Our Guest Author Today: Mark Johnson
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A house with a picket fence or a modern unit with walls around it to protect your privacy fully? What does the home of your dreams look like? Being a homeowner is what most people want to achieve, seeing it as one of the ultimate goals in life. But, as usually is the case with big dreams, making the one about owning a home become a reality is not the easiest thing in the world. Nevertheless, it is worth fighting for. If you are willing to go down the road of making your dream of becoming a homeowner come true, here are the main things you should do.
The first step on your journey of becoming a homeowner is to define how much money you can spend. You must know what your budget is to eliminate viewing houses that are above it. Put on paper your current income and how high a monthly installment of a loan you can afford to pay, for example. In case you have the cash or some property you can liquidate to buy a home, consider how big a new home can be for you to be comfortable paying all the bills. It is easy to get lost in the world of gorgeous real estate and forget the reality, so don’t go there before you know your numbers.
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To make your dream of becoming a
homeowner come true, you must define your budget first. |
When you are determining your budget, you must also think of how you will secure the funds you need to purchase a home. You have to know whether you are eligible for a loan if you need one. One of the things you can do about that is to get pre-approved for it. By getting a mortgage pre-approval, you will discover the highest loan you can get and how much it would cost you every month. That is very important information you should take into consideration when you are planning your budget.
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Before looking for houses, you
might want to get pre-approved for a loan first. |
It is much better to approach the home-buying process by knowing exactly where your home should be. Some people dream of moving to one of the newly developing areas, for example, and there is no point for them to view homes that are located somewhere else, no matter how great they are. By knowing where you want to live, you will be narrowing down your search.
Once you know how much you can spend and where you need to look for it, it is time to finally start searching for a house. Bear in mind that a real estate agent will have questions for you regarding what properties you are looking for. Analyze your priorities in terms of what features your new home should have and communicate them to the agents. Here are some questions you should have in mind:
• How many bedrooms should there be?
• And how many bathrooms?
• Should it all be on the same level, or is it ok if the house has multiple floors?
• Should there be a garage as well?
In essence, you should point out the features you are set on, so the agents can eliminate the homes that don’t have them and save you a lot of time.
Moving in can be a sweet labor or a chaotic hell, depending on how well you plan it. This is especially true if you are making an interstate move. If you want it to be a former, either hire professional movers or make a very detailed plan on how that should happen. Moving from Florida to Texas, for example, can become a nightmare if you are doing it alone in your one car, making a thousand round trips. If you opt for a simple transfer with experts and hire interstate movers, on the other hand, you can focus on the good stuff, such as decorating your new home or getting familiar with the neighborhood. However you choose to approach it, just make sure you plan things. Here’s what you should have in mind when you’re planning your relocation:
• Packing supplies. All your belongings will have to travel in something, and it’s very unlikely you will possess enough suitcases for them all. Nowadays, there’s a variety of packing supplies to choose from, depending on your needs and preferences.
• Labelling. All the boxes and containers should bear labels. Otherwise, looking for something you need urgently will become a mission impossible.
• Workforce. In case you are not hiring professional movers, you’ll need friends and family members to carry all your stuff out of your old home and into the new one.
And the final piece of advice for making your dream of becoming a homeowner come true has to do with the repairs and refurbishing. That is something you must do before you move in. Before you decide to buy a home, you will organize a home inspection which will show all that needs repairing. It’s not a good idea to do those repairs with all your belongings in the house, as they may get in the way and suffer some damage. Besides, the repair work will last much longer if the workers need to step around the furniture. Therefore, be done with it before moving in.
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The process of relocation is not
exactly the easiest, so put some effort into planning it well. |
To make your dream of becoming a homeowner come true, you’ll have to go down a longish road full of obstacles. But the destination is worth it. Just make sure you are well-informed about everything, especially when it comes to your loan options. Also, do not do anything in a rush and without a plan, as that kind of chaotic behavior results in stressful situations as well as expenses you weren’t counting on. But what matters is that you can do it! So, get to work and make that dream of yours a beautiful reality.
Mark Johnson is a financial consultant that specializes in real estate investments. He also works as a member of the logistics team at getmovedtoday.com. Thanks to his vast knowledge of finding homes and relocating to them, Mark writes very informative articles that have helped many people.
Photos used:
https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-in-black-shirt-standing-near-brown-cardboard-boxes-4568743/
https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-and-woman-sitting-while-holding-keys-8293737/
https://www.pexels.com/photo/realtor-suggesting-mortgage-for-buying-apartment-5849569/