Tips for Buying Your First House

Last month we purchased our first house in Maryland. It’s funny how timing works. It was almost 5 years ago exactly that we bought our first house.

Our First House

We had just gotten home from our honeymoon the day before we closed. We were newlyweds and new homeowners. We were so excited to make the home ours.

Our first house was a 1,300 square foot townhome in Payson, Utah. It was huge for the two of us. Before moving in we painted the whole house.Then with help from family, we moved everything into our little home.

Looking back it’s hard to believe it was 5 years ago. We thought we would be in that little townhome for a few years. Instead, we ended up selling it only 6 months after we moved in.

Since moving out of our first house we have lived in so many different and unexpected places.

Places we Have Lived

We lived in Wallsburg, Utah for a few months, before moving to St. George, Utah for 6 weeks. We followed these short little moves by a big move across the country to Maryland.

Since moving to Maryland 4 years ago we have lived in a motor home in Woodbine; an apartment in Columbia; a house in Bowie; an apartment in Frederick and finally a townhome in Hagerstown.

Our First Maryland House

The first home we have purchased in Maryland is the townhome in Hagerstown. It is just a little bit larger than our first townhome in Utah (by about 1,000 sq ft). We are hoping our time in this townhome is at least a little longer than the time we spent in our home in Payson.

Tips for Purchasing Your First Home

First, a little disclaimer I’m not a real estate professional, these are just a few things we learned from purchasing a home in two different states.

1 – Work with a Realtor 

During the process of purchasing both of our townhomes, we worked with realtors. Doing this allowed us to see properties that would have been really hard to get into, if not impossible, without a realtor.

Working with a realtor has a number of benefits including:

Looking at Properties

• The Realtor will schedule home showings, you just show up and see the different homes.
• They work to help you get what you’re looking for at a price point you want.
• Realtors often have access to more information about properties than you will be able to find on your own.
• They get notifications when new properties similar to what you are looking for go on the market.

Purchasing Process

• Realtors will have recommendations for home inspectors, mortgage companies, etc.
• They will help arrange inspections and getting utilities turned on if needed and letting everyone in and out of the house.
• Realtors will keep track of important dates in the closing process and help make sure you meet deadlines.
• They will be there to answer any questions you may have.

Each time we have purchased a home we have been grateful to have the help and advice of a professional realtor.

2- Know Your Finances

A lot of people will tell you to get a pre-approval so you know how much house you can buy. This is an important part of purchasing a home, but I think it’s more important to know how much you want to spend on a home.

Use a Mortgage Calculator 

Before going and looking at houses take a few minutes to mess around with a mortgage calculator and find a monthly payment you are comfortable with.

Finding out how much your willing to pay monthly will help you determine a price range to look at. (We like the mortgage calculator on Zillow with the advanced options)

Get Info From Your Realtor

Once you find some homes you like have your realtor get you a copy of the listing that includes taxes, HOA, etc.

Then go back to the mortgage calculator and make sure to check the down payment, Insurance, and the taxes and update them to the proper amounts.

3-Stay In Contact

During the whole purchase process stay in contact with your realtor and lender. If you have any questions or concerns be sure to ask.

4- Consider All Your Options

I think it’s important to consider all of your options. Both of our townhomes weren’t what we originally planned.

Location

The first townhome was in a different location. We originally wanted to be in Orem or Provo. We even made an offer on a different townhome in Provo.

But one day we decided to go with our realtor out to Payson just to look at a couple townhomes.

Once we saw the townhome in Payson we loved it, and it’s the one we ended up buying. So sometimes it’s a good idea to look a little bit outside of your “ideal” location and see what’s available.

Type of Home

The plan was to originally wait until this fall to purchase a home in Maryland, but things change.

One weekend we were driving around Hagerstown and found a home with a for sale sign that we loved! We decided we needed to wait and it wasn’t the right time.

A couple weeks later we were still both thinking about this amazing (from the outside) house. So we ended up calling a realtor.

We went and saw the house and it needed a lot of work. So much work that it wouldn’t have been a smart investment. (We would be negative in equity.)

So we went and looked at a few more homes but didn’t find anything we loved. Then we decided to broaden our search and include townhomes.

The first time we saw the townhome we made an offer. We loved it and the pricing made the most sense for our family.

No, it’s not our ultimate dream home but right now it’s the perfect fit for our little family.

Are You Buying A Home?

To summarise, if you’re buying a home my advice for you is to use a realtor, know and understand your finances and consider all of your options.

I would love to know what advice you have from your home buying process, let me know what you would add in the comments.