Preparing For Your First Real Estate Purchase? Make It A Great Experience By Doing These Three Things First

Posted on: 22 December 2016

Real estate ownership is a great way to build wealth and security but buying it without taking time to fully prepare can be a painful and expensive mistake. If you feel that you would like to move forward with the purchase of a home or other piece of real estate and want to avoid potential problems and make the experience a truly positive one, take time to attend to the following three things first.

Examine your budget, income, and expenses to make sure that you are financially ready to purchase real estate

One of the most important things you can do to make sure that your first real estate purchase is a great one is to make sure the you are financially ready to own real estate. According to financial experts, expenses relating to home ownership, including the mortgage, taxes and insurance should be limited to 25-35 percent of your monthly pretax income. But it is also important to look at your total debt picture, too. If you have a large car payment or a lot of credit card debt, adding a mortgage into the mix could put you into a financially precarious situation. Before moving forward with a real estate purchase, choose to pay off as much of your other debt as possible and make sure that your income is stable and sufficient to avoid experiencing buyer's remorse and financial stress after the purchase.

Seek out and secure approval for the mortgage

Once you have taken stock of your financial situation and determined that you have sufficient room in your budget to comfortably afford the costs associated with owning real estate, the next step is to seek out and secure approval for the mortgage. Having a mortgage pre-approval in hand before you begin shopping for real estate offers many benefits, including:

  • helping you determine an exact price range in which to shop
  • strengthening your position when negotiating purchase offers
  • streamlining the closing process

Enlist the assistance the right real estate professional

Once you have examined your budget to make sure you are financially ready to purchase real estate and secured a pre-approval for a mortgage, you will need the assistance of an experience real estate professional. Take time to make sure that you choose one who is:

  • active and successful in your local market area
  • dedicated and responsive to your questions and needs
  • ethical and highly recommended by past clients

With the assistance of a good real estate agent and the knowledge that you are financially prepared for real estate ownership, your first purchase is sure to be a positive, beneficial experience.

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