Buying your first home in a beautiful Orange County city such as Mission Viejo, CA can be both exciting and overwhelming. But with proper planning and research, as well as guidance from a good local real estate agent, first-time home buyers like you can navigate the process in a breeze. To start, here are some tips to guide you in your home-buying journey in the area.
START SAVING
Buying a house entails a huge investment. That’s why it makes sense to save early for these costs:
- Down payment: This is the most upfront payment required of you in buying a house, especially if you plan to get a mortgage. This ranges from 3% to 20% of the total purchase price.
- Closing costs: This typically ranges from 2% to 6% of the loan amount and covers fees and expenses to finalize the deal on the home.
- Move-in expenses: Set aside some cash for home repairs, upgrades, utilities, moving services, and immediate furnishings.
CHECK AND BOOST YOUR CREDIT
Your creditworthiness is one of the important factors in getting pre-approved by mortgage lenders. They’ll use credit scores as their basis for deciding whether to accept or deny your loan application. If they do accept your application, your credit score will also help them to determine the terms they can offer to you.
Before shopping for homes for sale in Mission Viejo, it pays to check your credit score. Try to improve your credit score by paying your bills on time, utilizing 30% or less of your available credit, putting a halt on applying for a new credit card, dealing with financial delinquencies, and keeping old credit accounts open. Make sure to review and dispute any errors that could pull down your credit score.
KNOW YOUR MORTGAGE OPTIONS
Choosing the right mortgage has a powerful impact on your home-buying endeavor. Various types of home loans are out there, including conventional loans,VA loans, FHA loans, and jumbo loans. Each offers its own down payment terms, interest rates, and eligibility requirements. You can also choose between fixed-rate and adjustable-rate types, as well as term length.
Talk to at least three lenders and compare their terms, as well as the types of loans you can most qualify for.
GET PRE-APPROVED
Once you’ve picked a lender, secure a preapproval. This confirms how much money you can borrow based on financial information you submitted. It shows how much house you can afford so you can tailor your search based on your price range.
With this preapproval in your hands, you’ll have an edge over other buyers in making an offer. Sellers usually prefer preapproved buyers as this shows the latter’s solid financial capacity to buy their home.
HIRE AN EXPERIENCED REAL ESTATE AGENT
As mentioned earlier, having an experienced real estate agent with you in the home-buying process allows you to find the home of your dreams in the quickest time sans the hassle. Their experience in the field will prove valuable to you, as well as their client-approved professional reputation. Since you’ll be working closely with your real estate agent, it’s essential that you choose someone you can trust and get along with very well.
First-time home buyers like you don’t have to go through this endeavor alone. Allow me, Tony Florez, to be your guide in buying your dream home. With more than a decade of experience as a real estate agent in Mission Viejo and other areas in South Orange County, I am dedicated to assisting clients to achieve their real estate dreams. Call me at 949.378.7276 or send an email here.