4 Ways To Plan For Your First Home

Deciding to get a house of your home is an exciting step, but a stressful one. Here are some great tips to make the process a bit easier for you!

Are you considering purchasing your first home? If so, congratulations! Purchasing your first home is so exciting, rewarding, and sometimes nerve wracking. You probably have a million different thoughts and ideas running through your mind right now, but don’t worry – that is completely normal. You’ve got this! If this sounds like you, then you probably need a little bit of help and guidance along the way. If so, keep on reading because I am writing all about the best ways to plan for your first home. Let’s dive in:

Managing Your Finances

First and foremost, you need to make sure that your finances are in order, which is hard for a lot of millenials. I get it – it can be very confusing, but you can do it! Before you even think about the ins and outs of buying a home, you need to save. Nerd Wallet says, “Lenders like 20% down payments. That’s $60,000 on a $300,000 home. (There’s that scary music again.) For one thing, you’ll probably earn a better mortgage interest rate. There are all sorts of other benefits too:

Lower upfront fees (we’ll talk more about that in a second)
Lower ongoing fees (more on that too)
More equity in your home right off the bat
A lower monthly payment

Of course there is one big, juicy caveat: The down payment is not the only upfront money you have to deal with. There are loan closing costs and earnest money to consider as well. Before the dramatic music returns, let’s explore some lower down payment options.”

In addition to saving for a home, you need to work towards paying off any high-interest credit card debt that you might have. This is extremely important when it comes to getting approved for a home loan. There are many creative ways to save and pay off high-interest debt, so do your research and play it smart.

Last but not least, you need to apply to be pre-approved. This is pretty easy to do, but please keep in mind that when you are approved, you will more than likely be approved for more than you SHOULD be spending on a home, so budget carefully before deciding how much you can actually afford to spend on a home each month.

Finding A Great Realtor

Finding a great realtor is your second step when it comes to planning for your first home and honestly, it’s probably the most important step because your real estate agent will be negotiating on your behalf. A really great realtor, such as Erin King Jax Historic Realty, will not only help you find a home that is a great fit for your needs and wants, but he can also help you become more knowledgeable about a certain area of Jacksonville. He is very knowledgeable on locations within Jacksonville, such as: Fairfax, Springfield, St. Nicholas, San Marco, and many other locations, as well.

If you are looking for a stress-free buying experience, look no further than Erin King with Jax Historic Realty. His goal is to make your experience as stress-free as possible and as a first time home buyer, you definitely want someone holding your hand during the entire process because it can get very confusing and frustrating at times. Erin can help provide you with a wealth of knowledge when it comes to first-time home buying in Jacksonville, buying and selling a home at the same time, and just really all things related to the real estate business. On his website, you can easily search for homes based on the area, price, beds, baths, types of homes, and more. In fact, the entire website was designed to help you become more knowledgeable about the big decision that you are making, so check it out today.

Choosing Color Schemes

Once you have found a home, the fun begins! Choosing a color scheme is tricky, especially if you are just coming out of college with many different styles and colors of furniture. Once again – you can do it! I always say that it’s easy to change out your furniture in the future, but not so easy to change things like ceiling colors (especially if the ceilings are extremely high), flooring, and other larger, more time consuming tasks. If you choose a color scheme for your home that is more neutral (when it comes to paint and flooring, etc.), you can always add pops of color through artwork and furniture. Make sure you are thinking all of this through when choosing a color scheme!

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Mixing Decor Tastes

A lot of people have roommates when they purchase their first home and if this is you, then you will have to battle mixing furniture and decor tastes with your roommate or partner. If you have a basement or attic with a lot of storage, this is easy because you can always just store things until they move out, but if you don’t, you have to make sure that you are being gracious and including them. Yes – you purchased the home, but they are living in it, as well, so make sure they are included in the decor process! If you start to disagree on some of the decor items, consider sectioning off rooms: they can decorate the living room, if you are able to decorate the dining room. Or, choose different decor aspects: you provide the art, while they provide the lamps and smaller table pieces.

There you have it – a couple of ways to plan for your first home purchase! Do you have any other tips? I’d love to hear them!