Location, Location, Location!

Posted on March 19, 2019 by Rick Curtis

One of the most important factors when buying a home is location. Anyway you slice it, this has to be part of the equation when buying. After all, this is something you can’t change. Possible questions to consider before purchasing that next home are:

1.) Do I like this area?

2.) What do I think of the neighborhood?

3.) What schools will my kids be going to?

4.) How far is the closest grocery store, restaurant, hospital, etc?

5.) How far is my commute to work, school, etc?

The exact questions will vary for everyone, but the concept remains the same, where your piece of real estate is located will matter and needs to be a determining factor.

Home Buying: The Search

Posted on March 14, 2019 by Rick Curtis

Buying a home is a big task. It can be overwhelming at times. One way to simplify the process and organize your thoughts in a list. I tried to find the perfect app to help make it easier to remember the houses we were looking at. However, nothing was a good fit so we resorted to an “old fashioned” pen and paper list. When we were purchasing our home, our family sat down and made a list with the following categories:

MUST Haves

DEAL Breakers

WISH List (Bonus items)

MINUS (Non-deal breaker negatives)

Our list looked like this:

MUST Haves:

At least 3 bedrooms
At least 2 bathrooms
Updated Kitchen
Updated Bathroom

DEAL Breakers:

Creepy Basement
Outdated electrical system

WISH List:

Garage
Fenced Yard
Updated Exterior

MINUS

Small lot
Really close neighbors
Outdated utilities

After writing our list, we numbered each house and took a copy of our list to have an easy way to remember the big items for each one. It really helped with our search and we were surprised when we found our house, how it match our list. Of course it did not match perfectly, no house can ever be PERFECT, but it helped find the one that was right for us.

What does your list look like?

How much house can I afford?

Posted on March 5, 2019 by Rick Curtis

What we want and what we can afford may sometimes be a different story. We may want the most expensive lake home in our neighborhood or the log cabin of our dreams, our budget may not be on the same page with us. So, when looking for that next piece of property to purchase, a necessary question to ask is, “How much can I afford?”

According to bakrate.com your monthly payments should not equal more that 36% of your monthly income. This figure doesn’t only factor in your mortgage payment but all payments, like credit card, student loans, car loans etc. Taking on too large of a payment will put a strain on your budget and make other things, like saving for retirement or your kids college education more difficult. Take a look at these articles for more info on helping you determine how much home you can afford for your next purchase:

1.) Bank Rate

2.) Dave Ramsey

3.) Zillow

4.) Consumer Reports