Are You Ready to Buy a Home?

Many first time home buyers toil with the idea of  ’taking the plunge’ and finally purchasing a property of their own.  For many the prospect of becoming a home owner is both scary and exciting all at once.

A great way to gain valuable insight into what being a first time home buyer is really like  is to hear from others who’ve had a similar experience.

I asked the Stringers our past clients to share the experience of purchasing their first home and to tell me frankly what went well and what could have been better.

I learned from their answers and hope you do too!

1. How long have you been in your home? 8 months
2. What type of home were you looking for? Small house or townhouse
3. Why did you choose to work with Christina and Patricia? They were recommended highly by friends.
4. What was the biggest factor that influenced your decision to buy a home? We were tired of paying someone elses mortgage via rent. Wanted something we could invest in.
5. Describe some of the things that you thought were easy about the home buying process. Actually all of it, we expected it to be really stressful but found that Patricia was so skilled and experienced that it took the scariness out of buying our first home.
6. What where some of the things you found hard about it? Again, honestly the confidence we found in Patricia relieved the difficulty we thought we were going to encounter. Figuring out the timing of documents just after purchasing was the only time is was slightly confusing.
7. What advice would offer someone buying their first home? Don’t expect to find the perfect home, find the perfect home for you. Every place is going to have something to deal with, it’s just a matter of what you are willing to deal with. It’s an exciting experience so breathe and go with it.
8. Describe the funniest thing that’s happened to you in the purchase process. We were ‘sure’ twice that we found THE place and I didn’t want to even look at more places but with my husband and Patricia’s encouragement we looked at more and found our current home, thank God we didn’t stop at the first two because our home meets our preferences way more! Also amusing was a place we looked at that had dozens of bathtubs strewn over the property
9. Describe the worst thing. Can’t think of anything negative in this process.
10. What are the qualities about your home that make living there enjoyable? We are able to have our pets live with us without consent of a ‘landlord’, the forest behind our yard is beautiful, it is mostly quiet and peaceful and has a good size yard for the dogs. We are paying less a month for our mortgage than our previous rent! It’s OURS! looking forward to having our first house one day and we are loving our first home now.

 

Here are a few things to ask your self when deliberating your readiness to take the next step towards home ownership.

1. Do you have job stability?

2. Can you stay in your new home for at least the next 5 years?

3.  Are there properties on the market for you to buy that are more affordable than rent?

These are just a few of the opening questions that you’ll want to consider as you work with your real estate agent to determine what’s right for you.