‘I Want to Buy a House’: A Guide to Taking the Real Estate Plunge

‘I Want to Buy a House’: A Guide to Taking the Real Estate Plunge

 

Maybe youre renting in an overpriced neighborhood and aresick of writing a huge rent check. Maybe youre living in a yurt and miss having normalwalls. Wherever you wake up, the same thought runs through your head every morning: I want to buy a house! But perhapsthat want hasnt yet translated into how to actually go about buying a house. Thats where this handy checklist on preparing to buy a home comes in.

Maybe youre renting in an overpriced neighborhood and aresick of writing a huge rent check. Maybe youre living in a yurt and miss having normalwalls. Wherever you wake up, the same thought runs through your head every morning: I want to buy a house! But perhapsthat want hasnt yet translated into how to actually go about buying a house. Thats where this handy checklist on preparing to buy a home comes in.

What do these three numbers have to do with buying a home? Well, pretty much everything. Yourcredit or FICO scorewhich reflects how dependable you are atpaying billsdirectly affects the interestrateon your mortgage andthe amount of your monthly payments.

Most lenders require a minimum score of 620 for a mortgage (the U.S. average is 687), so youll want to do everything to lift yournumberbefore applying for a mortgage. The things thatdrag down the score include carrying an excess of debt, missing bill payments, or applying for too much credit. So can plain old mistakes.

If you find out there are items on your credit history that you think are incorrect, immediately start working with someone to mitigate these issues and contact all three of the largest credit-reporting agencies directly, says Joshua Arcus, president of Siderow Residential Group. These agencies areEquifax,Experian, andTransUnion.

Image courtesy of realtor.com



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