Buying a new house requires you to put in a lot of effort; right from visiting different relators to applying for a loan requires, the entire process has to transpire smoothly. The process of buying a house is difficult, and if you are a first-time home buyer, the entire process becomes more overwhelming. Without the right guidance, there are high chances that a first-time home buyer will end up making certain mistakes that can cost them dearly. In a bid to keep tabs on online listings and ensuring that your dream home doesn’t slip away, people often end up making certain mistakes, and these can be easily avoided if you are appraised about the same.

Here are some common mistakes that first-time home buyers usually make.

• Not prioritizing the credit report: It is common knowledge that our credit report can make or break a deal. So, for a first-time home buyer, the credit report is that ace which can help them secure the desired loan. However, many first-time home buyers often overlook the importance of keeping tabs on their credit report; a slight error on the part of the credit company can cost you your new home. To keep track of your credit report and devise ways to improve your credit, you can check your credit report for free from each of the three credit report agencies: Transunion, Equifax, and Experian.
• Not waiting for the pre-approval letter: Everybody is out looking for their dream houses, and there are high chances that another individual might be vying for the house you have short-listed for yourself, and since sellers don’t wait around for anyone, they grab the best deal they get. Another error that first-time home buyers often commit is setting out to buy the house without getting a pre-approval letter from the lender. This proves quite detrimental if the other party has all the documents, including the pre-approval letter, ready.
• Buying a house that you cannot actually afford: One of the most prominent mistakes first-time home buyers usually make is buying a house that is beyond their purchasing power. No matter how big or attractive the house is, if you cannot afford it, you must not buy it. Irrespective of what you believe, taking a loan to pay the original loan doesn’t yield a desirable result. Instead of getting yourself into a dilemma, use a mortgage calculator to fathom how many monthly payments you can afford. Also, determine how much money can be saved since you will need to keep money aside for maintenance purposes.
• Not hiring a real estate agent: People often are of the opinion that not hiring a real estate agent can help save money. However, if you go about looking for a new house for yourself, and especially if you are a first-time home buyer, this process can be extremely time-consuming, and there are high chances that you might not find what you are looking for.

Ensure that, as a first-time home buyer, you wouldn’t make these mistakes.

Buying a new house can be an enthralling and a nerve-wracking experience especially if you are a first-time home buyer. There are so many things you need to take care of while buying a new house; everything, right from applying for the loan to ensuring that you choose the right home for you and your family has to be taken care of. However, even though the process of buying a home can be challenging for first-time home buyers, there are certain tips that can ensure that you go about this process without facing many obstacles.

• Know your financial strength: Before you browse through the online listings or start visiting realtors to buy your dream home, ensure that your financial health is at its peak. You wouldn’t want to risk losing your dream home because you didn’t plan your finances appropriately. It is imperative that, as a first-time home buyer, you audit your finances. You will have to check your savings account, and only if you have three to six months of living expenses saved is it advisable to contemplate buying a new home. Also, it is imperative that you keep a tab on your monthly spendings since it will give you a fair idea of how to manage your monthly mortgage. Getting your finances in order is one of the first things that every first-time home buyer must do.
• Check for first-time home buyer’s benefits: Before you decide on applying for a loan and calculating your monthly payment, check for programs that offer benefits to first-time home buyers. Such programs can effectively reduce the burden on first-time home buyers who would otherwise have to make higher monthly payments.
• Compare mortgage rates: It is common knowledge that the mortgage rate offered by one lender would vary from the mortgage loan offered by another lender. To ensure that you choose the right lender, it is imperative that you compare the mortgage rates offered by different lenders and choose the one that adheres to your needs and proves beneficial. For a first-time home buyer, comparing the mortgage rates can help them save a lot of money which can be used elsewhere.
• Meet the lender: Instead of meeting the realtors, first-time home buyers should consider meeting a lender. The lender will help you assess your credit score and determine the amount of money you will qualify for on a loan. This proves beneficial in case you are trying to qualify for a loan, and looking for the right lender can help you get into the program you were aiming for.

It is imperative that, as a first-time home buyer, you go through these tips to ensure that you make the right choice when it comes to money matters.

Low-income housing is provided to those who pay more than 30% of their income for rent. It was identified that They would not be able to take care of other expenditure due to the burden of their rent. Hence a scheme was introduced with criterias that determine if they qualify for low-income housing.

Low-income houses provide housing at a low rent for those who need it. They generally have a very long waiting list.

The Department of Housing and Developments makes these decisions. They have been around for a long time and they strive to meet the housing needs of the population. They are appointed by the government to ensure that this facility is made available to citizens.

Qualifications For Low-Income Housing

There are qualifications based on many factors that need to be met in order to obtain an apartment with low rent. This includes the per capita income, the number of citizens who need low rent housing, the gross expenditure, and the available housing facility.

Once all of these factors are taken into account, they set these qualifications.

• Annual Income
• Whether you have any disability
• Number of members in the family
• Number of working members in the family
• Number of senior citizens in the family
• Citizenship status

Information regarding the above-mentioned details is gathered and analyzed. There are certain families that need low-income housing more than others. Hence, based on the requirement and the qualifications, a list is drawn.

Several housing schemes are already occupied and there are more being built by the government. The aim is to provide a home for all those who are in need of it. However, when there is no vacancy available, a waiting list is put up. Based on the availability and the number on the list, apartments are allotted.

Facilities

These houses have all the facilities that can be found in any other apartment complex. In fact, since it is taken care of by the government, it is known to be more secure as well. Several of these apartments even have stores, parks, and hospitals in the vicinity. It makes the apartment all the more ideal for occupation.

The apartment is maintained by paid help who ensure that the premises are neat and clean.

The prices of apartments in the real estate market have tremendously increased in the last few years. Along with that, the rent demanded have also increased. Not only is it hard to buy a house in today’s economy, it is also difficult to rent one. These low-income housing is the perfect solution to help the citizens.

When someone tells you that they are downsizing and moving into a tiny apartment, the first thought that comes to your mind is what might be the reason? It doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad one, but a rather surprising move on someone’s part.

Normally, people would think of moving or relocating to a bigger house and apartment. But there are a number of benefits of moving into a tiny house, if you have a minimalistic living style and are not too worried or fussed about the size of the room, type of flooring, carpeting and others.

Tiny houses come in a number of shapes and sizes for that matter, they can be mobile homes or trailer homes which can be just hooked to the back of your van and towed. Tiny house can be prefabricated or prefab living spaces which are cheap and can be assembled in a very short span of time. Put a tiny house on wheels and you can tour the country.

Here are some of the benefits of living in a tiny house.

For a cheap, yet comfortable minimalistic living, tiny houses and mobile homes are the trending rage. Relocating for a new job or project elsewhere, worry not! Just hook up your tiny house to the back of the trailer and drive down to start another exciting adventure.

There are a number of customizable design options available with tiny houses, you can design and modify it any way you want. Plus, the cost and time needed to build a tiny house is very less compared to what you might end up spending, even for a small apartment in a city.

Tiny houses are easy to clean and maintain, since the total surface area is no more than a couple of hundred square feet or even less. Even with a number of customizable options, tiny houses are easy to maintain since there is only so much customization you can do at once.

Rig up a couple of solar panels and say goodbye to heavy electric bills. Not only are tiny houses ecofriendly, they will help you cut back on what you might generally spend for utilities and other necessities in a regular sized apartment.

The more modern versions of tiny houses are the expensive variants of your standard RV’s or recreational vehicles which are nothing but homes on the go. They are a bit on the higher range when it comes to price, but also provide the requisite comforts for the price tag.

After having done a thorough research, you finally have narrowed down on that beautiful piece of real estate. You have the finances to back you up and at the same time, everything that might be needed to comfortably settle in. But before you do that, have you asked the following question to the landlord before you go ahead and sign the lease agreement.

Ask about the townhome association rules and regulations. Townhouse are built on a community based system which means that there are a number of common rules and regulations which apply to each and every resident in the gated community. There might also be restrictions on types of pets allowed or in some case no pets allowed inside the community. Check with the people who are already living there, since the owner might just forget to mention some of the byelaws. The association will also have guidelines for any townhome upgrades, for which permission has to be obtained.

Check with the owner and association for that matter, how much will be the monthly additional fees that will be incurred for maintenance and other purposes apart from the rent you have agreed to pay. This includes a number of items right from grounds maintenance, exterior maintenance, water, sewer services, road maintenance, snow ploughing, trash pickup and other amenities within the township.

Paying for maintenance is just one aspect, find out exactly who is responsible for the work which needs to be carried out. Talk to the owner and confirm who are the people responsible, ask around with the neighbors if proper repairs and maintenance are carried out on a regular basis.

Check with the owner and association firsthand about parking spaces, number of spaces allotted and whether there is any guest parking facility available. You don’t want to be stranded in the middle of the road, wondering where to park your expensive ride. Ensure the right people provide you with the proper permits, to avoid future hassles.

The community will have plans for expansion and additional work which will be carried out. Find out who is in charge of the main complex and will be overseeing the expansion plans. This will be beneficial since maybe down the line you might actually plan to buy a townhome property after trying it out for some time. Having prior knowledge of the community and making the right contacts will enable you to gain the upper hand.

Townhomes are emerging as the preferred choice, when it comes to renting property. These are in many ways better than your regular residential homes. In fact townhouse and townhomes as they call it are more in demand than properties like family for the following reasons.

Design and architecture: Compared to other residential properties, townhome apartments are designed with a couple of floors which give it that elegant and enhanced look which even family homes cannot pull off. Townhomes feature at least two floors, perfect setup for a big family with children as well who can play upstairs while their parents can have a nice quite dinner with a few guests.

Opportunity to run your business from home: Townhome will give you all the space ever needed to work from home, without breaking that delicate work life balance. This will of course depend on whether you can procure zoning permits to convert part of your residence into a work space, but it is quite manageable. Living areas and work areas can be divided according to the layout of the townhouse, to suit your needs.

Garden and backyard: What apartments and condos cannot offer, even single family homes for that matter, townhomes offer a great backyard which you can convert into your own personal garden of your children to play and for you to have a nice cup of tea with your beloved on a lovely Saturday evening, preparing yourself for the best day to some next. Garden spaces give you the opportunity to host a couple of barbeques and cookouts to know more about your neighbors and get introduced to all the members of the community.

Basement: The biggest problem with regular apartments is once you get too comfortable, chance are you might start hoarding a lot of stuff over the years. But then there will be no space to store everything which you may or may not need. Townhomes solve this problem by offering basement storage where everything can be moved. Creative people who are in the business can make the most of the storage space available at their disposal to be converted into a semiprofessional studio, art studio and for more purposes.

Privacy: Privacy is very hard to come by and very costly to afford for that matter, apartments and condos will always lack privacy, be it for a family or you living all on your own. Townhomes offer that privacy, for the best price ultimately.

Finding a decent place to live is like winning the lottery nowadays. with so many options available to choose from, and attractive pricing for that matter, finding your dream house can be quite a challenging task.

There are a number of factors to be considered, even before you start weighing the pros and cons. For starters, houses are classified according to type and category for one thing. You can choose to live in a single-family home which may be a one bedroom or a two bedroom, or you can opt for a condominium is you are planning to share the apartment with a couple of your college buds or office colleagues. Townhouse are a rage since they feature both a condo and a single-family home.

Here is a list of pros and cons you can consider to differentiate between the various types of homes.

Single family home: since they are built solely to accommodate one family, you won’t have to compromise on privacy. These homes will have their very own parking, front yard and some even backyards. But the maintenance for this property will be a lot more compared to other residential lots. But this type of a home will give you the freedom to express your won’t living style, without having to compromised on the things which you like.

Condos: Condos can be found in densely populated areas, and generally consist of a number of ingle unit flats in a building or community or homeowner’s association, where the rent is to be paid on a monthly basis. However, condos being a part of the association, the resident has nothing to worry about in terms of maintenance and upkeep. The downside however is the shared accommodation, even if there are walls separating the occupants.

Townhouse: The townhouse is a cross combination between a condo and a single family home, thus featuring both pros and cons. On one hand a townhouse will offer more privacy compared to condos, but they don’t usually feature the shared amenities that condominiums do. In case of a town house, there will be joint maintenance agreements to share upkeep costs and are more affordable than single family homes.

When it comes to weighing in our options to decide on a place to live, you have to take into account one main factor that is how much are you willing to compromise on comfort and privacy so as to afford that place near your work, or are you willing to commute from the suburbs where you will have all the privacy you will ever need. Deciding on this will enable you to then narrow down options according to your budget to look for residential homes available on rent from the owner.