Thinking about buying a home in the Phoenix metro area? You will want to make sure you don’t do anything to screw up your dream of owning a new home. These are the four things you should stay away from if you’re thinking about buying a place in Phoenix.
1. Don’t forget to save for the purchase of your home. Make sure you have money saved up before you go out and buy a property because it’s easy to fall in love with one place but then have nowhere near enough finances to cover the price of it. When buying a house in Phoenix, you need to save for not only the downpayment (your downpayment can be 3.5% – 20%) on the home, but you also need to cover closings costs (another 1 – 1.5%). The amount expected by lenders regarding down payments depends on what type of loan you’ll qualify for. Additionally, closing costs come in all shapes and sizes. When buying a home, you need to pay for things like an appraisal and an inspection. In addition, there are fees associated with having a lender secure your loan and having a title company facilitate the transaction. If you don’t save up for those things, you might be dead in the water in terms of being able to purchase real estate in Phoenix.
2. Don’t forget to talk to a lender and get prequalified for a mortgage. Getting prequalified for a loan is something that should be done as soon as possible. The reality is that those fun mortgage calculators that spit out “prequalification” numbers aren’t actually going to give you a mortgage. Only a lender can tell you what you can prequalify for based on your debt and your income.
3. This is one of the biggest mistakes we see people make, and it can ruin the chance of buying a home altogether. Don’t go and buy any huge purchases on credit. It’s very tempting to go out and buy that living room set you really like or that brand new car that’s going to be perfect for the new garage. Unfortunately, taking loans out for these types of things can affect your debt to income ratio and possibly disqualify you from getting a mortgage. It’s best to stay away from credit cards or new loans until after the purchase of your new Phoenix home.
4. Don’t forget to talk to a Realtor. Buying a new home is one of the biggest purchases in your life, and the process can seem simple, but it can be very complex. So it’s never too early to speak to a Realtor (even if you are still 12-18 months out from actually buying something). A Realtor can walk you through the entire process and advise on what might work best for your situation and what to expect as you navigate the purchase.
We hope these four tips and tricks give you some insight into what can be detrimental to your dream of purchasing a new home. If there is anything we can help answer for you, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our team, COR Consultants.
