Money-Saving Tips To Help You Buy Your First Home
Buying a home, especially your first one, is a fun time of new beginnings and exciting decisions. Although buying a home can be a fun process, it can require you to restructure your budget to buy a home to fit your needs while fitting within your budget. Here are some tips to help you successfully buy your first home without it draining your bank account.
Hire an Inspection
Hiring a professional inspection during the buying process is just as important as hiring a property appraisal for the lending process; you don't want to forego it. An inspection of a property you are under contract to buy allows you to have a professional thoroughly inspect the property for any existing or potential problems that you as an average home buyer may miss. This process helps you find out, for example, if the electrical wiring in the home's basement or attic was done improperly and can result in your electrical wiring shorting out and potentially causing a fire if it is not replaced.
A professional inspector will go through the home you plan to purchase and check all systems and components, such as the HVAC, furnace, air conditioner, and plumbing to make sure they are working properly. And although you may not be able to be present at the inspection, your professional inspector will photograph and document any issues found and report them back to you within a short time.
With this newfound information about your potential home-to-buy, you can present any issues and request repair, replacement, or a price renegotiation with the home seller. For example, if you find out the wiring is bad, you can get a bid to rewire the home and request the homeowner reduce the price of the home by that amount. Talk to your real estate agent about reducing the price.
Buy a Physically Distressed Home
Another financially smart way to buy a home is to buy a home that needs a number of repairs, updates, and work on it. This allows you to buy a home at a discounted price that you can live in while you do the work to improve it.
Buying a physically distressed home allows you to do any amount of the work yourself and save money on the labor. For example, if you can do drywall work and painting or if you are fortunate enough to have experience doing plumbing work or can replace the home's roof, these can save you a considerable amount of money doing them yourself.