5 Key Steps to Being a Stronger Buyer
In this blog, I share 5 ways you can become a stronger homebuyer. We’ll talk about:
Budget
Debt
Habits
Credit
Team
By following these steps, you can increase your chances of getting approved for a mortgage and finding a budget-friendly home.
Create a budget.
Buying a home is expensive, so establishing a budget is paramount. If you want to be a stronger buyer, ask yourself questions like:
How much am I putting down?
Have I budgeted for closing costs?
Have you budgeted for your inspections?
Is there a monthly HOA fee?
It is best to overestimate your costs, so that you have an extra bag of cash instead of scrapping for money.
Eliminate (unnecessary) debt.
Here is one thing you can do, to qualify for a bigger home loan: eliminate unnecessary debt. As a general rule of thumb, for every $500 per month in debt you can eliminate you’ll qualify for $100,000 more home. So, if you had the choice to either save money or pay down debt — consider the latter.
Live like you already have a mortgage.
If your current rent is $2,500 and your potential mortgage is $3,500 per month, take that $1,000 difference and use that money to:
Eliminate unnecessary debt.
Build up an emergency fund.
Save for a down payment.
And decide if this is something you can do every month. Because if the answer is no, you might have to rework the budget so you can buy a more affordable home.
Build your credit.
Lenders will look at your credit score. And while you could have terrible credit and still buy a home, I would suggest building your credit first. 740-760 is the sweet spot for having access to the best programs.
Assemble your team.
There are a lot of parties involved when buying a home, and you probably want to work with people you trust. Start with a lender to establish your budget, then build rapport with a local real estate broker to learn more about the home buying process. After that, the rest of your team will slowly fall into place.
Your real estate experience matters.
Buying or selling a home (especially for the first time) can be nerve-racking. To alleviate the anxiety, we emphasize educating our clients so that they understand what to expect during their real estate journey. If you would like to chat about buying or selling a home, schedule your FREE consultation today by clicking the link below!
Talk soon,
James Paul Valerio
Broker & Owner of The Valerio Group, Inc.
DRE #02001410 DRE #02131396
