Top 5 Factors to Consider During a Home Purchase1/04/2011 When planning your home purchase, you’ll likely check out many homes. You may even walk through some of them more than once, undecided. This is understandable. If you’re a first time home buyer, you may not know how best to identify the house that best meets your needs. Evaluate each property based on the following criteria. 1. Cost of the home. This is one of the first things you find out about the home and one of the most critical factors to evaluate. Determine your price range and don’t budge from it. More than this, though, find out whether or not the price of the home truly fits the condition of the home. This is the most important part, and it can be complicated. The best thing to do is to speak with a real estate professional and conduct thorough research on similar homes in the area. 2. Home and property condition. This is another critical factor. Check the home thoroughly, even apart from the home inspection, for problems and minor details that may become major issues. If you can put off some of the home repairs for a few years, you may be able to refinance your mortgage and take out cash from your equity to make payments. 3. Access to work. How close is the home to your area of work? A high commute time may run up gas and other travel expenses. Consider as well the possibility of finding future employment. It’s not easy to sell a home in a hurry if you have to move away from the area to find work. 4. Neighborhood, schools, and other community facilities. This part of the house hunt is often the most difficult to quantify. If you have children who will be attending school, pick an area with good schools. Evaluate parks, green spaces, and other “intangible” values as well. 5. You have to like it. You wouldn’t believe how important this is. Even if you’re getting financing through an FHA mortgage and you’re just trying to find a place to live, you need to like the home you’re purchasing. If you don’t, you may not feel inclined to care for or improve it, and this will hurt your resale value. Find a home that you like. |
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