Financially Preparing to Buy a Home
Before the recession, the phrase “house poor” was adopted into the average home buyer’s vocabulary, as buyers hesitated to spend every last penny of their life savings on a down payment for a dream home. To go beyond the “house poor” consideration is to prevent oneself from also becoming “Maintenance poor.”
Marketwatch.com recently published an interesting article for home hunters on how to financially prepare to buy a house in these shaky economic times. To become “Maintenance poor” is to purchase a home unaware of its necessary future repairs with the fatal error of not having enough in the bank to cover these costs.
The article advises house hunters to save at least 1 to 3 percent of a property’s purchase price for major maintenance costs and unexpected expenses. As for mortgage payments, these days buyers should have 6 months of payments saved in the bank because of the wavering job market. For basic repairs like painting and caulking, anyone buying a typical starter home budget $500 to $1,000 a year.
If you’re a home buyer looking at homes in Newton, Natick, Needham, Wellesley, Brookline, and Weston, the top real estate agents of the area are Christine Norcross and Partners. Browse the Homes by Norcross website for Newton listings, and feel free to contact Christine Norcross and Partners if you have any question about Newton real estate or about a particular property.