Be Home-Wise When Buying a Home in Dallas: A How-To Guide
Dallas, Texas, has a healthy economy and lots of job openings. If you’re on the hunt for a new job, chances are you’ll get an opportunity there sooner or later.
There’s a lot to moving to any new place, let alone Dallas. The simple tips like not spending more than 25% of your monthly income on mortgage or rent and home insurance payments to allow you enough wiggle room to save up money, of course, will always be right, regardless of where you’re going to move. Instead of focusing on secondary financial aspects of buying a house, like being generally financially stable enough, this article assumes you’ve already done all of the basics of buying a home, and need some actionable tips on how to move forward.
Let’s get down to business:
Get the Most Out of Your Mortgage Loan
Your credit can negatively impact the interest rate on your loan, as well as add unnecessary conditions to the loan itself. While it might seem like a few percentage points aren’t that big of a deal, over the course of your mortgage, they can mean thousands of extra dollars in payments. It’s for this reason that it’s imperative that you check your credit score before applying for your home loan, and doing everything in your power to keep it as high as possible. Pay off any outstanding debts and make sure you’ve settled any outstanding issues with debtors.
You need to be as appealing as possible when it comes to getting a home loan. Your bank doesn’t know you as a person, and they’re also a business that likes having things in concrete numbers. Months of bank statements, proper tax documentation, extra funds to ensure stability after closing the home deal – all of these things can make your home loan less predatory in the end.
Shopping around to get the best rate possible is also highly necessary to get the best deal. Don’t just go with what your personal bank has to offer. Go to at least three or four different lenders and pick whoever’s willing to give you the best terms.
Get a Good Realtor
Many realtors are just taking a fee for doing things you can do yourself. You want a realtor who’s actually putting work into knowing the area they serve, and not just forwarding online listings to you and closing the deal themselves – all while taking a tidy profit from you.
Talk to as many different real estate agents as you’re willing to and don’t settle for convenience. You need someone who is well-connected to property owners, and who might even have access to unlisted properties going for a special rate. Any agent worth their salt will walk you through the entire process, piece by piece, before they take you out to look at these houses. A good agent will elevate your knowledge of buying a home to beyond the superficial “this house looks nice” level of understanding.
Always Be Thinking
Don’t rush into such an important life decision. You need to consider each aspect of the home-buying process as something to be thoroughly understood and perfected. Any time you show ignorance or defer responsibility to someone else, you need to understand that’s an opportunity for others to squeeze some extra money out of Dallas home buyers. Whether or not you’re okay with paying the additional convenience fee, or even being taken advantage of is up to you and your personal budget. But then, a true A-level investor doesn’t have a leaky ship.
