Well, you work for Lowes. Keep coming to work everyday and take care of your customers. Someday, you will be able to buy a real fancy home of your own. Of course you may be able to afford a new home now. Here’s how.
Don’t buy if you can’t stay put. If you can’t commit to remaining in one place for at least a three years, then owning is probably not for you. With the transaction costs of buying and selling a home, you may end up losing money if you sell any sooner – even in a rising market.
Start by checking your credit. You don’t have that much cash. You most likely will need to get a mortgage to buy a house, you must make sure your credit history is as clean as possible. A few months before you start house hunting, get copies of your credit report. Make sure the facts are correct, and fix any problems you discover.
Aim for a home you can really afford. The rule of thumb is that you can buy housing that runs about two-and-one-half times your annual salary. Maybe a nice trailer or double-wide will have to do. But you’ll need to use one of many calculators available online to get a better handle on how your income, debts, and expenses affect what you can afford.
If you can’t put down the usual 20 percent, you may still qualify. There are a variety of public and private lenders who, if you qualify, offer low-interest mortgages that require a down payment as small as 3 percent of the purchase price.
Get help online and locally. Even though the Internet gives buyers unprecedented access to home listings, most new buyers are better off using a professional agent. Look for an exclusive buyer agent, if possible, who will have your interests at heart and can help you with strategies during the bidding process.
Do your homework before bidding. Your bid should be based on the sales trend of similar homes in the neighborhood. Consider sales of similar homes in the last three months. If homes have recently sold at 5 percent less than the asking price, you should make a bid that’s about eight to 10 percent lower than what the seller is asking.
Have your home inspected. Sure, your lender will require a home appraisal anyway. But that’s just the bank’s way of determining whether the house is worth the price you’ve agreed to pay. You should hire your own home inspector, preferably an engineer with experience in doing home surveys in the area where you are buying. His or her job will be to point out potential problems that could require costly repairs down the road.
From CNN Money Magazine
