Do's and Don'ts in Choosing a Home

Buying a house for the first time?  Purchasing your own home is maybe the biggest investment you'll ever make in your lifetime.  Choosing a place to call home is one of the major decision that affects all areas of your life.  It is best to know what are the things to think about before buying your First-Time Home.  Here are the Do's and Dont’s for you to consider:

Do Decide which type of home you require.  Before you start looking at homes, first decide on which type of home that suits your needs.  You need to create a list of criteria that meets all of your important requirements.  Is privacy a big deal for you? Or do you need a place close to your office? Or is maintenance a big factor when choosing a home? You have a variety of choices when purchasing a residential property: a condominium unit; a townhouse; a traditional single family home; or a multi-family building.   Each option has its own pros and cons, depending on your preference, so make sure that you analyze your needs properly before making the choice of which place to scout for.

A condominium, also called “condo” is actually an alternative form of home ownership created in response to the needs of people that cannot afford to own a traditional single family home or those that simply prefer not to own a home. Condominium owners, however, do not own the land on which the building is built.   The extent of ownership is limited to the inside of the unit itself.

A townhouse or “townhome” is a single-family dwelling that shares a common wall. Unlike condominium owners that must share a roof, entrances and exits, hallways, and stairways, townhouse owners have their own individual roofs. Townhouses have their own back and front yards, garage and front porch. Townhouse owners own the land underneath their home.

The most expensive type of home is the single family detached homes, usually it has both a front and back yard, a driveway, and an attached carport or garage. The owner owns the piece of land where the house is built.  On this type of house, you would have to do your own yard work and maintenance or pay somebody to do this for you.

The multi family building may be a duplex consists of two units per building; a triplex, three units per building; and a quadraplex, four units per building. While the duplex and triplex are generally built side-by-side in a row, the units in a quadraplex are generally constructed back-to-back. 

Next topic: Guidelines for Choosing a House

Maintenance on your Property

Maintenance is a large consideration when choosing between renting an apartment and buying a house.  When you rent an apartment maintenance is generally provided and paid for by the landlord.  If you have leaking pipes, busted heater or clogged bathtub, the maintenance crew will come and fix it for you – free of charge!  The cost of doing the repairs is already included in your rental fees.  Whereas, if you own your own house, you would have to look for your own electrician, plumber and gardener and pay for them at your own costs.

Here is the summary of the advantages and disadvantages of buying and renting we’ve discussed for the past few days:

	Advantages	Disadvantages
Buy	Good Investment	Responsible for own maintenance
	Property builds equity	Must pay property taxes
	Price of property appreciates	May not sell quickly
	Freedom to change home decor
	Constant housing payments
	Tax Advantages
Rent	Landlord takes care of maintenance	No equity built
	Easier to vacate	No tax benefits
		Can't change décor
		Rent increases

You would always hear the news about home foreclosure and it makes you wonder if now is the right time to purchase a house.  It is normal for a person to doubt if making a purchase that involves a huge amount of money is the right thing to do at this point of time.  John Paulson, a multibillionaire hedge fund operator and the investment genius who made a killing going short subprime mortgages a few years ago, advised that now is the best time in 50 years to buy homes.  Homes are more affordable now than ever! This is due to the fact that the mortgage financing rates are at all-time lows.  In addition to that, there is a wide range of financing options available to all types of potential homeowners.  The laws of supply and demand are at work too….If there are too many homes for sale then prices are likely to drop no matter what the ratio is to income.  The economic downturn could actually work into our favor.  With owning a house made easy for every one of us, there will be that "one" house that could be within our reach getting us closer to that "American Dream".  And as a bonus, the property that you purchased will surely appreciate few years from now! 

The media seems to thrive on the unfortunate threat of foreclosures and delinquent mortgages.  This is a very real consequence although it can be area specific because different areas appreciate in value faster than others and have different contributing economic factors. 

I hope that the articles have given you a clear picture of the advantages and disadvantages of both renting and owning your own home and helped you in your decision of which is a better option – renting or owning your own home.