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Let’s talk about you. Your life. Your freedom. Your future.
You’re considering purchasing a home for the first time, and you’re doing it alone. You’re filled with doubt so you’re looking the internet up and down for advice, a premade pros and cons list, to dos and not to dos, and you’ve landed here.
Hi, nice to meet you.
First , take a deep breath. Next, look around you. Are you sitting in a bland apartment you’ve been leasing for ten years, wishing you could invite some interest into your life? Is your bank’s homepage up on another tab, reminding you that you’ve got a rent payment due, another wad of cash going into someone elses’ pocket, building someone else’s equity?
If you’re anxious because you’re not sure if home ownership is for you, or you’re anxious because you’re ready to do the damn thing, well then you’re in the right place. We’ve got some work to do!
In 2015, USA Today reported that nearly twice as many single women as single men were buying homes for the first time, and they were doing it ALONE. Single women made up 23% of the first time homebuyers’ market, and 16% of the repeat buyer market. That’s a lot of bad-ass single ladies.
Despite this, in 2017 when the idea of buying a home on my own began to take root, I scoured the internet looking for, I’m not sure, validation? Something to tell me that I had made the right choice? I was on the internet for hours. I mostly read blogs in which blonde pretty women use the pronoun ‘we’ a lot.
‘We bought our first home in shambles, and we’re so excited about fixing it up!’
‘We’ve begun our first reno project this week- the hubby is hard at work!’
Don’t get me wrong, it fills me with glee to see a happy couple making a home. But it’s just not me, not right now. And instead of validating my decision it made the doubt grow more powerful. I asked myself:
‘Am I ready? Why am I doing this now? Shouldn’t I be waiting for the husband and the children before I take this step?’
Let’s be clear, home ownership is representative of the American Dream, but it’s not a prerequesite for it. It’s just one peice of the American Pie (the house, the kids, the dog, the car, the great job) and you can make pie with or without it.
But the reality is, not only was I planning on doing it alone, I felt alone. And that made the decisioin that much harder to make. Even though I and people like me made up almost a quarter of the market, I felt like I was going into a deep and dark abyss without a flashlight. Just alone.
But I knew it was something I had to do. I’m a teacher getting started in my career and realizing that while I am fulfilled in what I do, my income potential is pretty moderate. In reality, I couldn’t afford to keep shovelling money into a rent-pit. Nor could I afford to dump a large pile of cash into a money-pit. So I had to strategize in order to meet my goals.
Luckily, I didn’t let doubt stop me. I sat down and made a plan. I started with something very tangible, a list. A precursor to several lists, if you will. I started with a list of my bills. Then I made a list of bills I could stop paying or pay down (gym membership, store credit cards, for example). Then I made a list of what I wanted in a home (a good location with amenities, a front porch for entertaining, a laundry room, high ceilings). Finally, I made a list of reasons for buying a home (closer to work, independence, security, potential investment), and one for not buying a home (ummm….). It was a pretty easy decision for me.
I put together a team. This inluded my real estate agent, my mother, and a couple of close friends. I was also going to be doing a renovation, so I needed a consultant (more on that later). But the most important member of that team was my loan officer. I met quite a few, about 15, before I met the one that would help ease me through the process. Then I spent a year looking at homes before finding the one.
Let’s wrap this up, because I have A LOT to share with you. But first things first, this is a big decision, perhaps one of the largest you’ll make. It’s not to be taken lightly. And it’s not to be rushed. You’ll have to consider a lot of things, educate yourself, and you will need a support network. That’s what I’m here for.
Come back for tips and guidance on:
- choosing a real estate agent with your best interests in mind
- deciding whether to rent or buy
- choosing a loan that will work for you
- down payments, closing costs, and other adventures
Let’s get you in a house of your own, so you can be on cloud mine!
OnCloudMine 