Buying your dream home shouldn’t turn into a nightmare. Make sure you know how much of a mortgage you qualify for before you start looking. We can help! Call our office to get prequalified at 412-243-0218.
Check out this great article and video from Destination Home via Yahoo.com
Buying a house may be the American Dream, but what mistakes do you need to avoid
when buying your dream home?
In this episode of
Destination Home, Rutenberg Realty agent and founder of BuyingNYC.com Brad Malow details how people can figure out
if they can afford their dream home, and he addresses common mistakes homebuyers
make in the process.
He says
stretching the budget is one of the biggest mistakes homebuyers can make. The
financial crisis pretty clearly set the precedent for how well that works out
(horribly!).
“If we look at what happened a few years back before the
housing market crashed, people were taking short-term mortgages, buying dream
homes, and ending up in foreclosure and losing their shirts,” Malow tells
Destination Home.
Home affordability is more complicated than most think, and
Malow lays out what you need to consider in terms of your income, debt and
lifestyle. He encourages people to remember that banks don’t ask how much you
shop or vacation when you're applying for a mortgage.
If you’ve
crunched the numbers and the affordability of owning versus renting is very
close, this might be one instance where Malow would give you the green light to
stretch your budget and buy — but only stretch a little. Check out the video to
hear his advice.
Another common mistake for those in their 20s and 30s is busting the
budget to buy a starter home, thinking you have not yet reached your peak
earning potential. According to Malow, do not assume your income will increase
in the future. In fact, when calculating affordability you should base your math
on your lowest annual salary.
Yet another mistake he sees this
demographic of buyers make is pouring money into renovations. Wait, don’t you
want to improve your home's value? Maybe not as much as you’d think. Check out
the video to find out why and learn when it's a good time to invest in turning
your fixer-upper into your dream home. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/buying-your-dream-home--how-to-avoid-a-nightmare-185825729.html
