If you have decided that now is the right time for you to buy a house, then you want to make sure you do everything in your power to end up in the right home and that you are paying a mortgage that you can afford. This article will offer you tips and other advice that will help increase your odds of ending up in the right home.
Make sure you do your best to repair your credit first
The very first thing you should do when you decide you want to buy a home is to take a look at your credit reports and scores with the three major credit reporting companies. Do what you can to have bad marks removed and to pay down anything negative that's affecting your credit. You also want to make sure you don't make any other changes to your credit right before you go in to apply for a loan. This means not applying for new credit cards or other lines of credit. Getting denied would be bad and even getting approved can have a negative impact on your score for a while. Make sure you continue paying all your bills online; any late payments at this point would be bad.
Make sure you know where you want to move
You also want to make sure you figure out the areas you would be fine with owning a house in. By knowing the exact areas you want to stick with, you won't waste your time looking at houses that are located in an area you aren't going to be happy living in. Take the location of your job, the kid's schools, your doctors, your favorite shopping spots, and your favorite restaurants into consideration and try to stay close to as many of them as possible.
Make a must-have list with the family
You want to sit down with the family and come up with a list of things the house you buy must have. These are things that are non-negotiable. An example would include things like three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a swimming pool, and a two car garage. If a house doesn't have something on the must-have list, then it isn't even worth wasting your time looking at. This will help to prevent you from wasting a lot of time looking at houses that aren't going to meet the demands of your family.
