While we all share some semblance of the white picket fence dream, actually getting into the whole idea of buying a home can seem outlandish to say the least. With so many factors to consider and the sheer amount of money that will get funneled into that tiny piece of real estate can leave most of us dizzy. Apart from being an enormous step in anyone’s life, buying a family home comes with a lot of pitfalls and isn’t a decision one should make rashly. When considering buying a home, we need to take into account a great many things before going over the edge and actually going through with it.
Do you need it? First and foremost, we need to ask ourselves if we really need it. It might seem like a dumb question to ask but it is necessary so you can figure out what kind of loan you might need for example. Another reason is that most people just fixate on the idea of owning a home that they do not consider what they’ll actually do with it once they have it. Let’s put it like this, buying a home usually indicates the want to settle down and figured everything out—i.e. wanting to start a family or settle down.
Can you afford it? The next question is a fairly common one in today’s society and, big surprise, it revolves around money. Whether we can afford the home we’ve been dreaming of is a poignant but fairly important question we need to ask ourselves. We might be dreaming of a nice two story house but might not have the means to obtain it. We are required to sit down and write down all our possessions, expenses and means of income and figure out just how much we can afford to spend. This will make sure that we can keep up with any payments on the house due to the fact that we opted for a 300k one instead of the 600k next door.
Which loans are up your alley? Well, now we get to the elephant, no, mammoth in the room—banks. Despite what we might feel towards banks and their influence in everything we do, they are our best bet at obtaining a loan for the house we’re after. In nine times out of ten, we are more likely to not have a few hundred thousand dollars stashed away so applying for loans is the way to go. This means that our financial history will have a huge impact on what kinds of loans we’ll be cleared for and will bottleneck our choice of houses as a direct result.
How secure is my job? Talking about job security today is a joke, no, seriously. When our parents and grandparents were growing up, they were reasonably secure with a job for upwards of a decade, sometimes several. Nowadays, nobody is safe, with everything moving so fast, people are constantly forced to increase their skillset or be left behind in the dust. However, we need to aware of where we’ll be with our current calling in five or 10 years and adapt accordingly. We are extremely likely to change four or five jobs in just 10 years, this is why knowing our options is necessary so we can keep up with home payments.
What’s going to happen in a few years? Eh, a bit of a touchy subject, but when starting a family—make sure you’re starting it with someone you care about. We’ve all heard stories about people getting thrown out of their own homes after a marriage falls apart from services that deal with these disputes like Withstand Lawyers. Despite what we might think about our partner/spouse currently, we need to be aware that any property obtained together means that it is going to be split should things go awry. Make sure you know what you’re getting yourselves into and realize that buying a house is a big step, sure—buying it together is monumental.
What does it all mean? Despite the tone of the article, it is not meant to scare you in any way—it’s there to make us think. We rarely consider all of our options due to lack of thought or lack of knowledge, which is why we usually end up with our hands in the mud every now and then. By asking the tough questions before making big decisions like buying a home, we essentially bulletproof our resolve to get it or bring into focus the various holes in our plan. Buying a home is a wonderful experience and is something that should be enjoyed to its fullest, tread carefully and make sure your choice is the right one.
Photo by Scott Webb
Leila Dorari
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