5 Simple Rules For Buying Your First Home

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There is an awful lot of confusion surrounding the rules for buying your first home. The financial and psychological burden of the whole process can be stressful, painful and downright frustrating at times, so it makes a lot of sense to get as much help as possible during the process. Buying a house comes with a set of rules if you hope to be successful, and making smart, sane decision is an important part of the process as a whole. We’ve put together for you a list of five simple rules for buying a home to keep your sanity intact!

Rule 1: Talk To Lenders Before The Hunt.

Picture the scene: you’ve booked yourself in to see several beautiful homes. You are going from house to house looking for the family home of your dreams and finally fall in love with the perfect house and plot of land. You are determined that THIS shall be your house, so you go to start sorting out applications, only to learn that you will not be able to get the funding for it. Deflated? We would be, too. You need to speak to independent lenders and real estate agents from buyersoption.com so that you can get advice on financing and contracts ahead of time. Learn what mortgages are on the market and are available for you before you get started, too.

Rule 2: Check Out The Neighbourhood.

That house you fell in love with earlier? It may be the most majestically beautiful house you have ever seen, but it doesn’t mean the neighborhood itself is any good. If you’re moving to a new town this is particularly important, as you want to be able to integrate the children into their school and feel safe on your commute to work. Do your research before you hunt.

Rule 3: Think Hard About Your Offer.

Before you approach a seller with an offer on their house, you need to be absolutely sure. You need to have your funding in place, you need to know all the associated costs with the house itself and you also need to be sure you can afford the mortgage long-term. Check out the local houses that recently sold so that you can ensure you have a fair offer.

Rule 4: Get Inspected.

You get to have a period of due diligence before you complete on a home, and this should include having an inspector come in and assess the home for any damage or ruin. Your dream home can easily be a dud home wearing fancy dress! If you don’t take the time to do the right checks, you could end up spending a lot more money trying to rectify mistakes that you shouldn’t have to. Here is a list of the most common home inspection findings.

Rule 5: Keep Your Seller On Side.

One of the biggest reason a house can fall through is not getting along with the seller. Keep the goodwill of the seller and you can make sure that you don’t lose out due to animosity. Kindness goes a long way, so don’t pick apart the sale of the house and just enjoy the ride.

Avoiding Neighbor Disputes 101

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In the words of a very old meme, when it comes to neighbor disputes: ain’t nobody got time for that.

There is so much about home ownership that you can control. You can pick the neighborhood you buy into, the type of property, the size of the garden. But the one thing you can’t pick is your neighbors.

Maybe they will turn out to be the best friends you never knew you needed, popping into one another’s house and sharing your lives together. Or, they could be your worst enemies.

That’s a problem on two levels. Firstly, there’s the simple matter of the stress that comes with living near someone you have an issue with. If you’ve never lived it, then you might not be able to conceive of just how difficult it is to share such a personal space with someone you dislike. If you want to enjoy life and keep it as worry-free as possible, then you don’t want to be tangling with the neighbors.

Secondly, there’s the financial factor. Bad neighbors can and do cost people a lot of money, both in avoiding one another and even potentially in legal fees. Given that your home is the biggest investment that you’ll make, this is an added expense you definitely don’t need.

Fortunately, there are a few steps you can take to ensure that the relationship never deteriorates to that point. Get together with your neighbor and establish firm rules, so you’re both well aware of the expectations.

What Is Your Land?

You need to know the exact boundaries of your land, because it’s one of the most common flashpoints between neighbors. Not only do you need to know it in abstract, but it makes sense to mark the separation as well. The likes of https://www.fencingdirect.com/blog/one-website-all-fencing-needs can give an idea of the type of fencing that might suit both parties, and make sure you don’t have any arguments in the future.

What About Overhanging Trees?

Overhanging trees are another potential flashpoint. While the trees roots might be on one side of the fence, they could potentially hang onto the other – so who occupies the air? And what happens come fall, when leaves begin to tumble and clog up the garden of the non-tree owner?

If it’s your tree, then you should probably offer to ensure that all leaves and debris will be collected for your neighbor. It might even be advisable to prune the tree back so it only hangs onto your land; https://www.angieslist.com/articles/6-reasons-why-you-should-prune-your-trees.htm has some great ideas of how to make this work.

What’s Your Noise Policy?

Sometimes, houses get noisy – you have parties, or want to work in the garage with power tools. It makes sense to agree a general noise policy, such as “all loud intrusive noise must be completed by 7pm”. If one of you wants to have a party and extend that, it’s common courtesy to agree you will give your neighbor a heads-up about the situation, so they can be prepared.

Remaining Financially Afloat When Off Work

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Taking time off work is stressful. Whilst a week or a few weeks off school would have been a dream as a child, you have financial responsibilities as an adult, and those responsibilities weigh heavily on your mind when you’re no longer in work. Perhaps you’ve fallen seriously ill, either physically or mentally; perhaps you’ve been injured in or out of work. Whatever the case, your focus now should involve getting better and keeping your finances as secure as possible during that time. If you’re worried about how to do that, then here are some pieces of advice which might help you.

Talk to your employer.

This should be the first thing you do when you realize that you’re injured or unwell and you won’t be able to work for a few days or a few weeks. This isn’t just for the sake of making arrangements with your employer but for your own peace of mind. You want to know where you stand with regards to your job so that you’re not worrying about what you’ll do when you’ve recovered and getting yourself in an even worse state whilst you’re trying to recover.

Of course, even if you’ve been injured on the business premises, not all employers will be understanding of your situation, and you might want to look into legal help for a compensation claim if your employer disputes the severity of your accident in the workplace. Whilst your main focus should be your personal health, you don’t want to be making yourself physically or mentally sick by leaving your employment or financial situation messy and unresolved whilst you’re off work.

Be smart about your available funds.

If you’re only going to be off work for a few days then you probably won’t feel the squeeze on your bank account during your recovery or downtime, but you most certainly will if you’re going to be unwell or recovering from an injury for a few weeks. It’s important that you start thinking about your available funds during this time and protect your finances. You need to reel in your expenditures and focus on the necessities rather than luxuries during this time. Utility bills and food shopping both need to come first; you should have enough money set aside for that, but if you’re planning in the event of some incident putting you out of work for a while, then you should really think about creating an emergency fund to cover the things you’ll need whilst you’re not earning.

See what’s available to you.

Of course, whilst off work, there’s always the chance that certain types of income are available to you to help cover your costs whilst you’re recovering. Even if your employer isn’t entitled to cover your pay for sick leave, there might be benefits or entitlements which apply to you under the government. You might even be able to contact your energy supplier to get a reduction on your bill with regards to your current state of health. This could cut a chunk out of your monthly bill, and it’s important that you save money wherever possible whilst you have no income.