Well lets be serious – the world today, especially NOW, since the ridiculous collapse of our bubble economy built on debt, you need MONEY. Haha, who would have thought – right? Money is the key to all things evil, and thus maybe owning a house is too, but nonetheless that is the way it is. You have to have some sort of deposit to put down on the house and display that you’re serious about its pursuit, and then also to use it as your down-payment. I would find out what the minimum is for the mortgage you end up applying for and getting, but I always told myself to aim in the 10-20% range – the higher the better, of course.
So other than money, another thing you need is a mortgage, unless you have enough money to pay the whole house, in which case you’re done and you can skip this blog post all together. Do a ridiculous amount of research until you find the mortgage company you think is right for you and apply – I recommend being confident in this process and to remember that buying a home IS NOT for everyone. It takes a lot to manage the responsibility of owning a home and if you haven’t managed your credit well, then you can either be denied for a mortgage, or receive a horrid rate (kind of like the sub-prime mortgages handed out not too long ago – remember). After you get the mortgage you know where you should target your home’s price!
Last – I would say you need patience, and probably more of this then the previous two combined. I for instance went after a home that NEEDED to be repaired and touched up because in the end, it costs less to do all that then to buy it already done – BUT at the same time you are sacrificing time after the purchase so you have to ensure that, in this case, you have A. the money to fix up the home after buying it, and B. the money to support the home purchase during the time you repair it (in my case – about 4 months (yes, I know LONG)). Also, remember that looking, selecting, and bidding on homes is a very stressful, and time consuming process – AND – VERY REPETITIVE. I must have looked at 10 homes, put bids in 3 times, and had to re-bid to compete once which ended up being my winning bid, and I was told that was a lucky and decently short process, but that alone still took me about 3 months of dedicated want, and searching. Its tough, trust me, but just stick with it and you will find the right one.
Those are my big 3: Money, Mortgage, and Patience. Trust me, dedicate yourself to finding a home and it will be yours, but don’t get caught up in the process of finding it – although its tough, the journey is half the inspiring part in the end – the other half? Owning your first home.
Thanks again – and remember – feel free to check out my blog as well @ http://mrrua.com