We all dream about owing our own house and stop paying a rent. If you are like most of tenants, you feel trapped in the walls of an apartment that you do not own. You feel helpless and you can’t see the day when you will buy your own house.
Regardless how long you have been a tenant or how difficult your financial situation seems, the truth is some little known information might help you make the move to change your status from a tenant to an owner. Thanks to the information, you will learn to:
- Save money for your down payment
- Stop giving money to your landlord
- Stop wasting thousands of dollars in rent
6 little known facts that can help you buy your first house.
The problem most tenants face is certainly not their incapacity to meet their monthly payment. Everybody knows that this obligation has to be met the first day of the month. The problem is rather to accumulate enough capital to make the first deposit on a house.
Saving this amount of money is not as difficult as you might think if you know the six following facts.
- You can buy a house with much less cash than you think.Local or national programs (such as the First Time Home Buyer’s Program) exist to help access the real estate market. You can also qualify as a first time home buyer even if your spouse owned a house before, as long as your name was not registered as co-owner. Make sure your agent is well-informed and knowledgeable about the home buyer’s programs in order to offer you all the possibilities.
- You could get some help from your financial institution for your initial deposit and acquisition costs.Even if you don’t have the initial deposit available, if you don’t have debts and some net worth (like a fully paid car), your financial institution might lend you the funds for your initial deposit which would be secured by that asset.
- You might find a seller who can help youSome sellers might grant a second legal hypothec lien. In this case, the seller becomes more or less the lending institution. Instead of paying him⁄her the cash for the house, you pay monthly payments.
- You can create a cash deposit without incurring debtsBy borrowing money to invest in an RRSP until the required amount is achieved, you can benefit from a tax credit that you will use as cash. It is true that the money borrowed can be technically considered as a personal loan, but the monthly payment might be lower. Then, the money invested in the house and in the RRSP is yours.
- You can buy a house even if you have some credit issuesIf you can’t get the minimum amount in cash or provide security for a loan because your net worth is too low, lending institutions will still accept your mortgage request.
- You can, and you should, be pre-qualified for a mortgage loan before starting your researchThis is easy to do and will provide you with peace of mind when the time comes to buy a house. Mortgage brokers can help you obtain an approval in writing at no cost and with no obligation. This can even be done over the phone. Better than a verbal approval, written pre-qualification is like having cash in the bank account. You will receive a certificate that guarantees the amount of your mortgage loan; very useful when you finally find the house you were looking for.Consider asking a professional specialized in mortgage loans. Using his or her services can make the difference between obtaining a mortgage and remaining a tenant forever. Usually, there are no fees to obtain the information. Then why on earth would you continue to waste thousands of dollars in rent when you could take a few minutes with your agent to talk about your specific needs in order to stop renting an own a house.This conversation will not cost you anything. And of course, you should not feel obliged to buy a house at the moment you read these lines, but take the time to explore various opportunities, discover ways to own a house, imagine how informed and relaxed you will feel when the time comes to make this important decision.
