More Lessons for First Time Home Owner

Banks are not your friend, they are a business and they operate as business not as friends. An asset but money into your pocket, whereas a debit removed money from your pockets. Some banks tell people that a home is their biggest asset. It is true that there are many advantages to home ownership, but when you first take up a home mortgage it is a debit to you and an asset to the bank. In time with faithful payment, it become your asset, but providing you make your payments, it remains an asset to your bank until its paid off. Thus, just because the bank says you qualify for a loan for $800,000 doesn’t mean you should spend $800,000. Be prepared for hard times, unexpected expenses life throughs your way. Live comfortably within your means. $800,000 is what the bank feels comfortable with lending you not what you’ll be comfortable paying back with interest. Look for loans from unexpected sources. Sometime there are non-profits which will help people in your situation qualify for a home loan. Seek various avenues when applying for your homes loan.

When you bid on a property be creative. There is no law that says you must bid a hard money amount. Bid under your highest offer and say you bid $426,000 but will pay $1,000 more than any offer up to $457,000. You may get the property and save a few thousand in the process.

A newly remodeled home doesn’t necessarily mean a better purchase. Make sure that the repairs were completed professionally and that the permits were pulled. If the work is done to make it sale faster that maybe it only value. Some well-meaning homeowner and flippers do some tasks that look good for a while but cause problems down the road for the new homeowners. Look for signs which shows that the home wasn’t taken care of professionally:

• double tapped wires in the panel
• wire splices outside of electrical boxes
• boxes without covers
• undersized wires for the breakers
• undersized lumber for span or loads
• poor quality workmanship

There are many tasks which your average homeowner can perform i.e.

• Landscaping projects
• painting
• wallpapering
• cleaning gutters
• replace door knobs and the like

There are also many which should only be attempted by professionals.

• Any electrical replacement that needs to be hard wired into the home
• Many states require that a licensed or certified person do electrical work due to the hazards associated with improper workmanship or material.
• Before removing sections of wall make sure what you leave can carry or transfer the load.
• Take the time to look deeper into the property so that you do not end up with the bill from someone else poor decisions.

You may save money by DIY projects be warned that low balling a property doesn’t always payoff. If this is your strategy you should prepare yourself to write many offers when it’s a sellers’ market.

Note: Images on this blog site are from a free source or taken by the author. No image or group of photos is intended to represent the people the author serves. The author does not care about Race (that is a politically correct term that he does not like because we are all of the same Race, the Human Race. He prefers the term ethnicity, color, religion, sex, gender, marital status, disability, genetic information, national origin, source of income, Veteran or military status, ancestry, citizenship, primary language or immigration status.) He is a service provider for all people. We will all rise together when we band together and help one another. Joseph Erwin is a Real Estate Broker, DRE # O2131799, and a CA general contractor # B 696662. He’s a member of the CRMLS and The East Valley Association of Realtors located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California.