1. Get a financial self-assessment. Before buying, it is important to analyze your financial situation. The most important thing is to determine our income and the capital that we have available as a downpayment. Although loan interest rates are currently low, obtaining a mortgage is difficult. Banks are increasingly demanding in verifying your income and credit history.
2. Set realistic expectations. If you are buying your first home, it is important that your expectations are realistic for the property’s increase in value. The average valuation of a home in the United States is 3.6% per year, according to data from the Case-Shiller index, one of the main indicators of house prices from the firm Standard & Poor’s. This indicates that it is no longer feasible to buy and try to sell after a few months or a year.
3. Think like an investor. Think about the expected return on your investment, the risk and the term. The profitability if you buy to lease the property will be what you get from the rental income, less maintenance expenses and taxes. Along with the annual appreciation of the property, this becomes your profitability.
If you buy a property to live in, one of your goals will also be to make the best possible investment. The best way to do this is by searching for the areas with the best schools because those areas tend to be poles of attraction for
4. Consider continuing to pay rent. Compare the costs of buying and maintaining a home with the cost of renting it. Zillow.com just did this buy versus rent analysis for nearly 200 metropolitan areas and 7,500 cities in the United States. The study concludes that in 75% of the analyzed areas, buying is better than renting.
5. Location. A house gains in value if it is located in an area with high quality schools and with good communication and transport routes to the main urban centers.
6. Become an expert. Gather information on the area you chose and the properties that interest you. It is important to know what houses similar to the ones you want recently sold for. You can get this information through sites like Zillow.com or RealEstate.com. You will only need to enter the address to know which properties are for sale and rent, as well as the recently sold ones.
