When is the right time to buy a
house? This is a question we get
asked at REALESTATE-SANTAMONICA.COM
at least once a week. So we thought
we’d go over a few factors that can
help you decide for yourself. We
understand that different buyers
have different needs, so this little
article is geared mainly to our
first time buyer. We’ll address the
needs of the more experienced buyer
in a coming-article.
So
now it’s time to examine the
question, “When is the right time to
buy a house?” The truthful answer
is that there really is no perfect
time to buy a house. In fact,
there’s really no perfect time to do
anything. Sometimes you just need
to put your fear aside and take the
plunge.
There are however some indicating
factors that can help you make an
informed decision as to whether you
should buy a home.
Perhaps the most important decision
is how you feel emotionally. Do you
really want a home of your own? Do
you feel like you need to put down
roots? These are feelings worth
examining.
Many people want a home of their own
so that they can put their personal
touches on it, and really make it a
home, versus just simply a house
they rent.
After examining your emotions about
home buying, it’s definitely
important to take a hard look at the
financial aspect of a home
purchase. To start, make sure you
have a down payment. There are
currently a number of mortgage
products available to first time
buyers and some down payments are as
low as 3% of the purchase price.
These are FHA mortgages and we’ll be
giving you some helpful information
on this in a coming article. A good
mortgage broker will walk you
through this. At
REALESTATE-SANTAMONICA.COM we have a
number of mortgage professionals
available to help…we’re happy to
refer you.
And
when you’re dealing with your
mortgage broker, be sure and have
him/her walk you through the amount
of money you will need to close your
transaction. These are called
closing costs. In today’s
buyer-oriented market, you can
often-times get the sellers to pay
the closing costs, but you should
make sure you know what these
figures are just the same.
Most importantly of all, you need to
know how much your monthly mortgage
bill will be. And be sure and get
all of it! So many times buyers
only get the principal mortgage cost
and don’t know to ask about the
others…taxes, insurance and interest
on the loan.
So
those figures are basically what you
need to be aware of when making a
home purchase.
Now
on to the fun stuff! One of the
greatest benefits to owning a home
is that not only do you get a great
place to live, you also get an
amazing tax write off. Consult
your tax professional (we have many
we can recommend) and find out what
your true cost of homeowner ship
will be monthly. Many buyers don’t
realize that the interest they pay
on their mortgage is fully tax
deductible…so that $2,500 monthly
mortgage is significantly less when
you figure in your tax advantages.
More than once we’ve seen buyers
overjoyed to find out that when they
buy a home they are actually paying
less than when they were renting!
Be sure and look into this.
Another great consideration to home
ownership is that when your home
goes up in value, you can keep the
profit after you sell it. I’m sure
some people are reading this and
saying to themselves “duh,” but many
people don’t realize that for single
people you can take $250,000 profit
tax free and for married people it’s
$500,000. You can only do this once
ever two years, but it is an amazing
benefit to home ownership.
These are just a few things to
consider when writing up that first
offer on a home of your own. We
hope you’ve found this helpful and
if there’s anything at all you need,
your friends at
REALESTATE-SANTAMONICA.COM are here
for you.
