Home Loan Tips

The Money Pit

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Home Loan Tips

Warning – Your home may be at risk if you do not keep up payments on any lending secured upon it . . . or words to that effect!

Buying a home of your very own is so exciting, but it certainly isn’t without its fair share of pitfalls. To make sure that you’re not one of the thousands of families who loses their beloved home each year, take a look at some of these home loan tips. The more seriously you take this venture,  the more chance there is of it working for the long term . . .

      1. How much can you afford – it’s no good thinking that “you’ll manage somehow” because it so often turns out that you most definitely won’t.  How much you can afford to borrow is something which the lender will help you to work out, but you’ve got to be honest about other commitments you have – income; other monthly expenses (loans, credit card payments etc); credit rating; down payment; interest rates.
      2. Knowing your rights can help you to sort this out without getting bamboozled – the majority of lenders will tell you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth – hopefully . . . but it helps if you know the ropes just the same.
      3. Shopping for a loan can be quite an eye opener. Look into every different type of loan you can find, compare fees and interest rates between lenders (avoid the predatory ones) and talk to people . . . millions of people have already secured a home loan and many will be able to warn you of the pitfalls which they maybe didn’t spot until it was too late. Hindsight is a beautiful thing, so take advantage of the hindsight of your friends, family and colleagues.
      4. Know what’s available in terms of home-buying programs in your particular state. You could be missing out on a fantastic opportunity just because you didn’t know about it . . .
      5. Find a home, I bet you’ve already spotted one haven’t you, but how could you do that without knowing how much you can afford etc. That’s why these tips are numbered you know! Find a real estate agent who you can trust, (no derogatory comments necessary thank you), write up a wish list (be realistic here, your first home is unlikely to have an indoor swimming pool and a helicopter pad unless your name is Hilton or something like that – be thankful for indoor plumbing), and when you visit the homes on offer take notes and compare which have the features at the top of your wish list.
      6. Make an offer on your dream home, or the closest to it which you can afford and where you can picture yourself being “at home”.
      7. Don’t get too carried away, once you’ve chosen your home you need to have it inspected just to make sure that it’s all it’s cracked up to be – it’s your way of protecting yourself against buying a white elephant – I thought we were talking about homes here, anyway, we’ve all seen the movie “The Money Pit” right?

    1. Find some homeowners insurance.
    2. Sign on the dotted line, call the removal firm and pack up all of your earthly belongings into crates and boxes, some of them which will never be seen again . . . I never did find my food processor, I remember where it was a couple of houses ago, then whoosh, it just vanished into thin air.

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