your realtor, realtor’s assistant, your mortgage broker, etc. There are so many people you will need to contact and communicate with. Just make sure that you are answering emails and calls promptly so you don’t delay the process.

You need to be available

You may get calls, emails & texts throughout the day and into the night. There are certain time-sensitive parts of the escrow process that will need to be handled immediately. In order to keep things running smoothly I recommend making yourself available as much as possible while in escrow.

Other things you need to know if you before you buy a home…

You need money readily available

When your offer is accepted you will be asked to put down earnest money. Earnest money lets the seller know that you are serious and you intend to go through with the sale. Earnest money, in our case, had to be deposited within 48 hours. We had to wire money from our checking account to the escrow account in order for it to be received in time. If you intend to use your 401k for a down payment you may not have access to that money quickly enough to use it for earnest money.

Do you have a 401k written in white on a black background with cartoon drawing of cash and cartoon drawing of a house. Things you need to know if you are buying a home

If you are using your 401k for a down payment I suggest that you also have at least $10,000 in a bank account that is easily accessible. When you borrow from your 401k it takes time to process the request and you may not have access to those funds for 3-5 days. So, 401k may not be an option for earnest money.

Be sure to read your 401k’s rules

Speaking of 401k’s, these are a great way to help you make a down payment if you need it. Some retirement accounts will allow you to pull money out for a down payment but make sure you read the fine print. Some plans will charge you a flat fee and others will require you to pay back the money within a specific time. Each plan will have specific requirements so just be sure to read the requirements for your plan.

Read every single form

Mistakes happen. I found several mistakes on different forms throughout our escrow process. Some were minor mistakes like spelling or a wrong phone number. Other mistakes were huge like a misplaced decimal point or forms stating that we got an FHA loan when we actually got a conventional loan. I highly advise you to read every single form. I know it’s time consuming. Some forms are 20 pages long but it’s important to read every page. I caught at least 5 mistakes on our forms. Luckily I caught these errors before I signed but I wasn’t joking about the decimal error or the loan type error. I found both of those errors and a few others which is why I recommend reading everything before you sign.

Your actual mortgage amount

You will not find out your actual mortgage amount until right before you close. This was a shock to us. We found out our exact mortgage amount 2 days before we closed. Throughout the process we were given estimates but you have to wait until you sign the final paperwork to know the exact amount.

You might get a refund

A couple weeks after closing you might get a refund from escrow. After you close escrow and all the calculations are done you may have overpaid and escrow will send you a refund check. There is no way to know if you’re getting a refund or how much you will be getting until after you close. If you do get a refund it is fun surprise. We were able to make some major improvements to our house with our refund and increase the value of our home.

Refund written in black with a cartoon drawing of a hand holding a check. Things you need to know if you are buying a home.

I hope this list of things you need to know before you buy a home was helpful.

I may make another list like this in the future because there were so many things that my husband and I did not know. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or comments. If you like this post or found it helpful please share it on Facebook or Pinterest!

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    • Things You Need to Know Before You Buy a Home
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We had to wire money from our checking account to the escrow account in order for it to be received in time. If you intend to use your 401k for a down payment you may not have access to that money quickly enough to use it for earnest money. If you are using your 401k for a down payment I suggest that you also have at least $10,000 in a bank account that is easily accessible. When you borrow from your 401k it takes time to process the request and you may not have access to those funds for 3-5 days. So, 401k may not be an option for earnest money. Be sure to read your 401k’s rules Speaking of 401k’s, these are a great way to help you make a down payment if you need it. Some retirement accounts will allow you to pull money out for a down payment but make sure you read the fine print. Some plans will charge you a flat fee and others will require you to pay back the money within a specific time. 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If you like this post or found it helpful please share it on Facebook or Pinterest!...
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    • Budget Tips
      Personal FinanceOver the last few months our budget has changed drastically. We bought our first home in September of 2020 and now we’re paying mortgage, HOA and utilities that we weren’t paying before. Most of our income use to go to savings and now were trying to find a balance between saving, paying off debt and living expenses. Here is how I budget, for now, it always seems to change. I will also give you some real numbers but keep in mind that we live in Southern CA so our expenses may seem outrageous if you live in other areas. I guess that’s the price we pay for great weather all year. To make my monthly budget I use a regular spiral notebook. Nothing fancy, I prefer pen and paper. Here is the exact notebook I use if you’re curious https://amzn.to/37hnTMP The first thing I do when creating my monthly budget is determine our monthly income. Not our gross income, the amount that actually gets deposited into our bank account. Tip #1-Send money into your savings account before you do anything else. A big mistake people make when budgeting is paying bills and giving themselves spending money before they contribute to their savings account. If you wait until all your bills are paid and all your spending money is accounted for you will probably have very little if anything to send to your savings account. So make savings a priority. After we’ve determined the amount we are sending to savings we then move on to our fixed expenses. These are bills or expenses that are due every month and the amount is the same from month to month. Our fixed expenses include mortgage, utilities, phone bill, child care, internet, HOA, insurance & a few others. Tip #2-You can change your fixed expenses. Try looking for quotes with other insurance companies, call your internet company and ask for a discount or cancel subscription services that are not being used. Next I move on to our variable expenses. These are things that are irregular or have fluctuating amounts from month to month. Some of our variable expenses are groceries, Costco, spending money & eating-out. Tip #3-Variable expenses are where you can really cut your costs and make your money stretch. The grocery budget is the easiest place to start when looking to save some money. You can also lower or eliminate spending money or eating-out for a period of time to help you get on track with expenses. Once I have all of our expenses accounted for I take our total income and subtract our savings, our fixed expenses and our variable expenses. Any money left over will go toward paying down any outstanding debt that we have like credit cards or student loans. Tip #4-If you don’t have any money left over that’s ok! As long as you are paying your bills and paying the minimum to your debt you are doing fine. Start to evaluate your budget and see where you can cut or eliminate expenses. Any “extra” money you find should go toward paying off debt. Once your debt is paid off you will have a lot more money to spend or to save. This is our actual 02/2021 budget. Please excuse the hand writing but since my platform is all about budgeting I thought it might be helpful to see some real numbers. I did block out our income but everything else is an accurate estimation of what we intend to spend this month. At the end of the month I will go back and compare my written budget with our actual expenses. From there I can see how we did for the month and what areas we need to work on for next month. There you have it. It’s not that exciting but hopefully this was helpful or at least inspired you to start a budget. I will link the video below of me writing out my budget for those of you who would like to see it. I am also trying out some new budgeting apps and I will be sure to share my thoughts in a future post. Please feel free to share your budgeting tips with me and we can keep each other accountable! *Disclaimer: Some links may be affiliate links...
    • The Cost of Adult Braces and How to Utilize a Flexible Spending Account
      Money Saving Tips / Personal FinanceIn this post I will be outlining the cost of my adult braces, payment options, what a flexible spending account is and how to utilized this account to save money on adult braces. Adult braces. I know, there is no difference between braces and adult braces. For this post I will be referring to them as adult braces because that seems to be the popular term. A quick background on me: I needed braces for years but was never able to afford them. I thought braces had to be paid upfront in all cash and was never able to save up that much. I finally decided to make getting braces a priority and started researching adult braces in 2017. A few helpful things I learned is that a braces consult is complementary. Anyone can meet with an orthodontist and get a price quote for braces and they will discuss the payment options with you. If you decide to get braces you will need a dentist sign a form stating that you have no cavities and your teeth are healthy enough for braces. You will also need to maintain regular dentist visits on top of orthodontist visits. Lastly, I learned that prices vary greatly so be sure to get multiple quotes for your adult braces. Now let’s get get into the financial side of adult braces How much do adult braces cost? That’s a loaded question. There are so many factors to consider like length of treatment, the materials needed, your location and the orthodontist you choose. I can only speak for myself but I can say that the longer your treatment is the more expensive your treatment will be. My estimated treatment time was 2.5 years with a total cost of $4400. The price and the timeline completely shocked me. I decided to go forward with the treatment because I knew I needed it. For my treatment I chose to go with clear brackets, which are about $200 more than metal. I could’ve saved that $200 if I had gone with metal but I decided to splurge for cosmetic reasons. That $4400 included everything that was needed to complete my treatment. This includes appointments, X-rays, materials, 1 set of retainers and all other costs. Payment options Of course, you can pay for your treatment upfront with cash but that’s not always feasible. If you’re really good at saving you might consider waiting until you have the entire amount saved. For me, I knew I had put off my treatment long enough so I was happy that there were other payment options that I could take advantage of. 1. Insurance There are a few options for paying off your adult braces. First, you can check with your insurance. If you have dental insurance you can ask for a copy of their orthodontic coverage policy. Most insurances, that I’ve looked into, do not cover adult braces. They only cover braces up to ages 17 or 18. Even if your insurance does not cover adult braces that does not mean that they will not cover part of your orthodontic treatment. Sometimes an insurance company will pay a portion of your orthodontic bill. It’s worth it to submit a claim or at least speak with someone from the insurance company. 2. CareCredit Secondly, you can apply for CareCredit. CareCredit is a credit card that is accepted at numerous healthcare offices. You can use CareCredit to pay for out-of-pocket healthcare expenses. You can apply online or over the phone. I do want to put the disclaimer out there that I do not recommend CareCredit. That is because they have insanely high interest rates. Now, you can potentially get a CareCredit card with no interest for 6 months up to 24 months. I only recommend using this card if you can pay off the balance BEFORE that no interest period is up. If you do not pay the balance off before that time you will pay interest on the entire amount borrowed. As I mentioned before the interest rates for this card are very high. So, CareCredit can be a helpful tool if you utilize the no interest period correctly. Otherwise I would not utilize this option. My orthodontist did not accept credit cards but if yours does that is another option. However, I would advise against using any credit cards unless you can get a no-interest offer. Interest will really add up on a large purchase like adult braces. You do not want to go into debt for your braces treatment. You’re better off waiting and saving up cash to pay for the adult braces. 3. Payment plan with orthodontist Next, you can ask if your orthodontist offers interest-free payment plans. The key here is interest-free. If your doctor charges interest on the adult braces then you will end up paying so much more. My orthodontist did offer interest-free payment plans as long as you set up an auto-debit. This allowed me to make payments on my adult braces without worrying about high interest fees. 4. Flexible spending account Lastly, you can utilize a flexible spending account. Check to see if your employer offers this. This account made it so easy for me to save money. I paid off my braces so much faster because I took advantage of this account. What is a flexible spending account? A flexible spending account is a special account that you can use to pay for certain out-of-pocket healthcare costs. This account is funded by you and is taken out of your paychecks pre-tax. This equates to double savings. You are not paying taxes on the money that goes into the account and it lowers your taxable income for the year. Win win. Your employer can give you a list of qualifying healthcare costs that can be reimbursed to you from your flexible spending account. To set up a flexible spending account check with your employer. They will have a specific process for signing up. Typically you have to sign up for this account at the end of the year and use it for the following year. So, for example, your adult braces are going to cost $1200. That means you are able to apply for a flexible spending account for $1200. The total amount is broken down based on how often you are paid. If you’re paid twice a month your employer will take out $50 pre-tax from every paycheck. Which will equal $1200 for the year. This will go straight into your flexible spending account before taxes. How to get reimbursed from your flexible spending account The way you redeem that money is by showing receipts for your healthcare costs. You can submit a claim and any receipts to the HR department to be reimbursed. As you submit your claims you will be reimbursed from your flexible spending account. You can get reimbursement from your flexible spending account each time you submit a claim. There are a couple of ways you can decide to do this. You can submit claims as you pay for your healthcare costs throughout the year. You can also submit one large claim at the end of the year for your total healthcare costs. A flexible spending account is so great if you utilize it correctly but there are a lot of regulations. It’s basically a use it or lose it account. If you allocate $1200 but you only claim $800 then you will lose out on that other $400. Be careful not to overfund your flexible spending account so you don’t lose out on any money. A flexible spending account is a great tool that can save you a lot of money. Be sure to do your research before you open one of these accounts. There are so many different rules for how you can use these accounts. I would be happy to do another post dedicated to flexible spending accounts. If you have questions please leave them below Here is how I paid for adult braces and how I took advantage of my flexible spending account. The total costs of my adult braces was $4400. My insurance (MetLife) did not cover braces for adults but they did cover $1000 toward orthodontic procedures. That brought my out-of-pocket cost to $3400. I put a deposit of $1000 which brought the total down to $2400. I then agreed to pay $108 for 23 months, with no interest, which would have paid off the balance. To save even more money I opened a flexible spending account. I opened the flexible spending account for $888 which came out to about $34.15/bi-weekly. That $34.15 was taken out of each paycheck pre-tax for all of 2018. I decided to wait until the end of the year to make my claim from my flexible spending account. At the end of 2018 I received one reimbursement check for $888. I put that check directly toward my treatment balance. So, I paid $108 to my orthodontist each month for 14 months which totaled $1512. At the same time I was also contributing $34.15/bi-weekly to my flexible spending account (pre-tax). Essentially, I used my flexible spending account as a tax-free savings account and I was able to pay off my braces in 14 months instead of 23 months. Now let’s wrap this up I hope that wasn’t too confusing. As I mentioned above there is so much to explain when it comes to flexible spending accounts and I’m happy to do a post dedicated to that in the future. I have had my adult braces for almost 3 years. It was supposed to be 2.5 years but the pandemic pushed back my timeline. Throughout that time I have gotten so many questions about the cost of braces and how I was able to pay for mine so I decided to write this post. I was able to take advantage of the flexible spending account, my dental insurance and interest-free payments so I didn’t pay any extra out of pocket costs for my adult braces. If you are considering adult braces and you do not have access to these options I highly recommend that you avoid putting this expense on any type of credit that will accrue interest. I know I’ve said this several times but interest, especially on a large purchase like adult braces, is going to end up costing you a lot more money. Try saving up your money or even start a side hustle so you can pay for your braces upfront. Check out my list of 21 side hustle ideas HERE. For more information on flexible spending accounts check out Investopedia & Healthcare.gov. These are the two websites that I utilized for today’s post. If you enjoyed this post please share it to Pinterest Personal Finance: How to Get Your Finances in Order Spinach Quiche Recipe- An Easy Spinach and Sausage Quiche The Cost of Adult Braces and How to Utilize a Flexible Spending Account Stuffed Sweet Potatoes Recipe. An Easy Budget-Friendly Meal Save Money on a Home With These 15 Simple Steps...
    • Personal Finance: How to Get Your Finances in Order
      Personal FinancePersonal finance covers a range of topics including budgeting, expenses, debt, banking, mortgages, saving, insurance, investments, retirement taxes and estate planning. Essentially it encompasses all things money management. Personal finance is a loaded topic. There is so much to talk about when discussing personal finance. The core of my content really comes from my personal finance journey. This week I wanted to go back to the basics of personal finances. Where do you start when you want to learn about personal finances? What are the first steps someone should take if they want to get their finances in order? These are great questions. You have to start somewhere. Competency in personal finance is a learned skill. I made a lot of money mistakes in my life. In my twenties I was not great with money. I can probably write an entire post just listing my money mistakes but I will spare you. Since starting my blog, Youtube channel and Instagram I have seen so many people say that they don’t know where to start when it comes to personal finance. It occurred to me that I’ve never taken the time to inform my audience of where to start when you want to get your personal finances in order. It’s important to learn about personal finance and be motivated to makes changes. However, if you don’t know how to start getting your finances in order then the knowledge your gaining is going to go to waste. So, here are the steps I think you should take if you are motivated to get your personal finances in order. Let’s get started 1. Calculate your income and expenses This is the best place to start when going over your personal finances. First you need to determine your Net income. Net income is the amount you bring home after taxes and deductions. The amount that actually goes into your bank account. It’s very important that you only count what you’re receiving. Just because you make $65,000 per year does not mean you should budget for that amount. Budget for the income that you are actually able to spend. To calculate your expenses I recommend going through your last 3 months of banks statements and credit cards statements. That way you can get a true average for what you spend on a monthly basis. If you use cash or Venmo be sure to calculate those expenses as well. 2. Calculate your debt When discussing personal finance we have to talk about debt. Since you’re early on in the process let’s not worry about any outstanding mortgage. At this stage we’re going to look at all other outstanding debt. Student loans, personal loans, car loans, credit cards, etc. Write down all of your debt amounts and also write down the total amount of all of your outstanding debt. It’s very important to know these numbers. If you do not have any debt that’s great. You can skip right over this step. 3. Identify your needs vs your wants Before you create a budget you need to have a clear understanding of needs vs wants. Needs refer to items in your budget that you cannot be without. Food, transportation, housing & clothing are all examples of needs. Wants refer to items that are convenient or desired but not necessary. This step is important when trying to get your personal finances in order because it sets the tone for your budget. Needs have to be included in your budget but wants will only be included if the budget allows it. 4. Create a realistic budget Emphasis on the word realistic. A budget should be restrictive in a sense. It should allow you to pay for your needs but also keep you from over spending. If you are just starting to get your personal finances in order I highly recommend having a budget. Start with your needs. You have to include your needs in the budget. Then, if there is room in the budget, you can add in your wants. 5. Create an emergency fund Now that you’ve written down your income, expenses debt, needs, wants and created a budget it’s time to create an emergency fund. This is a savings fund that is created specifically for unplanned emergency expenses. Life happens so you should be financially prepared in case of an emergency. I recommend at this stage having an emergency fund of $1000. Keep this in a savings account that is easily accessible but be sure to reserve it for true emergencies. This is a very important step. I do plan on doing an entire post about emergency funds because It’s so important and it will keep you from incurring more debt in the event of an emergency. If you do not have debt, or once your debt is paid off, I recommend upping your emergency fund. It’s a widely accepted rule that you should have 3-6 months worth of expenses in your emergency fund. This will come in handy in the event of job loss or an unexpected medical emergency. 6. Start to pay off debt Once you have an emergency fund of $1000 it’s time to start paying down your debt. Again, if you’re debt free you can skip this step. We are also not counting a mortgage as debt for this step. I recommend using a zero-based budget. Essentially that means that every dollar you bring in is allocated to something. There is no “extra money” left over. After you’ve budgeted for your needs any left over money should go to making extra debt payments. Getting your personal finances in order means getting rid of your debt as fast as possible. Debt is costing you so much money in interest and it holds you back in your financial journey. I highly recommend paying down debt before adding any “wants” into your budget. Try to stay motivated and send every “extra” dollar toward your debt. There are several different ways you can go about paying off debt. Two well-known ways are the debt snowball and the debt avalanche. These are both great options. You should research both and choose the one that will work best for your personal finance journey. 7. Don’t get discouraged If you’re not used to living on a budget give yourself some grace. Learning to live on a budget can be difficult. It takes a few months to get used to. You’re probably going to overspend or forget to add items to your budget at first. Go over your budget at the end of every week or month and determine what you need to work on. I promise, budgeting gets easier after time. I also recommend trying new budgeting tools until you find what works for you. You can use pen & paper, budgeting app, spreadsheet, etc. Take a few months, try not to get frustrated and find what works for you. 8. Educate yourself If you are on a journey to improve your personal finances you should be proud of yourself. One of the best things you can do on this journey is continue to educate yourself. There are so many great resources out there. Numerous books, podcasts, YouTube channels, blogs, etc are available to access for free. I highly recommend looking through some of these resources and finding people that you trust to give you advice. I also recommend getting personal finance advice from multiple sources and ultimately finding what will work best for you and your financial situation. 9. Don’t compare yourself to others Personal finance is personal. Everyone has to start somewhere. Some people are taught good money habits from their parents. Others have to make a lot of mistakes in order to learn good money habits. Some people come from privilege and have assistance with paying for college or a down payment on a home. Others may not have had any help and may have acquired a lot of debt in order to get where they are. My point is that you cannot compare your financial situation to anyone else because you simply don’t have all of the facts. Focus on your journey and the progress that you are making. You should be proud of yourself simply for trying to get your personal finances in order. 10. Continue to re-evaluate your situation Getting your personal finances in order is a journey. It’s something that needs to continue for your entire life. It may get easier as time goes on. Especially if you’re paying off debt and continuing to learn how to better your financial situation. Even as you learn and become comfortable with budgeting, saving or investing you still need to “check in” periodically. You need to go over your budget and update or adjust it as your financial situation changes. You will also need to review your emergency fund and possible re-fund it if you have had to use it. Once your debt is paid off you will need to determine where you “extra” income will be sent to. I highly recommend investing but I will save that for another post. Essentially you want to make sure that your budget and your actions are continually in-line with where you are on your financial journey. These steps that I’ve outlined will help you to start taking control of your personal finances. As I mentioned before, personal finance is a loaded topic. This post is really just a basic outline for how to get started. Each of these steps can easily be expanded into an entire post. If you are just starting a personal finance journey I hope I can be a great resource for you. Feel free to check out my other posts and leave any questions or comments you may have and I will be sure to respond. Thanks for stopping by! Other posts you may enjoy: How to Improve Your Credit Score How to Save Money on Groceries...

Filed Under: Home Owner

How to Know if You Are Ready to Buy a Home. 10 Steps to Find Out

February 6, 2021 by am10756 Leave a Comment

Picture of a home. Written on top is are you ready to buy a home? Written on the bottom is follow these steps to determine if now if the time to buy

Are you ready to buy a home? Are you trying to decide if now is the time? I have compiled a list to help you determine whether or not you’re ready to buy.

My husband and I just bought our first home. It was a crazy experience and there is so much we didn’t know going into the process. Now, having gone through the home-buying process, I feel like I can give some advice. I recommend going through all of these steps to determine if you are ready to buy a home. I think once you’ve completed these steps you’ll be more prepared and you’ll know if you are ready to move forward and start the home-buying process.

Get on the same page

If you are buying a home by yourself then you would skip this step. This step applies to anyone who is buying a home with a co-buyer. It doesn’t have to be your spouse. If you’re buying a home with a parent, friend, sibling or anyone for that matter you will need to make sure you’re on the same page. Make sure that you both understand that all financial information is shared during the home-buying process. Your credit score, debt and income will all be revealed during this process. If you are not willing to share this information or if you have debt that the other person does not know about, now is the time to share it.

Sit down with your co-buyer and make sure that you’re both willing to share all financial information with each other. Once that is out of the way, you can start to discuss the areas you might like to live in and the type of home you’re looking for. This does not need to be exact at this point. Sometimes the type of home you want can change depending on your budget but it is nice to start having these conversations with your co-buyer early on in the process.

Review your budget

If you don’t have a monthly budget, make one! I highly recommend doing this even if you’re not buying a home but especially if you are planning on buying one. This might sound crazy but I recommend going through your bank statements for the last 3 months line by line. It’s amazing how many extra charges you’ll find and how many monthly potentially unused subscriptions you may have. Get the bank statements out, get the credit card statements out and make a budget. Going through 3 months of statements will help give an average of what you actually spend in a month.

Remember!!! Owning a home comes with a lot of costs, not just mortgage. You have to pay for mortgage, property taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance & repairs. You may also have HOA fees and/or Mello Roos.

Review your credit score

This is so important. You have to have a good credit score to buy a house. It doesn’t have to be great but the higher the score the better your interest rate will be and that makes a huge difference overall. I was told by my mortgage broker that it is much harder to finance a mortgage if your score is under 680 but he has seen scores as low as 640 get approved.

Make sure that your co-buyer also knows your score. When you buy a home with someone else the lender will take the lowest credit score and use that for the loan application; at least that’s how it was for my husband and I here in southern CA. So, for example, Mr. Smith has a credit score of 685 and Mrs. Smith has a credit score of 775. For the loan application they will only use Mr. Smith’s score of 685. To review your credit score for free check out Credit Karma.

Review your debt

You CAN buy a house with debt. You do not have to be completely debt free to purchase a home. What matters is your debt to income ratio. The bank will add up all of your minimum monthly debt payments (mortgage, student loans, credit cards, car payments) and divide that by your gross income to determine your debt-to-income ratio (it will be given as a percentage). I was told by my mortgage broker that you’ll want to keep your debt-to-income ratio under 40%. Keep in mind that this only includes debt. Things like groceries, phone bill and utilities are not included in this calculation. If you need help with your debt-to-income ratio try using a debt to income ratio calculator like this one.

Review your savings

When you buy a home you will need to have some money saved. Most home loans require a down payment, which is anywhere from 3%-20% of the purchase price. Depending on the purchase price a down payment can be very expensive. It is important to know that the down payment is not the only upfront cost of buying a home. You will also have to pay closing costs up front as well which range from 3%-5% of the purchase price. In addition to those costs you will have to pay for a home inspection, an appraisal and possible application fees.

There is also furniture, appliances, possible repairs or renovations and any other small necessities to consider. To be frank, it takes quite a bit of money upfront to purchase a home. I don’t say that to scare anyone. I just want you to be prepared and know what you’re getting into. Surprises are fun on your birthday, not when you’re buying a home.

Other steps to determine if you are ready to buy a home…

Look at the market

At this point it’s still early on and you haven’t officially started the home-buying process yet but it is a good idea to start looking at real estate apps. You won’t know how much home you qualify for yet but at least you can get an idea of what homes are selling for in your area. If homes are selling for $500K then you know that a down payment of 10% will be $50k and closing costs will be about $15k-$25k. You can also start looking into average costs of HOA or mello roos in your area. The app I really like using is Redfin. I find it easy to navigate.

Research home buying requirements in your area

I bought my home in southern CA so some of the information I give may not apply where you live. Be sure to look into what it takes to buy a home in your area, what paperwork/ documents you will need and if there are any first time home buyer programs that you qualify for. First time home buyers can get federal assistance (FHA loans) or local assistance from their city or state (in the form of down payment assistance or closing cost assistance). There are a ton of programs out there to help first-time home-buyers so I highly recommend researching these programs or meeting with a mortgage broker who works with these programs. Mortgage brokers are willing to meet with you because they want your business so try making an appointment to information and ask questions

Do you foresee any major life changes in the next 6 months?

Buying a home is a long process. From the time you get pre-approved to the time you have your house keys it can be several months. You’ll want to consider any major life changes that may interrupt or stop the process all together. For example, you have to have a work history in the same job, or the same field, for at least 2 years. So if you’re considering changing jobs you may want to wait, especially if it’s in a completely different field from your current job. Also consider any maternity leave or leave of absence that may occur as these may alter your home-buying timeline.

Prepare yourself mentally

Getting ready to buy a home is really fun but it’s also very stressful. For most of us it is the biggest purchase we will ever make. My husband and I almost lost our home about 5 times before we actually closed escrow. I’m not joking. It was 2 months on an emotional roller coaster, back and forth with the mortgage broker and the underwriter and by the end I was exhausted.

The process is not perfect. You may get outbid for a home, the underwriter can find something unsatisfactory with your financial history or the seller can back out for whatever reason. There are so many things that can go wrong and there are so many people involved in the process that lack of communication is almost inevitable. But, I will say that it is worth it. All the stress and tears are totally worth seeing a piece of property put in your name.

You are ready to buy a home. Go get pre-approved!

If you’ve made it through this list and you feel confident going forward then do it! Getting pre-approved is the first step in the home-buying process. I highly recommend getting a few pre-approvals so you can compare interest rates and maximum purchase price. Good luck and happy house hunting!

Tips for when you are ready to buy a home:

-Get advice from multiple real estate agents and mortgage brokers. Also, talk to friends or family who recently purchased a home and ask lots of questions

-Consider waiting to tell friends and family that you have started this process. It’s so exciting and you’ll wanna share it with everyone but keep in mind that if something doesn’t go your way you may have to explain that to everyone you’ve already told. This is just something to consider.

One last note- IT’S OK TO WALK AWAY. If at any time during this process it doesn’t feel right or you’re concerned that you may not be able to afford it, it’s okay to take a step back or to walk away completely. Don’t worry about what others might say. This is one of the biggest decisions in your life and it needs to feel right for you.

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