First Time Home Buyer Tips

Before you pack one box in anticipation of your move to a co-op, you want to be sure you know everything about the building itself, whether it’s quirky rules, upcoming construction, or ongoing squabbles. This will go a long way to easing your move-in process. This will give you a sense of the issues facing co-op owners in the building and give you a heads-up about potential problems upon move in—and how they’ve been handled.

You’ll often hear the term “second mortgage” come up when watching a movie or TV show when a character isn’t in a great financial standing. “They had to take out a second mortgage on their house,” a gossipy character will whisper, describing how their frenemy has fallen on bad times. But second mortgages get a bad rap—though risky, they’re often a great tool to solve financial problems or even wisely get ahead.

I purchased a newly constructed three-bedroom, three-bathroom townhome for just under $200,000 in Westminster, Colorado.

To say I was a bit stressed out while hunting for and purchasing my first home would be a gross understatement. You see, I’m a planner. I like to know what to expect in any given situation, and having to trust our real estate agent to guide us through the whole process—without having a road map detailing each step of that process—made me a nervous wreck. There seemed to be so many moving parts that it made my head spin.

Just as you might primp before a first date, it makes sense to glam up your home before introducing it to potential buyers.

With all the Brooklynites flocking to Silver Lake, Echo Park, or Los Feliz, you might be feeling the itch to get out of Central Los Angeles once and for all. Whether you’re looking for lower rents (the average rent across all of Los Angeles’s 272 neighborhoods is $2,251 a month, according to Rentcafé), homeownership opportunities (18 percent of homes in L.A. sell for over a million, according to Curbed), or just more space, there are a glut of nearby options.

Essentially we decided to buy the home, rent out the parts we weren't using, and cover our mortgage with the income. But then it got hard.

For many, the path to becoming a first-time homeowner is an uphill climb. Student debt, low wages, high housing prices, and massive down payments can mean putting home-owning dreams on the back burner. But a new report provides a flicker of light for wannabe home buyers: It’s getting pretty easy to land a mortgage again, regardless of these hurdles.

The Yale Avenue home might be simple from the outside, but the interior is chock-full of impressive updates. 118 Yale Avenue Located in Salt Lake City, Utah $279,000 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom To be perfectly honest, this house on Yale Avenue isn’t the most glamorous from the outside. The 1925 bungalow is cute enough—with a solid brick exterior and a pretty porch—but it’s the inside that truly impresses.

Anyone who has gone through the stress of house hunting knows that it can be a challenge of biblical proportions. Though no home buying experience is the same, Maureen Burns with @Properties in Chicago, Illinois, says the right preparation and mindset can help you find the best property with relatively little stress. From not getting hung up on easily-fixed cosmetic features to researching your desired neighborhoods ahead of time, this list of rules is a good guide for house hunters everywhere.

When it comes to architecture, there seems to be endless styles to choose from. Have you ever wondered which type is right for you? Interested in your horoscope? Well, what could be more fun than meshing the two? Here, 12 types of homes and their corresponding star match, for millennials’ sake. The free-spirited, unconventional Aquarius would mesh with a Key West-style home.

Maybe you hear seemingly constant fighting and crying through the walls. Or someone is hollering upstairs for a concerningly long time. Or the guy across the hall has suddenly gone radio silent and his mailbox is overflowing. Now, the big question: Are you overthinking or does your neighbor really need help?

It doesn’t matter how much you smash that piggy bank—your first home is going to be really expensive and it’s going to take a long time to save up for that down payment on your own. According to a new study from HotPads, most renters will spend nearly six and a half years saving to put a down payment on a home. Since the median home price in the United States is $216,000, the average 20-percent down payment comes out to $43,200.

You’ve chosen your moving company and booked the movers, but there’s one thing that still needs to be done before the big day: packing up your belongings. Before you get too excited and begin stuffing your boxes with all your stuff, make sure that you’re setting yourself up for a smooth and efficient move.

After watching our parents retire and still have to make mortgage payments on a fixed income, my husband and I decided we would do whatever to prevent that for ourselves. So we approached our mortgages with aggressive and out-of-the-box steps that aren’t for everyone, but definitely worked for us.

I worked two jobs for four long years, coming home at the end of the day to the house I grew up in, saving up some cash for a down payment on a house of my own.

From location and lot size to curb appeal and area schools, most people know the most common factors that can affect a home’s property value. However, the list doesn’t quite end there. “Surprisingly, there are many out-of-the-box factors which may not be quite obvious that affect property value either positively or negatively,” says Marlene De Cespedes, director of luxury sales at Douglas Elliman in Miami, Florida.

You’ve heard this piece of home-buying advice time and time again: When it comes to buying property, you should work with a qualified real estate agent. While it may be tempting to go it alone, real estate agents do this for a living and their professional expertise can make a difference. However, you’ve probably also heard horror stories about subpar real estate agents who made the home buying process more of a nightmare than a dream.

In a perfect world, your neighbors would be as lovable as Joey and Chandler, as kooky as Kramer, or as beloved as Fred and Ethel. But, in reality, you don’t have to be BFFs to establish great relationships with the folks living next door or down the hall.

You just bought a new home or signed the lease for an apartment you’ve been coveting. Spending your discretionary dollars on a great piece of art or furniture sounds a lot more fun than blowing money on boring moving boxes and tape, right? If only it were that easy: Moving can be a pricey endeavor once you layer in all of the costs associated with professional movers, rented trucks, housing deposits, and miscellaneous fees.

Looking to purchase your first home? Find out what this popular real estate term really means, and how to pick the best one for your needs.

Open houses can be exciting, no matter whether you’re actively house-hunting or just a nosy Nellie. These events offer a pressure-free (okay, mostly pressure-free) way to scout out any homes on your radar—and maybe even find your dream space. But staying on your best behavior at an open house is paramount: After all, the seller’s agent is right there. Act like a loon and they’ll pass on the memo to their client, who may decide not to accept your offer.

We spoke with real estate and home financing experts to get the full picture.

According to the following four real estate professionals, there are several acceptable interpretations of this phrase.

The open house circuit can feel stressful and intimidating. You’re filing in and out of strangers’ homes and apartments, hoping this one might be the one. But how can you know? Luckily, those agents—you know, the ones manning the cookie tables, holding piles of business cards—can answer all your burning questions. You just need to know which ones to ask. Here, the top 10 questions to ask at an open house to help determine whether or not the space is right for you.

One of the most sought-after features in real estate today is “open concept.” But, like many popular buzzwords, people seem to mean different things when they use it. So we decided to talk with some real estate professionals to break down what open concept really means, how it originated, and why it’s so appealing.

Good news first: It’s actually possible to purchase an apartment in Manhattan for under $300,000 or so. (Yes, an actual apartment—not a closet! And yes, purchase to own, not rent!) Every so often, a Housing Development Fund Corporation (HDFC) co-op unit hits the market, providing a rare, affordable option for prospective homebuyers. But the discouraging news?

Who had it worse when buying homes: the Boomers or Millennials? It might be a topic that makes Thanksgiving dinner tenuous, but now the argument has an answer. Well, sort of. According to a new report, home-ownership is technically cheaper than it was in the 1980s, but today it’s currently harder than ever to afford a home.

If your standard reaction to watching HGTV is, “I want to do that, too,” but renovating a fixer-upper is out of your budget (and your skill set), there’s a new virtual way you can satisfy that renovation itch—without having to take out a mortgage or hire a contractor.

When you think of San Francisco, your first thoughts may be of cable cars and rows of houses on inclined streets. However, with one of the highest costs of living in the country, San Francisco housing prices can be as steep as its slanted streets. The average small apartment goes for more than $3,000 a month and median home prices top $1.5 million.

You’ve just moved into your home and you have a to-do list a mile long. So should you take on each and every project that eventually needs to be done right now, or is ok to let some simmer on the back burner? We asked longtime homeowners to share the home fix-ups they regret not conquering right away—before life got in the way.

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate for the seventh time in two years, signaling continued economic growth and a low unemployment rate. While that might just sound like financial mumbo-jumbo, it could have serious effects on what you pay for your home in the near-future. The benchmark interest, or prime, rate is basically the minimum rate that non-Treasury lenders (a.k.a.

Packing up to move is the worst—and the kitchen just may be the trickiest space of your whole house because of all those small, fragile items you have to carefully wrap and contain. On the flip side of that: Unpacking in your new-to-you kitchen (as long as nothing’s broken) is just about the best. I know, because we just moved into a new house and we got to start all over—yay! Starting fresh in a new place is an opportunity to really make that space work for you.

Buying a house is stressful enough, but when you add in the unfamiliar lingo and mounds of paperwork, it can be overwhelming.

It’s your move-in day and, while it may be more fun to plan all the vintage items you’re going to put in your living room, the reality is that there are certain parts of your new place that need to be cleaned—stat. Even if the past owner hired a professional to deep-clean after they moved, there are some sneaky, behind-the-scenes spaces that should be checked out.

If you’ve ever rented before, you know that all landlords are not created equal. While some do the absolute minimum to get your monthly rent check, others do an incredible job at maintaining clean buildings and keeping their tenants’ best interests in mind. Recently, Brick Underground released a list of these amazing landlords. It got me thinking: Who better than a great landlord to give maintenance tips?

Want to build your dream home from scratch? Don’t want to wait forever and drain your savings? A prefabricated—or prefab—home is the way to go. They’re built in a factory and transported section-by-section to be assembled almost wherever you please—almost like the IKEA furniture of homes. There are many pro and cons to buying prefab homes, and many ways to go about it.

Property taxes, homeowners insurance, interest, HOA fees—when it comes to your monthly mortgage payment, your loan’s principal doesn’t lack company. Still, few of these additional costs and expenses draw as much ire from a homeowner than private mortgage insurance (PMI.) If you’re begrudgingly shelling out extra cash for a PMI premium, then private mortgage insurance needs no introduction.

While you’re in the process of house hunting, all you want to do is find a keeper, get the keys and settle into your new life. But it pays to think long-term when buying a home because you’re probably going to be selling it sometime in the future, and you want to get a good return on your investment. So, keeping certain factors in mind when purchasing a home is key to ensure that it has good resale value. Here, six things you should think about, according to professionals.

Moving soon? You’re going to need packing tape—and a lot of it. But before you head to your local hardware supply store to pick up a few rolls, first think, “Is this going to cause more trouble than it’s worth?” From quickly losing adhesive to not being as durable as you’d like, bad tape can make moving a whole lot harder than it needs to be. And who knows how to avoid these sticky (pardon the pun) moving situations? The pros, of course.

You hunted until your feet were sore, found your dream home and made an offer that was accepted. Time to exhale, right? Not quite. “The first rule of real estate: All contracts must be in writing to be binding,” says David Rosen, a real estate agent with Douglas Elliman in New York City. That means until you actually have a signed contract, your accepted offer is just a good faith agreement. But it all works out, right?

When my wife and I were looking to get pre-approved for a mortgage, we started at the most obvious spot: Bank of America, the longtime home of our checking and savings accounts. Turns out, that may not have been a smart idea. For starters, we were surprised to discover that their rates and terms were pretty unattractive, especially for first-time buyers like us. We were already scrounging for cash, and the bank was pretty inflexible about the down payment amount.

If figuring out your mortgage and closing costs weren’t enough, moving into and furnishing your new home can be pretty stressful. And though you want to make your house your dream home right off the bat, you’re probably short on cash (and energy). Thankfully, you’ll be in your new house for awhile, so you have time to transform your place to match your vision. Still, there are some things you’ll appreciate having on day one.

Texas is a big, big place—it takes an incredible 14 hours to drive across it!—which is why you need a solid game plan if you’re moving to the Lone Star State. Each of its cities and towns are unique, and all have different things to offer, depending on what you’re looking for. But whether you’re looking for the right spot to start your life or a bustling community to welcome you during your sunset years, there’s a vibrant place for you.

In the past seven years, my family and I have been through seven moves. That may seem like a lot, but as a former military spouse and sailor, I can tell you it’s normal for families like mine. You don’t just move—you move quickly: You only get 10 days after you transfer to a new duty station to find a house and move into it. Yeesh! Most of the time, families spend those first days in a hotel (which, thankfully, the military pays for), but I was rarely interested in this option.

I always considered myself to be non-materialistic, a simple girl who isn’t wrapped up in the things she possesses. After all, it’s only stuff, right? But then I downsized.

If you’re a homeowner, the threat of a big, unexpected expense might be keeping you up at night. But if that’s what you’re losing sleep over, you’re not alone. In fact, a recent study from NerdWallet found that the main anxiety shared among homeowners was financing (65%). The simple secret to maintaining a great-looking house without having it drain your bank account? Never falling behind in upkeep.

Pop quiz: In which state is it illegal to milk another person’s cow, give your child a silly haircut and take more than three sips of beer while standing? Texas, of course. Unless you’re an outlaw dairy farmer with a mullet (to match your kid’s hairdo) who drinks her beer on the run, it’s unlikely the feds will come after you for any of the above indiscretions.

Inspections, closing costs, and loans—oh my! Buying a home is one of the most stressful experiences a couple can share. With so many variables to consider (finances, location, simple matters of taste, etc.), it may feel like every day could bring a new opportunity to argue—but it doesn’t have to be that way. Besides, the home-buying process offers enough trying hurdles as is—there’s no need to conjure your own.

So you just bought your first home—congrats! Now comes the fun part: settling into your new digs by filling it with necessary items. But after you spent all that money on securing your new home, you might not want to spend any more on the boring organization and maintenance tools homeownership requires. Save your dough for nesting, and get moving-in done with these essential 12 finds from Home Depot, all under $30.

More than half (57%) of new homeowners believe they could remodel an entire room without any help from a professional. Millennials are even more confident in their DIY abilities, with 64% ready to tackle a remodeling project on their own. That’s according to a Home Depot survey of 1,000 new homeowners, age 25 and up, who had purchased a home in the past year.

Sure, that old Victorian home seems great now. It has original floorboards and the crown molding is so charming. But once you purchase, every creaky step will send a shiver up your spine: One wrong move and the whole place could crumble down faster than you can say “poor house.” It’s a scary thought, but you’re not alone. In fact, threat of costly repairs is the number one stress for homeowners.

Whether you’re looking to downsize or are just engaging in a little couple’s therapy courtesy of online real estate listings, here’s a list you’ll love to browse. Redfin released their findings on the top ten tiny houses currently for sale in the U.S., and you can take a peek inside each one.

Nearly 3 of 4 house hunters call it "essential."

In order to combat its growing affordable housing issue the city of Tempe, Arizona is slated to break ground on a community of relatively low-priced tiny homes on city-owned land next spring. The desert city just outside Phoenix has seen an average rent increase of $200 per month since 2015. The community of 12 “micro-estates,” as the developers are calling them, will sit on approximately an acre of land with each home coming in at 600 square feet.

Like Honeycomb cereal, America’s big, yeah yeah yeah. (It’s not small, no no no.) But a new survey shows that maybe we’re finally ready to embrace smaller living — or at least the idea of it. More than half of Americans (53%) polled by the National Association of Home Builders said they were at least willing to consider living in a tiny home, defined as less than 600 square feet.

There’s a reason for that tired saying about real estate: It’s all about “location, location, location.” The quality of a neighborhood was a top concern for 60% of recent homebuyers, according to a 2017 report by the National Association of Realtors. And real estate website Trulia found that 85% of its users who plan to buy a home in the next year and a half said that the neighborhood was equally or more important than the house itself.

Mortgage marketplace Lending Tree recently ranked its best cities for first-time homebuyers, and the results are, well… let’s just say it’s great news if you’d like to live in Little Rock, Ark., which Lending Tree found to be the most hospitable U.S. city to first-time home buyers. Birmingham, Ala., Grand Rapids, Mich., Youngstown, Ohio, and Winston, N.C. rounded out the top five.

You’ve been setting aside money for a down payment for a few years and you’ve met your goal. Your online browsing has turned to semi-regular weekend open house hunting, and now you’re thinking about getting an agent of your own. Is it time? Are you really ready to buy a house? One of the biggest daily life differences between renting and owning is that no one is responsible for maintaining a home except for the home owners.

If you’ve ever written a monthly check to Sallie Mae, the findings of a new study on student loan debt and millennial homeownership shouldn’t surprise you: College graduates with loan debt have a harder time saving up for a down payment than those who graduate debt-free. That’s according to a study released Thursday by rental website Apartment List.

Like many of you, I suspect, I love watching HGTV house hunting shows. It’s fun to guess how a wedding calligrapher and Frisbee golf instructor can possibly buy a $1.5 million house. When my husband and I decided to buy a house, we did not have a $1.5 million budget. But what we did have was a sizeable down payment.

If buying your first home is among your New Year’s resolutions for 2018, you might be viewing the current real estate landscape with equal parts hopeful wonder and anxious dread. As a first-time buyer, you can expect plenty of company at open houses and a lot of headwinds in your search. Experts predict 2018 will be another seller’s market, with demand far outpacing the available inventory of homes for sale. But that doesn’t mean you have to sit on the sidelines.

Buying or selling a home is a daunting task and a massive learning experience.

It’s that time of year when we reflect on the last 12 months, look dreamily out the coffee shop window, and think… “To hell with you, 2017! You were the [bleeping] worst. Let’s hope 2018 isn’t such a slimy armpit stain of a year.” Ahem, er… right. It was a tough year for homebuyers, and lots of other people, too. Is there any relief in store? It looks that way.

Las Vegas will be the hottest housing market in America next year, according to Realtor.com — and not just because the average high temperature is 100 degrees or more from June through August. Realtor.com analyzed data on home sales, prices, and new construction, as well as local economic factors, population trends, unemployment, and median incomes to determine its top 10 housing markets for 2018. Not a single metro area in the Northeast, Great Lakes, or Pacific Northwest made the cut.

A 20 percent down payment is the gold standard held up by every real estate resource ever. With less than 20 percent down, you’re on the line to pay PMI — private mortgage insurance — a fee that’s tacked on to your mortgage every month for no other reason than to protect the bank (not you) if you ever default on your loan.

‘Tis the season to be house hunting. Yep, you heard us right; if you’re looking to score a deal on your dream home, the end of the year is a great time to do it. Now, you may be asking yourself, “Who would want to trek to open houses in 20-degree weather when you could be curled up by the fireplace at home?” And the answer would be: People who really, really want to get a good deal.

If you hope to own a home some day, you may be under the impression that you need to save up for a 20 percent down payment—but the truth is, that’s just a myth. According to data from Better, an online mortgage platform, only 17 percent of homebuyers actually put between 15 and 25 percent down — and more than a quarter (27 percent) of them put down between 5 and 10 percent.

Buying a home can be crazy expensive, and for most first-time buyers, the hardest part is saving up a sizable down payment. You’ve no doubt heard that the traditional down payment should be 20% of the purchase price — any less, and you’ll likely have to pay private mortgage insurance (PMI) or get stuck with a higher long-term interest rate. And who’s got 20% of, say, $300,000 just kicking around in their bank account? However, that 20% figure isn’t set in stone.

In 2008, the U.S. housing market was already cratering as the Great Recession took hold. To try and stop the bleeding, Congress passed a series of first-time homebuyer tax credits, each more generous than the last. First came a $7,500 tax rebate, to be repaid over 15 years with no interest. By early 2009, it had grown to $8,000, and required no payback whatsoever. And for most of 2010, even some repeat home buyers were eligible for a tax credit worth up to $6,500.

If you’ve been living in a major city the past few years, you’ve probably seen your rent go up — and up, and up — and thought about buying a home to escape the rent hikes. Problem is, you’ve likely watched helplessly as the prices of nearby condos and houses climbed out of your reach even faster. If you’re feeling priced out in the city you call home, should you consider moving to make your dream of homeownership come true?

Unless you have a fairy godmother or a cool half million sitting around, you’re probably going to need a mortgage if you want to buy a home. Here’s how to qualify for and choose a mortgage, and what to expect throughout the process. Let’s face it: You can go to as many open houses as you want, but you’re not going to be able to buy one without a mortgage. So get the ball rolling early and get pre-approved before you even start house hunting.