Buying a home in Tennessee can be an overwhelming experience for the home buyer, especially if you are doing it for the first time. However, planning early, maintaining your credit score, and developing a saving habit can help you a great deal when you finally decide to buy your new home.
If this is your first home, Tennessee (TN) offers many first-time home buying incentives which can include down-payment and loan interest assistance.
Sandy Covington, an experienced realtor in Tennessee, in the business for over 8 years, can help you navigate the pitfalls and traps of purchasing your home and make your first (or additional) home purchase easy.
8 Steps to Buying your Dream Home
Keeping the following 8 steps to buying your dream home in mind can help you make this process easier.
Finances
Assessing your financial abilities is critical before you buy a home:
- Check your credit score – Your credit score will change over time due to your total number of open and closed accounts, current debt to income ratio (DTI), and repayment history. Your credit score is a subjective number created by the credit agencies to help banks and other financial institutions determine your potential ability for them to get their money back. It is even used, in some cases, to get a job. You should check and maintain a good credit score by spending less than you earn so you can get have less debt, live better and of course get low-interest rates.
- Find your DTI percentage – Mortgage lenders in Tennessee consider the debt-to-income (DTI) ratio to determine how good you are at balancing your budget. You ideally want to have 35% or less debt based on your income to be a good fit for a loan. Take all your debt value for the month and divide that by your income for the month (after taxes) to determine your percentage.
- Calculate your budget before asking for a loan – You should calculate the cost of home ownership to determine how much you can afford in addition to your current debt responsibilities. There are many online calculators that can help you with this calculation.
Preparing for your down payment and closing costs
The average down payment on your house will vary based on the type of mortgage you select. Closing costs are expenses involved in closing a real estate transaction (your house purchase). Talk with Sandy Covington and your banker about how this works, and how much you might need as a down payment.
Finding the right mortgage
The following types of home loans are available for homebuyers:
- Conventional mortgages – These are the standard loans you can get from banks and other loan providers.
- FHA loans – The Federal Housing Administration grants these loans to individuals with low credit scores and high DTI ratios.
- VA loans – The US Department of Veteran Affairs offers these loans to veterans. They usually have no down payment and are lenient with credit requirements.
- USDA loans – Individuals with low to moderate income can apply for these loans. They usually offer zero down payment; however, you usually have to cover closing costs.
Get a mortgage preapproval
By having a loan “pre-approved” you can avoid missing the sale of your dream house. If you find your dream house and have to wait on a bank to approve you, a pre-approved person could come up, offer money on the spot and they will get the house you wanted.
There are a few steps to getting pre-approved, basically similar to getting full approval, but knowing ahead of time how much money you will be able to spend will drastically cut the time you spend searching properties looking for that ideal home.
Talk with your bank/loan provider about how you can buy a home in Tennessee.
Don’t lose out on the opportunity to get the home you want due to time delays with loan paperwork.
Making an offer
You have taken the time to determine your budget, made sure your credit rating was in good standing, have obtained a pre-approval for an appropriate loan amount, and searched for a home within your budget.
Now you found the house you want!
Great. But, don’t rush into it. Talk with your realtor, Sandy Covington, about how to ensure the home you want, the home you like, is not a money pit, and doesn’t have hidden secrets that will ruin your buying experience.
Contingencies on such a big purchase are expected. You can tell the seller you really like their home, and will buy it, if it passes a home inspection.
Schedule a home inspection and appraisal
You really like this house and think it is exactly what you want. That’s great. But, you should be sure you are getting what you think you are getting.
Proper home inspections are the way to find most (if not all) problems with the house. You don’t necessarily need to go overboard on an inspection (that can get very costly) but you do want to find a reputable, thorough, home inspection individual/agency that will do the job correctly and efficiently.
You want to know what you are getting into and it is possible you can negotiate a better deal if the home inspection finds problems.
As for the appraisal, that will most likely be required by the bank. They want to make sure the house price matches the house value.
Asking for repairs
You will almost always find something wrong during a home inspection and you shouldn’t worry about some of the little things. It is the big items, like the sewage lines being in the wrong place, the electrical wiring being the wrong size/type, the foundation being structurally cracked.
A small or medium sized problem may give you leverage to talk with the seller and tell them you would still like to buy the house, but this problem is going to cost $5,000 (as an example) and you want to lower the price by that amount so you can make the repair.
Sometimes they will agree, sometimes they will not. At that point it is up to you to decide if it is still worth it to you to buy the home.
Closing the deal
You found the house, you like the house, you and your realtor, like Sandy Covington, has negotiated a good deal for you. Let’s buy it!
Paperwork… even in the digital age, there is still paperwork. It is highly recommended you read everything before you sign. In most cases the paperwork will say you are buying this property and guarantee you will pay for this property. But there are other smaller details you need to be sure of, like a HOA (Home Owners Association). If there is one, what are the rules? HOA’s in some states can actually take your house from you if you don’t pay their fees. Always know what you are signing before you sign it.
Conclusion
Buying a house is one of the most expensive investments you will make in your life. Getting it right the first time makes life so much easier.
With over 8 years of experience, Sandy Covington, your realtor in Tennessee, has helped people, just like you, achieve their dream of owning their own home in Tennessee.
Talk with Sandy Covington today about how she can help you.
