Housing Starts

Advice for first time homebuyers

 

BY L'KAI TAYLOR

 

Young and eager to brave the world alone and confident in his ability to live and maintain his dream, Steve Davis, the oldest of seven children, set out to buy his first home. Boy was he in for a surprise.

      “It’s definitely a learning experience for everybody,” reports Davis two years after purchasing his first home. "It isn’t a cheap process,” he warns as he runs down the list of steps he took to prepare for his search: finding a trustworthy real estate agent, researching loans and interest rates, getting pre-approved, being able to relay the kind of house he wanted for a price he could afford—an  daunting process, but one that Davis says was worth it.

      Having the right real estate agent can make the process easier, according to Davis, but, he adds, the amount of time and fees tacked on to the home purchase can be
“overwhelming.”

      He offers five tips for other first-time home buyers:

1. Go to the bank and get approved for a loan.
2. Find a real estate agent you can trust.
3. Set a maximum that you want to spend.
4. See what you can afford.
5. Spend time in several areas to make sure you know where you want to live.

 

      Even after having been prepared financially and mentally for the process, Davis
decided to get a roommate to help offset unexpected costs.

      That's a good idea because it can help pay off the house more quickly and be
more cost efficient for the mortgage holder, says real estate broker associate Brian Caldwell.

      An average recent college graduate with a yearly income of $30,000 should aim for a home priced at about $250,000, advises Caldwell. After a down payment of about $7,500 (3 percent), monthly mortgage rates should come to roughly $1,500 a month.

     He also suggests that first-time home-buyers look for a location that's close to work and in a popular residential area such as West Ashley or James Island, because that will make it easier to sell the house in five years with a $5,000 profit that the owner could apply to a larger family home.
      Although Davis had some rough patches when buying his first home due to unexpected fees and costly repair costs, he says he wouldn't do anything differently. He's happy with his home, and he feels that researching early on really helped the process
move smoothly.

      “It's really a fun process to go through," he says. "It's frustrating and expensive, but I’m glad I did it when I did. My advice to first-time home buyers is to look into it as soon as you can and make a plan to get where you want to be.”