Smart Ways to Plan for a Home Purchase
Purchasing a home can be a daunting experience whether it's your first or tenth time to go through the process. The key to being successful, experts say, is planning. For most people, that word conjures up house-hunting and simply viewing potential candidates. But there's much more to planning for a major purchase than the actual shopping chores.
The smart way to buy a house is to first save up enough cash for a down payment, get connected with an experienced real estate professional, make a detailed list of the extras you want, tour the candidates on your short list and then rank them accordingly. Here's a cheat sheet you can use once you make the decision that it's time to move into a new place:
Save for a Down Payment
There's no getting around it. You simply need to sock away at least five percent, preferably more, of the total purchase price before you shop. Which begs the question: how can I know what that figure is if I haven't even looked at any properties yet? Use your budgeted price range. Multiply the top end of the range by five percent and use that number as your target savings amount.
Hire a Competent Agent
Remember that you can hire an agent and begin shopping during your savings accumulation period. Just make sure that you are able to build up the right amount of funds before closing on the deal. That way, you have plenty of time to shop, work out details with your real estate person and make a list of worthy purchases. Hiring an experienced real estate pro will save you loads of time and help you avoid some common pitfalls of this rather complex task.
Know What Extras You Want
As with any other kind of major purchase, you need to know exactly what you want. In this case, that means deciding about features like fireplaces, the number of bedrooms, how many baths you desire, and if you wish to buy a house with key amenities like a home lift, a swimming pool or an entertainment room. A respected home lifts manufacturer, for example, can work with you from the beginning of your home-buying journey and help you locate properties that can accommodate the size and style of lifts you're interested in.
The market for residential lifts is extremely active. More and more homeowners are recognizing the long-term value that certain amenities can add to a home's potential resale price. Last month, for example, Stiltz Home Lifts was named by Lloyds Bank as the Exporter of the Year.
View Homes in Your Entire Price Range
Don't make your price range too narrow. First-time buyers often fall into this trap and end up with few candidates on their shopping list. Widen your monetary range a bit on the top and bottom so as to have more choices.
Rank Your Selections by Price and Long-Term Value
After you've had your fill of searching, sit down and rank the short-list houses based on whatever kind of scoring system you choose. It's not a 100 percent scientific method, but if you go through the steps of ranking all the choices, you'll at least know what your top two or three selections are.