Tuesday, 16 August 2011

Buying Your First Home? Then Avoid Leaping In To The Unknown

By Crystal Powers


Your head will end up spinning with the amount of advice you will come across for first time buyers if you are thinking of purchasing your first home and taking your first step onto the property ladder.

For those people who have purchased a house before you, the same things were experienced so you can take some comfort in that. If you know someone who has recently purchased a house, whether it be for the first time or not, it can be an idea to get some advice in simple terms from them.

If you are not the kind of person who has substantial means, then it's possible you will be looking to purchase your house using a mortgage. Any money saved that could be used as a down payment or deposit is what first time buyers often do not have. Besides the fact that they will be borrowing 100% of the value of the home, this would also mean repayments are likely to go higher. Your monthly repayments will be reduced if you purchase a house using the biggest down payment you can afford which is why this is always the better option.

A few hundred non-tax-deductible dollars can be added to your monthly payment if you have a 20% down payment because this is the threshold at which you're exempt from private mortgage insurance.

If you cannot afford a deposit or down payment you must still find the money for the closing costs of buying your home, if you estimate about 2% - 3% of the purchase price then that's a good ball park figure.

Available on the market are many different mortgages and some of them are specifically for first time buyers. Going for one specifically for first time buyers is not always beneficial because of so many lenders and so many different types of mortgage and you need to remember this when you are researching.

You should never outstretch yourself and instead just work out how much you can comfortably afford each month, and don't go above that and most importantly, you need to remember that if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage or any loans secured on it, then you risk losing it. That is one thing you must be very strict on.




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