Don't Buy Your Landlords house for them!

Why not buy your own home?

You may be thinking

• I can not afford the payments
• The down payment is to big
• My credit is to low
• The house I can afford I wont like

You may be surprised to Know that all of these may not be the case with you.

Lets take a look at each of these points.

I can not afford the monthly payments.

If you are reading this report then you probably are already renting and making a monthly payment. There are more than likely plenty of home choices in your area that are in a price range that will make your monthly payments close to what you are currently paying in rent.  Many times the rent rates are determined by the For Sale Market.  Meaning that as prices go up so do rents.  There are several steps you want to take to see if  you can buy a house for the same monthly payments as your rent.

1. The best way to find out what you would be paying for a mortgage is talk to a local lender.  You could find one that will pre-qualify you for a mortgage and give you a ruff estimate of what your monthly payments would be.  They should not charge you anything for this service.  But be sure to tell the mortgage agent that you want this final number to include all monthly taxes, fees and insurance.  Now this number will be what you qualify for.  This would only be your payment if you bought a house at the max amount that you qualify for.  You do not have to buy a house for that amount.  That would be your MAX.
2. Next you ask the mortgage agent what you could buy with a payment equal to what you currently pay.  Be sure to tell the mortgage agent that you want this final number to include all monthly taxes, fees and insurance.   This gives you a purchase price that you can now look for.
3. Next you would talk to a real estate agent that could help you find a home that you like in the price range that the mortgage agent gave you.  Make sure that you take a look at any monthly fees for the home that you are interested in.  These could be Home Owner Association fees, Sewer Fees, Utilities or any other fees that you currently do not pay.  You do not want to find out about these after the purchase.
4. If all of the fees and your monthly mortgage payments are close to what you currently pay and you like the house then you have to look at  the tax advantages of owning a home.

Put all of this together and you will start to understand that it could be possible to afford buying a home.

The down payment is to big.

You may have heard people say you need 10% down, 20% down and even 35% down because of the economy.  Well unless they are a loan officer and have put in a mortgage application with you then they have NO IDEA WHAT YOUR DOWN PAYMENT WILL BE!

1. There are many loan programs out there designed to help people get into a house with a low down or no down payment.  These could be from the government, or private groups.  Just check with your local lenders they should be able to give you more info.
2. Then sometimes you can find a seller that is willing to carry. This means that they will lend you all of the money instead of the bank. Or they may just carry the down payment for you.  Just ask your real estate agent to help you find some listings that offer owner carry.
3. You may be able to use some of your other investments to get a low interest rate loan that you can use for your down payment.
4. Then depending on the loan you may be able to use gift money for your down payment 

My credit is to BAD

The only way to know if your credit is bad is to get a credit report done.  Any mortgage agent should be able to help you get one with no cost. And even if your credit is not that good, there will be things that you could do to improve it.  This may be as simple as explaining in writing some of the issues on your report.  Or paying of a couple of debts.  Sometimes debts are paid and never reported.  So you would just get the company to clear that up.

The house I can afford I wont like

You may be pleasantly surprised as to what you can get with the same payments as you currently have.  With all of the choices out there, New homes, resale homes, For Sale By Owner, bank owned, REOs, foreclosures and short sales, you should have so many choices that you might get tired of looking. Just take your time and have fun.  Be sure to stick with one agent that you like.  They will get to know you and can be a valuable asset in you home searching process.  Once they get to know your wants and needs they will find your property faster.  If you do not find something at first, just wait and see what comes on the market.  Your agent can send you regular updates of all of the listings in the area.  While you are waiting you could be saving for your down payment, or be working on improving your credit.

Put all of this together and you will start to understand that it could be possible to afford buying a home.