Is Now The Right Time?

by Rachel Maroon

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There are both pros and cons to buying a house. Days and weeks go into looking for the right house, the perfect place for your family to move to, and then once you find the right one, you still need to get approved for a loan. The process is long, the stress is high, but once you sign those closing papers, the feeling of relief and the overwhelming excitement is all worth it! But that’s only if you feel confident in your decision. How do you know if it’s the right time to buy a house? Here are some helpful hints:
 
Reasons to Buy a House:
 
Mortgage payments are typically around the same as rental payments, especially in today’s economy –
The cost of renting is getting to be so much greater that now the monthly mortgage payments when you buy a home are around the same as the monthly rental payments. If you buy instead of rent, the money that you are putting into your monthly payments is going to paying off your mortgage instead of paying off someone else’s mortgage, which will help you in the long run.
 
Once you pay off your monthly payments, you no longer have any payments –
When your monthly payments are officially paid off, you no longer have any payments left on your house. Unlike renting, where you’re stuck in a contract for as long as you live in the house or apartment, there is an end date for when you no longer are required to pay monthly mortgages.
 
You can keep the increased property value –
Over time, when the value of your home increases, which it tends to do over the years you own your home, you get to keep the increase. If/when you sell your house, you keep any return on your investment.
 
You get to customize your house –
You can change your house however you would like. You can take down or add walls, paint with whatever colors you choose, or even put in a garden with a beautiful fence around it. If you rent, you need to make sure that all changes are approved by your landlord.
 
 
Reasons to Wait on Buying a House:
 
Extra costs associated with buying –
There are some fees that go beyond the down payment to a house. There’s the appraisal fee, the closing costs, plus some other fees that are often not considered when buying a house.
 
More difficult to travel –
Buying a house makes it more difficult to move. You need to make sure that your house is taken care of when you leave. If you plan to move, you need to rent or sell your house, which takes upkeep of its own. It takes between three to five years to recoup the initial purchase costs of the house (around 2-5% of the purchase price), so you should plan to stay put for at least three to five years. If you’re not planning to stay put for a little while, think about renting until you’re ready.
 
Maintenance –
Owning a home takes maintenance. Things break, and when things break, as a homeowner it’s your responsibility to fix them, especially big fixes that influence the way your household runs daily. Those fixes increase your costs which needs to be accounted for when coming up with your yearly budget.
 
The thought of buying a home can be overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be! With a team of experts behind you, we can get you into your new home as soon as possible. Contact us today at (207) 885-5070.