To all the first-time homebuyers that are making this awesome transitional journey into their lives. I wanted to dedicate this post to you because this is huge! I know that some of my readers are not in this process but may want to save this for later.
I am all about planning, so I was naturally curious about finding more information about the entire process for when I am ready to make this transition in my life. So, I asked around and here is what you need to know!
1. Learn Everything about the Process
As much as the process can be overwhelming. It is so important to take the time to learn as much as you can about it. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and utilize the vast resources and tips for first time home buyers. This not only takes some of the guesswork out of the process but will also relieve the stress as well.
Related – Every Girl: What You Need to Know About Buying Your First Home
2. How Much Do You Need to Save?
When you are thinking about getting your first home, you need to also think about your saving plan. You need to think about how much you can afford because this is going to be a large down payment on your part. Typically, you need to put down 15-20 percent of the purchase price.
3. What is Your Buying Timeline?
When you feel financially prepared for this step of buying your first home you need to think about your home buying timeline.
To make things simple you are basically looking at from the time you check your credit score, make a saving plan to the time you are ready to make an offer on the home you want to buy. Do you need more time to save money? This is something you need to think about because as you search for homes in different neighbourhoods, you need to make sure you have the funds in case you find the home of your dreams.
4. How to Prepare for Homeownership
Curious about how you can prepare for homeownership? Even if you have lived on your own for many years, there is a huge difference between renting and caring for an entire house that you own. It may be difficult to try to anticipate future needs or know what to expect when you haven’t done this before but here is some advice on important higher priority tasks to complete like:
- Changing the locks
- Set up desired security features
- Do repairs and upgrades before moving in
- Pest control
- Give the home a good clean
- Map out where your belonging is going to go
- Add new toilet seats
- Change air filters
Related: 5 Things That You Need to Know About Moving into a New Home
5. Prepare your Home for the Move
Ready to get moving? Many people either love moving or dislike the process of it. To make your moving extra easy try preparing ahead of time. Therefore, label your boxes to the desired room of your new place, you can do this by simply writing down the area of where this box belongs to.
Pro tip – It is best to write this on the side of the box instead of the top of it.
Another thing you can do is colour code your boxes such as blue tape for the bathroom, red tape for the kitchen and yellow tape for the office. Add the corresponding colour to your new place so the movers know where to go.
Here are more tips:
- Declutter! The last thing you want to do is move belongings you don’t need or use.
- Ask friends and family for extra boxes
- For hanging clothing, use garbage bags to create a clothing bag so that you don’t have to remove the clothing from the hangers.
- Create an “open first” box filled with your essentials of toilet paper, PJs, toothbrush, shower products, bedding sheets and more.
- Utilize your suitcases as storage to move items
- Tape screws and bolts on the back of the furniture piece or create a separate box for the screws and bolts with a label for what it is for.
6. Settling into Your First Home
When you are all moved in, you get to the fun part! This is the time when you want to make your home feel like home. So unpack your items smoother with these clever tips to settling into your new home.
Don’t you hate it when you realized you ran out of something and the last thing you want to do is have to run into a store at that point? This time take advantage of getting your home essentials delivered to you it saves you so much time.
Final Thoughts
We talked about what you need to know about first-time homebuyers. From the beginning of the process of figuring out your budget, creating a saving plan, checking out places to putting in your offer for your new home, you got everything you need.
I personally love the process of when you are moving into a new place, packing up your belonging and settling into your new home. Cheers to your new home and your new home keys!
