Espreit

If you’re on the hunt for a new home, then naturally there is a lot to think about. Buying a property whether it is your first, second, third or more is just as important as the other. It is a massive financial investment and so you need to cover all the bases before you jump in. Has that worried you? If so, do not fear. Here is our handy guide to the top eight things you must consider when home hunting!

Budget

It’s pivotal to draw up a budget before you start. Financial mismanagement is a simple recipe for disaster! You need to know exactly what your ins and outs are each month. This is in order to determine how much money you can save towards a home, and how big of a mortgage you’ll be able to pay off each month. Budgeting is very simple, but important. Simply open up your laptop and head to Microsoft Excel. This is the best bit of software for creating a budget with. Spreadsheets easily make things simple to view and understand. Plus, you can create formulas to help you and save you the time of adding things up. Give it a go, today! This should be your first and most important step.

Location

Secondly, you need to decide where you want to live. This will be greatly impacted by your budget as some areas are a lot pricier than others. For a simple example, it is far cheaper to live in the countryside than in amongst a big, urban population. City homes are incredibly expensive, but if living there is worth it for you, then you should definitely consider it. After all, nothing is more important than location. Your happiness rests upon where you live. It’s not worth being cheap just to end up unhappy in a bad area. Have a good look on the internet and scour all the information you can about places that you are considering living in. Then, make a pros and cons list. That way, you will be able to make the most informed choice.

Bedrooms

Next on your list of considerations should be the number of bedrooms that you require. Now, this is conversation you will need to have with your partner, should you be buying together. The topic of children is likely going to come up. You’re investing the largest amount of money that you ever have in your life. So you’re going to need to know whether you need room for potential kiddies. The space doesn’t have to turn into a little playroom straight away. You can wait as long as you like until you want children. In the meantime, why not turn the extra bedrooms into an office, or a library, or even a home movie theatre? It’s worthing investing in those rooms now, instead of having to move again down the line.

Amenities

Next up, you need to consider what amenities your new home needs to have. Do you both have flashy cars? Perhaps a garage is a necessity. If you’re planning on living in the city centre, then the lack of secure parking may also be a dealbreaker. All these considerations need to be taken into account. If you need a home with an outhouse, for example, then you’re going to have to look extra hard. People use these for a variety of reasons, mainly to run home businesses. Do you need an annex for an old member of the family to live with you? If so, this will need to be considered. It’s probably worth involving them in the house hunt, too!

Room For Expansion

Next up is room for expansion. This is important, too. Should you buy a two bedroom house and think, that’s fine, we only want one child, then a surprise could one day be at your door. You need to consider things like whether the loft is convertible, you could create an additional bedroom up there if big enough. Secondly, if you think you might one day like a swimming pool out back, then you need to ensure that the land is big enough. Plus it has to have feasible planning permission. If you think a conservatory could be on your radar, then you’ll need to ensure that there is space for that, too. Whatever you want to do to your home in the future, when you have more money saved up, you’ll need to plan ahead. That way you’ll know whether it would be possible right now.

Investment Potential

This one links into room for expansion quite a bit. When buying a home, you need to be confident that if you go to sell it, you will at least get back what you paid for it. Now, in theory, with house prices shooting up at such an alarming rate, this shouldn’t be a problem. However, if you buy in the wrong area, such as one that is on the decline, then you could suffer massively. Ensure that your new home is in a growing area, where prices are sure to soar upwards, and not downwards. Similarly, make sure that there is the potential to change up your home and do more with it to make it that bit more marketable. That way you could be looking at a tidy profit should you sell on!

Negotiating

Once you’ve settled on the perfect place, you’re going to need to negotiate on price. Houses are incredibly expensive, so even a 1% decrease on the asking price would be beneficial to your back pocket. Start by offering low, before going in high. Hopefully, you and the vendor will be able to meet in the middle and everybody will be happy!

Mortgage

Finally, you’ll need to sort out a mortgage. This is where companies like AMCAP Mortgage can be of help. You’ll need to shop around to get the very best rates on your investment, and they can offer just that. Some companies make their application process difficult and confusing. However, other companies, like AMCAP, make the whole ordeal stress-free and simple. Be sure to put down the biggest deposit you can afford to ensure that your monthly repayments are less!…

Just before the financial crash of 2008, the Western world had essentially gone mad. For the first time in history, the savings rate in many countries, including the US, went negative. There was such enthusiasm and buoyancy in the economy that people felt like they could spend like there was no tomorrow. Credit cards and loans were used to finance all sorts of frivolous consumption. It wasn’t like people were saving to invest in things that could then increase their wealth in the future. They were chucking it away on holidays, horse riding lessons and expensive cars. When the crash eventually did come, many people had nothing in the bank to see them through the hard times.

This is why it’s so important to be an effective saver. What’s more, given how unbalanced the world economy still is, it’s highly likely that we’ll see another crash before the end of the decade. (And there are signs that a sort of crash is already underway.)

In a nutshell, we need to be prepared. But how? With finances now stretched across the West, many individuals families struggle to save any of their income.

There are some simple things you can do to stop the paycheck to paycheck lifestyle that can be quite stressful. One is to have a written plan of your budget. A written plan can make concrete where your money is being spent. It’s often the case that we don’t actually know why our money is disappearing each month, so just tracking how we spend can help. Perhaps that $4 coffee you get each morning is what is getting between you and being able to save a part of your income.

You then want to make sure you’re removing the temptation to spend. A good way of doing this is to make sure that when money comes into your account, a fraction of it is automatically taken and put away into a savings account. Perhaps this is more psychological than real, but it means that you can run your checking account to zero, and still have savings elsewhere.

It’s also worth setting a personal financial goal. Having a reasonable goal can motivate you. Think about why you want to save. Is it for a deposit on a house so you can get out of that rented apartment? Is it for your children’s education? Having a clear goal in mind is essential for keeping you motivated – as is having a reasonable goal. Don’t pretend that you can go from borrowing hundreds of dollars a month to saving hundreds. Try to break even first, and then work from there.

When you do save up some money, make sure you look around for the highest CD rates. Having a high rate of saving on any savings account means that you’re going to feel more motivated to save.

This is something that’s hard to find in an economy with chronically low rates of interest. Moreover, you’ll also get more interest payment for a given principle. So not only will you be saving, you’ll be getting the maximum reward for your effort.…