Buying a home can be a complicated, stressful and intimidating undertaking. Before you put in an offer on a home you’ll want to ask yourself these four important questions when buying a home.
Can We Afford It?
The price of a house isn’t the only thing to take into consideration when deciding if you can afford a home. The cost of home insurance, property taxes and mortgage lending interest should all be a part of your calculations. For instance, a house may have a reasonable price, but it might be in a district with very high property taxes. Use an online mortgage calculator to figure out how much home you can afford.
Is it Too Much House?
Think carefully about how much house you and your family need. Just because you can afford a house, doesn’t mean that you need that much house. Also, just because a house is enough room for you now, doesn’t mean that it will be big enough when there are new additions to the family. Are you a single person, but hope to add a spouse and children at some point? Are you a couple with one child, but hope to have another? Consider the future and how this house fits into your lifestyle now and later. Larger homes are always more expensive to maintain, and you don’t want to bite off more than you need to chew.
What is This House Worth?
The asking price of a house is only one piece of information in the question of what is a house worth. You should take the time to research the market values of surrounding homes and consider how long this particular house has been on the market. If there are foreclosures in the neighborhood or the home has been languishing on the market for a long time, then you may have some price flexibility. The house also needs to be appraised to the asking value, so again, just because you can or want to pay the asking price, doesn’t mean that a bank will lend you the money to do so.
What is Wrong With This House?
This seems like a negative question at first, but the reality is that every house has, will have, and did have problems. There are no hard and fast deal breakers when it comes to issues with a home, so long as you are prepared to do the work to fix them and that the price reflects that. Always have a home inspector check out the house, and if you have suspicions or questions about certain components like plumbing or the roof hiring a specialized contractor to have a look is almost always cheaper than buying a home with unexpected problems.
