Owning a home is a goal that many people have in place. Some are close to achieving that goal, and others might have recently decided that this direction is the one that they want to go in. Many factors go into this choice, and one of them involves the various expenses. Knowing what these expenses are can help you to better plan for first-home ownership.
-
Down Payment
Contents
For many people, the down payment plays a huge role in the ability to buy a home or not. In other words, some individuals spend years or even decades saving up enough money to make a suitable down payment on their first home. Keep in mind that a lower down payment can mean a higher monthly mortgage. On the other hand, you can move into a house more quickly if you don’t have to wait to save up massive quantities of money. In fact, working with Darren Walters can help you to seriously reduce or potentially eliminate the down payment.
-
Mortgage
If you’ve even explored home ownership on a marginal level, you have certainly heard of a mortgage before. Essentially, the mortgage is the total cost of the house minus the down payment that you make. This remaining balance is divided up into a number of monthly payments. Many people opt for 30-year mortgages to keep the payments at an affordable level. You may also have other fees tacked on to your mortgage. For example, you will certainly have to pay interest, and you may have mortgage insurance as well.
-
Taxes
Owning a property means that you need to pay taxes on it. When looking at houses, some people set their sights only on the total cost of the house and the amount of down payment that they need. In other words, they may bypass the amount of taxes on the property as they browse through the listings, yet taxes are an immensely important feature. A house might have a low price on it, but the taxes may be entirely unaffordable for your budget. In fact, the taxes may increase through the years, leaving you in financial despair. On the other hand, you may see a pricey house with very low taxes, which could indicate that the neighborhood has some unappealing issues, such as a high crime rate.
-
Closing Costs
As you’re calculating costs for your new house, you may now take into account the mortgage, taxes and additional fees. You must, however, remember that you also have to pay closing costs. Just as the name suggests, closing costs are fees that you pay at the closing of the house. One option is to pay for these fees upfront and get them out of the way. However, you can also look into rolling these closing costs into your mortgage. In other words, you would pay for the closing costs over a period of time along with your monthly mortgage payments.
-
Moving Costs
When you are caught up in the excitement of moving into a new house and the calculation of the mortgage and taxes, you might forget about the actual cost of moving. Even if you are moving from a small apartment into a large house, you are still likely to need to rent a truck at the least. You may even need a full team of movers to help you out. Also, keep in mind that the new house might not be ready on the exact date that you’re hoping for. You could end up needing to temporarily rent a space to live and to put your belongings in storage.
-
Furniture
It’s true that you don’t need to buy everything for your new house right away, but you do likely want to settle in as soon as possible. If you know that you’re going to move soon, you might even want to start looking into furniture sales now. Online furniture stores often have Sale and Clearance sections. Getting significant reductions on the cost of furniture can help you in the long run.
-
Unexpected Costs
What plenty of current homeowners can probably tell you is that the unexpected costs are the ones that end up with some of the largest price tags. If you own a home, you are responsible for the repairs and maintenance that come along with it. Draining your entire savings account to make a down payment and to purchase furniture isn’t a smart decision because you may need those funds later on.
Your new or soon-to-be role as a first-time homeowner is certainly worthy of praise, and you’re probably quite excited too. Make sure that you’re aware of these expenses so that the experience can remain joyous
Raj Kumar is a qualified business/finance writer expert in investment, debt, credit cards, Passive income, financial updates. He advises in his blog finance clap.
