Tips To Help Those Who Want To Buy A Home In Portland Oregon

9 January 2014
 Categories: Real Estate, Articles

Share

Portland Oregon is a lovely place to live. This may explain why so many people wish to buy a home in Portland Oregon. For those who are first time home buyers, the process can be a bit confusing and maybe even overwhelming. Use the following tips to help prepare yourself for buying your first home. Well before you are ready to buy a home in Portland Oregon, you should begin preparing yourself and your finances. Having a sizable down payment will make your mortgage payments lower, and can help you when it comes time to obtain financing. Once you know that you will want to buy a home in Portland Oregon in the future, start saving. Work on your budget, so that you will be able to set aside at least something each pay period. If you think that you cannot save up for a down payment, you are wrong. If you enjoy dining out, going to movies, going on weekend getaways, or vacationing, take that money and put it in the bank instead. Instead of feeling deprived because you cannot do these things, keep reminding yourself, that you are working to buy a home in Portland Oregon. This home is where you can make memories, raise your family, and live a happy life. Another way to save up money for a down payment, is to move in with family for several months before you start your house hunt. Save the money that you would normally have spent on rent for the down payment. Check your credit report. It is not uncommon for credit reports to contain errors. Check yours for errors and if you find any, dispute them immediately. Within a month, the dispute will be investigated. If an error is found, that item will be removed from your credit report. The better your report and the higher your score, the better your chances of being approved for a mortgage. A high credit score will also enable you to take advantage of lower interest rates and lower fees. Work to pay down your credit card balances. Lenders will look at these balances when they check into your credit history. You should avoid having any of your credit cards maxed out. Keep your balances so that they are under half of your available credit. Once you get your balances paid down, keep them down. If you are tempted to charge them up again, remind yourself, that you are working towards buying your own home. Get approved for your mortgage before you start looking at houses. This way you will know how much you are approved for. This can help prevent disappointment. You do not want to fall in love with a house, only to find out that you can not afford that much house. Knowing ahead of time will help you to adjust your expectations. Work with a Realtor. A Realtor will use more information to help you find homes that meet your wants and needs. You and the Realtor will sit down to come up with your wish list. Be realistic and understand that it is unlikely that you will get every single thing on your wish list. However, by prioritizing your wish list, you can get the things that are most important to you. The Realtor may also have access to houses that you would not have known about on your own as well. The Realtor not only helps you to find a house, the Realtor will also help you with the entire process. Such as submitting an offer on the home and will walk you through the closing process, which can be confusing for a first time buyer.