What's the Right Home For You?
Are you looking for a home? Before deciding which house to buy, think about your lifestyle, your current and anticipated housing needs, and your budget. It’s a good idea to create a prioritized list of features you want in your next home – you'll soon discover finding the right house involves striking a balance between your "must-haves" and your "nice-to-haves."
To start, consider your lifestyle. If you love to cook, you'll want a well-equipped kitchen. If you're into gardening, you'll want a yard. If you're planning your office at home, you may want a room for a separate library or work space. If you have several cars, you may require a larger garage. Use this list as your search guide.
Next, think about what you might need in the future. As you consider your housing needs, it's important to consider how long you may live in your home. If you're newly married, you might not be concerned with a school district right now, but you could be in a few years. If you have aging parents, you may want to look at homes that offer living arrangements for them as well as you.
It’s important to think about your new home’s location just as carefully as you do about a house’s features. Location is a huge part of any move. In addition to considering the distance to work, you need to evaluate the availability of shopping, police and fire protection, medical facilities, school and day-care, traffic and parking, trash and garbage collection, even recreational facilities.
Perhaps the most important decision is deciding on the type of home you want. Do you want a condominium? A town house or a detached single-family home? Do you want brick, stone, stucco, wood, vinyl siding, or something else? Do you prefer a new home or an older one?
Through all of this, make sure to talk to your real estate professional about where you want to live. While more buyers now use the Internet to gain access to real estate listings, or available properties for sale, it is still a good idea to use an agent. The agent brings value to the entire home buying process: he or she is available to analyze data, answer questions, share their professional expertise, and handle all the paperwork and legwork that is involved in the real estate transaction. Atlanta Real Estate Group agents have the expertise to help their clients narrow down their choices by sharing market trends and local information.
How Much Can You Afford?
Now that you know what you're looking for, the next step is figuring out what type of home you can afford. A review of your income, savings, monthly expenses, and debt will be necessary.
Early on in the process, you'll want to get pre-qualified for a mortgage loan, which helps determine how much you can afford. It enables you to move swiftly when you find the right home, especially when there are other interested buyers. It also indicates to the seller that you are serious and can afford to buy the property. A pre-approval is a simple calculation done by a mortgage lenders that tells you the amount you'll be able to finance through a loan and what your monthly payment will be. When you find a home to buy, a pre-approval also reassures the seller that you have the financial means to purchase his or her home.
Know what you can afford is the first rule of home buying, and that depends on how much income and how much debt you have. It pays to check with several lenders before you start searching for a home.
The price you can afford to pay for a home will depend on several factors, such as:
- gross income
- the funds you have available for the down payment, closing costs and cash reserves required by the lender
- your debt
- your credit score
- the type of mortgage you select
- current interest rates
Another figure lenders use to evaluate how much you can afford is the housing expense-to-income ratio. It is determined by calculating your projected monthly housing expense, which consists of the principal and interest payment on your new home loan, property taxes and hazard insurance (also known as PITI).
Each buyer is unique and a mortgage professional can help you find out just what you can afford. Your income and your debts will typically play the biggest roles in determining your price range.
Shopping For a Home
Selecting a buyer's agent to help you find your dream home is an important first step. He or she can represent the buyer's interest in a real estate transaction. Before making a decision, however, have a realtor explain the pros and cons of using a buyer's agent versus a sales or dual agent.
When you're ready to visit houses, ask your AREG professional to help you with:
- Arranging showings
- Tracking of the properties you've seen.
- Identify if the home meets your criteria - refer to your "what's right for you" list
- A digital camera to record what you see
After touring each home, write down what you liked and didn't like. Develop a rating system that will help narrow the field. For example, pick the house you like best on day one and compare all other houses to it. When you find a better one, use the new favorite as the standard.
Homebuyer Tax Credit has been extended and expanded!
First-time home buyers and existing homeowners have another great reason to get on the path to purchasing a new home! The benefit to first-time homebuyers is a tax credit up to $8,000 and for homeowners a tax credit up to $6,500. But this opportunity ends in April.
- Between November 7, 2009 and April 30, 2010, homebuyers that have a signed binding contract to purchase a home may be eligible for the tax credit. The transaction must close no more than 60 days after April 30, 2010.
- For first-time homebuyers may receive a credit of 10 percent of the purchase price up to the $8,000 tax credit amount. If you have never owned a home before or have not owned a principal residence in the last three years, you are considered a first-time homebuyer.
- For the Existing Homeowner, a tax credit of $6,500 is available for homeowners who have lived in their current residence for at least five of the past eight years. The homebuyers can receive a 10 percent credit up to $6,500 when they contract to purchase a home between now and April 30, 2010, and close no more than 60 days after April 30, 2010.
The tax credit does not have to be repaid provided you live in the new home for a minimum of three years. Military families are exempt from this stipulation.