For first-time home buyers to seasoned homeowners alike, buying a house can be both an exciting and nerve-wracking experience. Not only do you have to factor in your budget as you search for your ideal home, but you also have to consider location, square footage, local school districts, crime rates in various neighborhoods, and so forth. The right realtor will help you navigate the home buying waters and take care of the “dirty work” (so to speak) of closing on your new home, but you also have your own role to play — making sure you can properly budget for the home you both want and need.
You want to get the best “bang for your buck,” and these budgeting tips will get you in the right place for the best price.
- First and foremost: Set proper goals. Before you can begin creating a budget for a new home, you have to begin by setting financial goals to actually make it happen. First, you’ll need to decide how much you can afford for a down payment. An ideal goal would be to save 20 percent of the cost of your ideal home’s down payment, so depending on your ultimate spending limit, you’ll want to start there. However, if you can shoot for more than 20 percent, that’s always an added bonus.
- Outline the expenses you can comfortably cut from your monthly budget. We all have line items in our home budget that account for spending beyond rent, loans, credit cards, utilities, and groceries. For instance, some people factor in regular pedicures or appointments with hairstylists, and some people have hobbies that cost money on a regular basis. While you don’t have to cut out everything, it’s a good idea to see where your money is going every month, and make determinations as to what you are okay with eliminating to save money for a down payment.
- Shake up the way you save money every month. At Polam, we offer a number of tools and services to help you save money every month. Our Vantage savings accounts can be linked to your checking account, and you can set up automatic deposits at the frequency of your choosing from your checking to savings; by doing this, you don’t even have to remind yourself to set money aside. Polam also offers our members the chance to save with our certificates of deposit (CDs), where you can add funds into an account for up to 36 months, with guaranteed returns on your investment. However, you decide to build up savings for your new home, our team at Polam is here to help you reach your goals.