Getting Into Your First Home
The process of getting yourself financially prepared, choosing a place, and getting in is a long but rewarding journey. Along the way, though, there are lots of things that can complicate your experience. Understanding the sequence of events can help you prepare to deal with things that could emerge, and it could even help prevent these problems from emerging at all.
Getting Financially Prepared
It's important to know that the complexities of buying a home begin long before you start loading furniture. Yes, you should think about boxing and transportation issues, such as choosing Allied Van Lines instead of borrowing a fleet of friends and pickup trucks, but it takes a lot to get to that point.
Financial preparation is essential. Know your credit score and get an accurate idea of what you can afford to pay each month. Don't forget that you'll now have insurance, property taxes, and possibly utilities that you weren't paying in a rented place, and make sure you're prepared for future increases in those costs. Get that information and make a realistic budget so that you know exactly how much you can afford.
Finding the Right Place
Perhaps the biggest mistake people make in choosing a home is buying what they need now instead of thinking ahead. Sometimes buyers think about the wrong type of place, or they fail to broaden their search enough to find what they need.
Since many first-time home buyers don't have kids yet, they may fail to incorporate that in their planning. The home they choose may have enough bedrooms, but the layout may be impractical. Remember that a master bedroom on the first floor will feel like it's a long way from a kid's room upstairs, so think about things like that as you shop. You should also look to the future in terms of growth in the area and potential for changing home values.
Making the Move Correctly
We've already talked about the importance of utilizing professional moving services, but it bears repeating. Companies like Allied are experienced, equipped, staffed, and insured for the work. That means less chance of a broken or lost item--and coverage if it does happen.
Your move should be organized, too. Sell or give away things you don't need or want. Why should you pay to have them moved if you don't even want them? Think of the sequence that you want to use for the things that will be taken into the new place. The most remote rooms should be filled first, with the process moving toward the main door from there.
Getting your first home is an exciting process, one that takes several years of preparation and includes a short span of months with frenetic activity as you arrange to finance, choose a home, and get moved in. In all that hustle and bustle, it can be very easy to lose focus on what has to be done at each step, so it's critical to have an organized plan to get through each subsequent step in a controlled, logical fashion so that the process is successful and enjoyable.
