In America, people often buy a new house several times during their life. When their family’s extending, they just sell their old, smaller, house and buy a new one that will suit them better. But not everyone knows how to make the great removing easier, how to make a renovation at a minimum cost, and how to save anough money even after all these expenses.
Are you guys getting ready to house hunt
today I'm gonna share four crucial keys
you guys need to not only buy the right
house but still have enough money left
over to enjoy it welcome to another
edition of marriage and money tips I'm
Elle Martinez creator and host of couple
money where we focus on helping spouses
get on the same page with their finances
dump their debt faster and get on the
path to financial freedom and for many
couples buying a home is a huge
milestone it's probably going to be the
biggest purchase you guys make so you
want to make sure that it's the right
move for you and there are four crucial
keys that you guys should know about
before you sign any papers or even go
hunting for a house the first key is
make sure you get your money straight
before you buy you might be feeling
pressure okay we've been married for X
amount of years only makes so much
amount of money it's time to buy a house
but that isn't the way you should go
about it the first thing is you want to
make sure that buying a house still
gives you some buffer in your life that
it's one of those goals that you have
but there's other things you want going
on so make sure your finances are
squared away for that so if you're
carrying a high amount of debt please
make sure you get rid of your high
interest debt like credit cards and if
you're dealing with car loans before you
start looking for a house on one hand
with lenders they are looking at the
amount of debt that you're carrying
because that can affect how much money
you're gonna get for your mortgage but
on the other hand personally you don't
want this to be a noose around your neck
and that you're stuck at a career or a
job because you have bills to pay and a
house to keep up with so make sure that
you analyze and double check that the
numbers make sense
for you speaking of that that's the
second key is go ahead and run the
numbers yourselves of course when you're
applying for a mortgage and you're
getting that pre-approval letter from a
lender or talking with several lenders
they're gonna give you their numbers and
I want you to pull out the spreadsheet
this time and start running them
yourselves you're gonna look at this two
ways yes you're gonna look at it as a
lender would look at it examining your
debts your assets and what's going on
currently with your finances in a
general projection of where it could go
but I want you to run it as people that
are going to have to live with this
decision until the mortgage is taken
care of or you sell the house so what
does that mean that means you want to
make sure that you have a breathing room
and a buffer in your budget that
includes the mortgage now when your
lender or your real estate agent figures
out the price for a house that you're
looking for what you could potentially
afford many times they're only thinking
of house down payment or the house
payment and not the big picture do you
guys have other dreams do you want to
save for retirement any plans to retire
early do you guys want to travel what
you're owning a home do you have some
other goals do you want to try to start
a college fund or your kids maybe you
want to start a business these are all
things that most lenders and real estate
agents don't take into consideration
when they show you houses you can't
afford so go ahead and take care of that
yourself now the third one is a general
rule of thumb but it's something that's
helped us given us this opportunity to
not only buy a house but to still again
have that wiggle room have that buffer
that is make sure you keep your mortgage
payments about 25% of your take-home pay
and it might seem like this is fairly
conservative but really this is a
potential help for you should something
happen down the line now we were extra
conservative because I am self-employed
and my husband has the typical
nine-to-five office job when we were
house hunting we went with only one
income and you might decide that's a
great way to go but you might decide not
to but if you have both incomes either
way still make sure it's your take-home
pay that you base it on it's better to
have enough buffer should you lose a job
or even if your hours get cut back or
there's a change in contract you don't
want to lose your home over a hiccup
that becomes this mountain of a problem
finally the last key is bigger is better
with the down payment and 20% is a great
thing to shoot for if possible so you
can avoid private mortgage insurance and
if you have a larger down payment you
can get a better rate on your mortgage
too so there you have it four keys to
making sure that when you buy a home
it's not only something you celebrate
now but down the line it doesn't feel
like a burden and here's a bonus tip
that you've probably hear a lot is
patience is a virtue I know that
sometimes you might feel some pressure
even from well-intentioned family and
friends now's the time to buy the market
is hot you want to get in before it gets
expensive renting temporarily it's not a
bad thing and depending on your
situation and where you live renting
could be a great solution that's because
people who jump in when they're not
financially ready their mortgage
payments for the first five to seven
years isn't even building any equity in
the home they didn't get a good rate and
their mortgage one likely their payments
are going towards interest so if you
want to get ahead of the curve make sure
you get your finances squared away if
you have any friends that are in the
market for buying a house could you
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hope you have a fantastic day
take care
