Home Financing Tips

Tired of kissing your hard-earned cash goodbye every month and handing it over to your landlord? Thinking about taking the plunge and purchasing your own place? Well, hold up, young Padawan—before you apply for a mortgage on a whim, you should probably pump the brakes. If you’re really ready to shed the renting lifestyle once and for all and get serious about buying your first home, there are a few considerations you must make.

In polite company, most people prefer to steer conversation away from the topic of money. And even if you do broach the subject of, say, buying a home with your friends, it’s likely that nobody in the circle will ever throw out a real dollar amount when discussing how much they’ve saved or spent in their quest to complete the American Dream.

Potential buyers can be thrown off by the littlest things (just consult any episode of House Hunters). Even if you’re not thinking about selling your home now, you can make small improvements while you’re still living there without dedicating a lot of time or money to the cause. These 7 bathroom projects take only a weekend and a few hundred bucks, at most, but they’ll pay off in the long run when you decide to sell in a few months or a few years.