Essential Tips to Know When Buying Your First Home

Essential Advice When Buying Your First Home

Buying your first home is a big step to take in life. You have probably had an idea of your dream property for many years, and you’ve finally found it! You may have had to scrimp and save hard to get your deposit together, and it may have been a long and stressful process to get to the point where you are ready to make an offer for you dream home. So, after all of that hard work and emotional energy that you have invested, you certainly wouldn’t want anything to go wrong that could result in the sale not going through, or even worse, losing the property in the future due to defects in its Title history. In this blog post, the experts at Schutt Law Firm, P.A. have put together a great guide with essential advice to follow when buying your first home.

Look Carefully At Your Finances and Make Sure that Everything Is In Order

To get the best deal on your mortgage, it’s important to have saved a significant percentage of the property’s value to put down as a deposit. As a guideline, you will need to have saved between 5 and 20%. Before attempting to put in an offer, it’s important that you have had your mortgage approved by your bank or other lending agency. This is because if you do not have the funds ready and guaranteed, there is a chance that you could lose out on the sale to another buyer who is ready to move the process along more quickly and has all the necessary paperwork ready. Another important factor to consider is how much your monthly mortgage payments will add up to, and if you will be able to afford them for the entire duration of the loan period. Mortgage payments are made up of 4 main costs – Principal, Interests, Taxes and Insurance (PITI). So, on top of paying off the actual cost of the property, you will need to account for interest and taxes and insurance such as property tax and homeowners insurance. You should consider what you would do if interest rates were to rise, or your employment situation was to change to ensure that you would still be able to make your monthly payments. Speak to your financial or mortgage adviser for expert advice. Title insurance is an important safeguard against any future disputes to homeownership rights. You can only purchase title insurance before closing. Call Schutt Law Firm, P.A. today at 239 540 7007 to find out more about how to protect your home with title insurance in Cypress Lake.

Consider Other Costs and Budget Accordingly

As well as your deposit and monthly mortgage payments, there are some upfront costs that you need to consider when buying a home. There are costs associated with the home-buying process, such as Real Estate Agent’s fees, Escrow fees, Solicitors fees, and the costs of conducting an independent appraisal as well as many others. On top of this, you need to take into consideration the costs of furnishing and redecorating the property to your tastes. Most Real Estate Agents suggest adding around 5 – 10% of the total cost of your home to your budget to cover upfront costs for fees and redecorations. If you don't end up using the additional funds, it can be a great way to put your mortgage payment ahead or make a few small changes to your property that you were not previously able to.

Protect Your Ownership

Title Insurance is an important safeguard when buying any property. Did you know that without title insurance, you could face problems with the ownership rights to your home, due to someone else’s historical error? Before completing the home-buying process, you should speak to a title insurance agency and ask them to conduct a detailed title search on the property. In a Title Search, specially trained agents investigate the historical rights to the property and identify any errors that they must rectify before that sale can go through. Research has found that as many as one in four title searches reveal a serious issue with the property’s ownership rights. These can occur due to human error, fraud, missing heirs or even survey or boundary issues.

Title Insurance in Cypress Lake

Don’t leave your property at risk to claims against its title. Obtain a thorough title search and invest in title insurance to protect your dream home. Before you sign any papers, call Schutt Law Firm, P.A. today at 239 540 7007 and fully protect your home with title insurance in Cypress Lake.