Factors to Consider
Making the decision to buy your first home often starts rather casually. It often begins at the dinner table or out for a walk in the most innocuous way possible.
From that initial discussion to completing the home purchase process can take 3 months, or 3 years. It all depends on where you stand – financially and with credit – along with the standing position of the housing market as a whole.
Potential homebuyer(s) need to weigh all the options, access all the factors and do what they can to make a wise decision.
Of course, sometimes the great buy versus rent debate is thrust upon us before we intended, because of job opportunities appearing or disappearing, or a new baby arriving, an elder parent that needs to move in… there are hundreds if not thousands of triggers.
Those triggers are important. Understanding the emotions behind the desire to buy will help you make smarter, more fulfilling home buying decisions.
Why Do You Want to Buy a Home?
The emotional part of the decision comes into play when you think about why you want to move.
Purchasing a home is a lifestyle choice that requires you to think about how you like to spend your time, what makes you happy along with what makes the most short term & long-term financial sense.
The type of community where you want to live—such as a rural area without nearby neighbors, a high-rise building in the city, a home within a planned community with recreational amenities, a tiny house or a simple cabin in the woods – the nature and location of your home has a tremendous influence on your future activities and lifestyle.
The more you understand your priorities for a home, the easier it will be for you to narrow your real estate decisions and ensure you make one that you do not regret.
The Dream Home Considerations
Starting with your “must-haves” and moving to your “like-to-haves” you can slowly narrow your choices on type of home, location and price point.
You will – undoubtedly – mirror millions of other first-time homebuyers that have pondered the same decision only to find out their dream home didn’t exactly mesh with what they can afford.
That is perfectly fine too. If everyone got their dream home on the first shot, the whole thing would be way too easy. Unless you were extraordinarily patient and saved for years or had the luck of a financial windfall you’ll have to work your way up the ladder like the rest of us.
How quickly your rise up that proverbial ladder could, and quite possibly will, largely depend on your previous home-buying choices, especially your first one.
For most intrepid homebuyers, the first home purchase presents the tightest financial conditions. Promising careers, growing families, uncertainty of your future destination – these characteristics often play a critical role in the success, or failure, of your first purchase.
Honestly, you could do everything perfect and still not make the best decision for you and your family. Uncertainty is uncertainty and we tend to have the most of it right around the time we are looking to buy our first home.
We will take you through the important points, the factors to consider, the deciding factors and the home buying secrets discovered little by little over a career of helping first-time home buyers make their first, second and maybe even third home purchase.
We’ve seen what makes them successful and we are more than happy to share it with you.
It starts by knowing when to compromise and when to stand firm. Our sister company, ForRent.com, gives more insight on what you should consider when trying to decide whether to rent or buy.
Amazon.com Best-selling author, Shashank Shekhar (NMLS 8176) is a mortgage lender with Arcus Lending, offering loans for home purchase and refinance. Shashank has been featured as a mortgage expert on Yahoo! News, ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX. He has been named "Top 40 under 40" most influential mortgage professionals in the country.
