Plan Ahead For Buying Your First Home
If you’re in college or university, or if you have just started a job, it’s most likely that home to you right now means a rental apartment, or even your parent’s house. But it’s never too early to start thinking about the future, so why not start now?
Here are five valuable tips to consider that will make your life easier when you do want to buy a home a few years down the road.
1. Establish good credit habits and a favorable credit history. Get a credit card and use it responsibly. Apply for an automobile loan and make your payments on time every month. If you’re renting an apartment, put your own name on the lease and the utility bills and make sure that the rent and the bills are paid every month. If you’re already struggling with credit card debt, or you have large student loans, get some free credit counselling now! Make a concentrated effort to pay your credit card and loan payments on time, every time.
2. Start saving for a down payment and closing costs. In high-cost areas like the Toronto real estate market, starting to save early can be enormously beneficial because you’ll get the advantage of compounding interest and have a longer period of time to grow your investments. Open a savings account or an investment account and make regular deposits and watch that down payment grow.
3. Read some books. Your local library and bookstore probably have at least a few shelves of books about financial management and buying real estate. Not all of them will have the best information, but after reading a few, you should be able to tell good advice from bad advice. The book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” is excellent for this. Take notes, make a financial plan for yourself… you can learn a lot about real estate, budgeting and credit on the web too.
4. Research where you’d like to live. If you’re a dyed-in-the-wool Beacher who is rarely west of Yonge Street, or if you grew up in Mississauga and Toronto’s many neighbourhoods confound you - start exploring. There are a lot of neighbourhoods to choose from in Toronto and if you don’t know what they’re like, how are you going to know where you’d want to live? Take a few weekend walks (don’t just drive through) around different parts of the city and you may even discover a few hidden gems.
5. Ask your real estate agent relatives for advice. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles or older cousins who have purchased a house or condo can give you good information about the cost of housing in the area where you want to live and what it takes to buy a home. Ask them if housing affordable in this area? How much money would I need to save in order to buy a home? What advice would you give me about planning my financial future? Would you recommend some books that I might like to read about buying a home? Don’t be shy. If you have a question, ask someone in a position to know the answer.
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information
