You may know I recently purchased a home and have read my 1-Month Check-In or 1-Year Move-In Anniversary Update, but I’ve never shared my personal tips on the home buying process, which is something my husband and I tend to always be involved in at some capacity or another, whether it’s helping family in the house hunt or investing in a property. In fact, we purchased the house we live in now to obviously enjoy this time in our lives, (we love it!) but also to serve us as another investment in our future.
Today I’m teaming up with Rocket Mortgage® to share my My Ongoing Home Buying Journey Tips.
Before sharing my list of tips for both buying a house to make a home for yourself and/or to be an investment property, I wanted to share what can often be the first step in this process: Partnering with a mortgage lender with an established reputation you can trust to help you in multiple ways while looking for a home. Are you thinking, “Does that actually exist? I thought a mortgage lender was just a mortgage lender.” Yes, it does exist, and it’s Rocket Mortgage.
When you buy with Rocket Homesˢᵐ and finance with Rocket Mortgage, you could get up to $10,000 toward closing from Rocket Mortgage¹.
My Home Buying Journey Tips
FINANCES
- Choosing a mortgage lender like Rocket Mortgage at the beginning of your home buying journey helps you start the process more confidently as it solidifies your approval and what your budget is, which are two major things to check off your list.
- Even if your home buying journey takes longer than the window of lender approval, once Rocket Mortgage has all of your information, reapplying for the loan when the time comes to finally make your purchase can be done quickly and hassle-free.
- Deciding if you’d like to lower your monthly mortgage as much as possible by making the largest down payment you can or reserving as much cash as possible by putting down the minimal down payment.
- Factors that could influence this would be:
- Are your monthly costs at the top of your monthly budget? Opt for a bigger down payment, so you’re taking on as low of a mortgage as possible. This also alleviates the presence of PMI (private mortgage insurance, which is required and added to your monthly costs if your down payment is under a certain percentage of the house’s purchasing price – usually 20%).
- Are you looking to put some work into the house? You may want to choose to put down a lower down payment so you have a bigger cash reserve for renovations.
- Factors that could influence this would be:
Always do the math. You may think putting down an extra $20K on a home will lower your monthly mortgage significantly, but depending on the house price, that may only take $100 off your mortgage. If that’s the case, in this example, you could be saving $1,200 that year in your mortgage rate versus keeping that $20K in your pocket from the start.
HOUSE STRUCTURE
- Perhaps the four most important questions when purchasing a house when it comes to its structure and regardless if it’s for your primary residence or an investment: What is the roof age and A/C age, and what are the electrical and plumbing details. If you live in a hurricane zone like I do here in Miami, add window details (i.e., Are the windows impact? Do the windows have accordion shutters?).
- All of the above are factors that are important to know, because the cost of all of them is significant. For example, did you fall in love with a house that has a roof that’s 15 years old? Then make sure you understand that sooner rather than later you’ll be needing to spend $10K – $20K (or more if the home is very large) on a new roof. Is the plumbing cast iron? This could bring some major problems in the future where you’ll also have to drop $10K – $25K for new plumbing.
- Since these are large amounts of money, it’s important to know what you’re taking on. You may want to make an offer below listing price on a house that’ll need a new roof soon. Or let’s say the house’s A/C is going to need to be replaced soon, you can ask for a credit for that. Sometimes a house will be listed “as is” and you’ll have to agree to purchase it as is. Other times that isn’t the case and you can add your own terms in the contract.
- Decide on your negotiables and nonnegotiables.
- Under no circumstance can you have less than three rooms? Or would you sacrifice a room for extra square footage in the living space?
- You have your ideal neighborhood, but would you live 10 minutes north or south of it to get more square footage?
- If it’s the first time you’ve ever shopped for a home, making a list of your negotiables and nonnegotiables on paper or a computer document can really help strengthen your search. A stronger search is a more refined search and a more refined search is going to alleviate stress from the home buying process.
Once you decide on your nonnegotiables, you can create a custom search within the Rocket Homes app based on your needs and wants in a home. Within each home listing on the app you’ll find how much you’ll get back in closing credit from Rocket Mortgage and if you decide to bundle your savings (buy and sell with Rocket) you can fill out a short form right there in the app and they’ll get back to you with your savings amount.
1The following offers are available only to clients who are purchasing a home and financing with Rocket Mortgage: (1) Client purchasing with a Rocket Homes Partner Agent through Rocket Homes will receive a lender paid credit that is 1.25% of their loan amount. For example, a $200,000 home purchase price minus a 5% down payment of $10,000 results in a loan amount of $190,000. Client would receive a credit of 1.25% of the $190,000, for a credit of $2,375 toward closing costs. (2) Client is referred by a real estate agent to buy a new home will receive a lender paid credit that is 0.50% of their loan amount. Offer does not apply to new loans submitted through an Executive Loan Officer, mortgage broker, through Schwab, or on nonagency jumbo loans, non-QM loans, bank statement loans, second lien products or team member loans. Offer may not be redeemed for cash and is nontransferable. Offer cannot be retroactively applied to loans where the rate has been locked. Conditions and exclusions apply. This is not a commitment to lend and is contingent on qualification per full underwriting guidelines.
Rocket Mortgage, LLC; NMLS #3030; www.NMLSConsumerAccess.org. Equal Housing Lender. Licensed in 50 states. AL License No. MC 20979, Control No. 100152352. AR, TX: 1050 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI 48226-1906, (888) 474-0404; AZ: 1 N. Central Ave., Ste. 2000, Phoenix, AZ 85004, Mortgage Banker License #BK-0902939; CA: Licensed by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act; CO: Regulated by the Division of Real Estate; GA: Residential Mortgage Licensee #11704; IL: Residential Mortgage Licensee #4127 – Dept. of Financial and Professional Regulation; KS: Licensed Mortgage Company MC.0025309; MA: Mortgage Lender License #ML 3030; ME: Supervised Lender License; MN: Not an offer for a rate lock agreement; MS: Licensed by the MS Dept. of Banking and Consumer Finance; NH: Licensed by the NH Banking Dept., #6743MB; NV: License #626; NJ: New Jersey – Rocket Mortgage, LLC, 1050 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI 48226, (888) 474-0404, Licensed by the N.J. Department of Banking and Insurance.; NY: Rocket Mortgage, LLC, 1050 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI 48226 Licensed Mortgage Banker-NYS Department of Financial Services; OH: MB 850076; OR: License #ML-1387; PA: Licensed by the Dept. of Banking – License #21430; RI: Licensed Lender; WA: Consumer Loan Company License CL-3030. Conditions may apply.
Rocket Mortgage, 1050 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI 48226-1906
Rocket Homes® is a registered trademark licensed to Rocket Homes Real Estate LLC. The Rocket HomesSM Logo is a service mark licensed to Rocket Homes Real Estate LLC. Rocket Homes Real Estate LLC fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act. For Rocket Homes Real Estate LLC license numbers, visit RocketHomes.com/license-numbers. California DRE #01804478. Hawaii License # RB-23371. TREC: Information about brokerage services, Consumer protection notice.
Rocket Mortgage, LLC and Rocket Homes Real Estate LLC are separate operating subsidiaries of Rocket Companies, Inc. (NYSE: RKT). Each company is a separate legal entity operated and managed through its own management and governance structure as required by its state of incorporation and applicable legal and regulatory requirements.
