Saving for your first home-Buyer Tips | Bucks County area real estate update

Home Buyer tips for saving for your first home

It can be one of the hardest things to do — save money for your first home. But now, more than ever, there’s incentive to buy. Government housing tax credits have been extended and that’s sparking buyers’ interest.

Reports show that U.S. homes sales increased 10 percent in October to the highest level since February 2007. The tax credit, less expensive homes, and lower mortgage rates are being credited. However, while the government is helping to support the purchasing of a home, many Americans still can’t afford to buy one.

So how do you get in a position to buy a home? For some the process can seem nearly impossible. First-time homebuyers are often fearful they’ll never be able to accumulate a down payment now that stricter guidelines are being enforced for taking out home loans.

Look over your finances and see where things can be cut back a little. For instance, maybe you have a gym membership that you really use only a few times a month; does that justify having it? Another big area to find savings, especially for single people, is the dining out category. Some people spend an enormous amount of money eating out, if you really want to save, take a look at the car you’re driving. Well, if you’re trying to save for your retirement or trying to save for a house and you go out and buy a $30,000 car by taking out an auto loan—you can’t afford it. What you’re doing is borrowing against future income to be able to drive a car that’s more expensive than what you can really afford.

People spend an enormous amount of money on things like sporting events and while I understand their passion, if they’re trying to save for a home, something must go. “I’m not saying to cut it all out but how about cutting half of it out. It comes down to trade-offs.” Another trade-off might be to watch some of the events on TV rather than go to them. This brings us to the point of seeking savings in your utility bills by bundling cable, Internet, phone or maybe even cutting down to the bare essentials of channels. Shop around for services and see if you can combine them under one company and get discounts for doing so.

Have you checked your cell phone bill lately? A lot of times those charges add up very quickly. People are wasting an enormous amount of money in this area because of the Web surfing, the down loads, and the text messaging.

The bottom line is saving for a home is a very personal experience—what one person is willing to give up another person may not. If you keep your goal set on purchasing that home then you’ll find the effort to get there is not nearly as difficult and you’re likely to find that there are more places to cut costs than you realize.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 2:27 pm and is filed under Buying Real Estate, First Time Home Buyers, Marty's personal observations., Real Estate News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.