Buying Your First Home
December 15, 2008 by Carl Chapman
Filed under Your First Home
Buying a home is probably the biggest investment you will make in your lifetime. You need to consider several things when you considering buying a home. Where do you want to live? How much can you borrow and how much should you borrow? Should you buy a new home or an existing home? What are your financing options? All of these questions can be made easier if you have a real estate agent helping you.
Finding a real estate agent is your first step to buying a home. All agents go to a real estate school and are required to pass a state and federal real estate test in order to obtain their real estate license. Our agents specialize as a buyer’s agent or as a seller’s agent so that you can feel secure knowing that your agent works only for you and has your interests at stake. You want a professional to help you through the maze of paperwork and to help you find the house that you want. Our agents have the experience, both in a seller’s market as well as in a buyer’s market.
Generally, agents are paid from the seller’s side of the deal. When a house is put up for sale, the seller and their agent agree to a percentage of the selling price to be split between the seller’s agent and buyer’s agent. The buyer usually is not involved in determining how much their agent gets paid.
Where do you ant to live? This will be limited to what you can afford to buy, but it is a good place to begin. Become familiar with different neighborhoods. If you have children, you might want to consider a neighborhood close to schools and parks.
Perhaps you like to go out to eat, or to the movies, or you enjoy being downtown close to shopping—living in the vicinity of all these activities might be preferable. Living close to where you work, or close to mass transit is another option to consider.
