Purchasing a new house for your growing family is not a burden that you should take on by yourself. Well, see it more as a challenge than as a burden to keep a positive lookout. Saving up enough money to buy a new house could take forever if you decide to do it alone. Unless you have inherited a really big sum of money, then that’s alright.
There are, of course, financial institutions (banks, lenders) that can help you plan and achieve your goal in providing a safe and secure home for the family. The challenge is not only in finding the best lender for your home loan that can give you your money’s worth, but there are many other factors contributing to having a good house.
Aside from deciding if you are to build a house from scratch, buy one that’s already built, or buy one that has already been used, here are some other things to consider when buying a house and when availing a loan.
Table of Contents
Affordability
The first thing you should look into is how much you can afford or want to spend on your home. This will likely be just an estimate. Lenders will let you know the amount of mortgage for which you qualify for or if you don’t qualify at all.
You also need to include property insurance, private mortgage insurance, utility fees, maintenance budget, and also property tax to your overall budget.
Your Credit Score
Lenders look through your credit history to be able to set your loan pricing and determine if you can repay your mortgage in connection to your earning means. The better your your credit score, the bigger the chance you’d get good rates and the best terms for financing your house.
In Austria, we have the Kreditschutzverband that records all loans a person has – from banks to instalment payments from different shopping and supply stores. This is very useful and convenient as those who want to have their credit score checked only need to email to get such information.
Downpayment
Some developers require a downpayment before full payment. Simply put, an amount of money that is yours – not from a lender. It is wise to ensure that you already have an amount of savings to use once transaction goes ok. If you manage to put down 20% of the total then you get a good chance of getting approved and getting a lower loan rate.
Type of Mortgage Loans
Those in need of mortgage or home loans usually turn to banks, credit unions or government loan agencies. There are also financing companies and lenders that specialize in home loans that offer competitive packages. However, you may find that there are some loan packages that may appear to have different rates but have the same bottom line figures when you compute for it.
There are different types of loan that you can choose from : fixed interest loans, adjustable rate mortgage loans, interest only loans, home equity loans, and government housing loans. Each of these loans will have varying rates and terms that could fit the needs of any borrower.
Thanks to online Mortgage Calculators, one can figure out the full actual mortgage cost of a property including HOA fees, PMI, property taxes, homeowner’s insurance & routine maintenance expenses. Mortgage calculators are tools that enable customers to see the financial implications of changes in one or more variables in a mortgage financing arrangement. Mortgage calculators show users what would be the monthly repayments, and are used by mortgage providers or loan solicitors to determine the financial suitability of a home loan applicant.
Real Estate Agent
If things get so much for you, a real estate agent is your best go to. An effective real estate agent is one who is able to facilitate the process of qualifying customers who want to purchase property. Here are some steps in finding the best real estate agent for you.
Get referrals from your network.
Your family and friends, even co-workers would be the best people to ask when it comes to their experiences with real estate agents. They would be honest enough to give you feedback on how the agent processed their house purchase from start to finish.
Research potential candidates
Look into the portfolio of the real agent list you’ve narrowed down. The internet is your friend when it comes to researching a potential agent.
Interview the real estate agents on your list
An interview will give you a sense of a real estate agent’s etiquette, methods, understanding, and experience. Tally down one by one and pick which one you feel would be best.
Houses on The Market
There are a lot of developers around, and most have their websites where you can peek into to see which house you fancy. Others are more creative of course, and will even give you a 360° camera tour around the property and the house’s every nook and cranny. This is very convenient at the moment – as social distancing is highly recommended.
You can also arrange to see the property personally. Make a list of the things you would want to have a in your house and go through your checklist as you tour around.
If you plan to build a house, you would need help from builders, architects, and a group of experts. And that’s another story.
Picking a Lender
The best places to search for a good lender is through sources that have a wide experience in this field. Your first option is to go to your own bank or credit unions that sometimes provide their customers with special deals.
You can also talk to your real estate agents as they often have a list of credible lenders that have provided good service to their clients before. Another option is to secure the services of the broker. However, you should keep in mind that not all brokers have lower costs for you in their priorities. Make sure you do your own research before approving any proposal from your broker.
You have to consider the service and reputation of the lender or lending institution. You may have found the right type of loan and competitive rates that you are looking for but take a moment to get to know your provider before signing the deal. Otherwise, you might suddenly find yourself paying more than what you’ve bargained for simply because your provider didn’t take time to explain the terms or the service.
If you want to have a fool-proof and best value deal from home mortgage products, then be prepared to do some leg work and learn as much as you can about mortgage in the market. Finding the best lender for your home loan definitely costs a lot of time and energy but you get to spend less on interest rates, add-on service fees and enjoy some of the best deals in the market.
Things to Consider When Buying a House Takeaways
Again, you don’t have to burden the many processes involved in buying a house alone. There are professionals who can help you from start to finish: from planning, choosing, building, and financing.
Consider the best time when you buy a house, as many factors affect the prices in the market. Last year’s autumn season saw a big rise in the real estate prices as CNN reports, do your research on the best times for buying a property.
Go through these important things to consider when buying a house with your household and discuss. Decide after a thorough analysis of the whole family situation regarding plans, budgets, future earnings – even the location of your future home.
Remember, communication is always the key to better anything.
joy says
i agree, we really need to research and work on finding the best lender in town before jumping into loans, the company reputation plus the great deals offered like interest rates should be taken into consideration.
Riz says
interest rates among banking institutions are quite the same. with other lending firms, interest are quite high. but, more often than not, people decided to opt for lending firms because banking requirements tend to be too meticulous.
marri says
For me… loans are loans and
interest rates make them heavier
loads to carry. But nevertheless, we need
the services of these lenders to help
us in building our dream house.
Eugene says
Reasearch is key, we should be really careful about these important decisions. Most often than not, the lenders give unreasonably high interests on loans