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You want to buy a house, but you know that you need to save as much money as possible for a down payment. Although you've tried to save money in the past, your best efforts have failed to help you collect the funds that you'll need to make a down payment on your dream residence.
Let's face it – saving for a home can be difficult. Fortunately, we're here to offer creative ways to help you get the money that you'll need to make your homeownership dream come true.
Now, let's take a look at three creative ways to save for a down payment on a house.
1. Start a Friendly Competition
Competition often brings out the best in homebuyers. Much in the same vein, you and your friends may be able to compete against one another to see who can save the most money for a down payment on a home.
If you and your friends intend to buy a home together or separately, a friendly competition can make a world of difference in getting the required funds for a down payment. In fact, you can even award the winner of this competition with an "Ultimate Saver" trophy or other fun prizes.
Ultimately, a friendly competition is a great way to have fun with friends and save money for a down payment on a house at the same time. Regardless of who wins the competition, you'll notice that your down payment savings will increase, moving you one step closer to acquiring your ideal residence.
2. Use a Rewards System
Saving for a down payment on a home may seem like a long, arduous process. However, if you build rewards into your day-to-day savings efforts, you can earn incentives as you reach various milestones.
For instance, you may want to reward yourself with a special dinner every time that you reach a savings milestone. Or, you can always celebrate hitting a savings milestone with a trip to the dog park with your puppy.
3. Trim the Fat from Your Budget
It sometimes can be tough to remove cable TV, takeout meals and other excess items from your budget. But if you consider the long-term benefits of these short-term sacrifices, you may be better equipped than ever before to save significant funds for a down payment on a home.
Look closely at your daily, weekly and monthly budgets. Then, you can determine which budget items are essential and which are not and trim the fat from your budget accordingly. This will allow you to speed up the process of saving for a down payment on a house and ensure that you can achieve your homeownership dream faster than ever before.
Lastly, as you prepare to explore available homes, don't hesitate to reach out to a real estate agent for extra help. By hiring a real estate agent, you can get the assistance that you need to discover a great house that falls within your price range.
Purchasing home furniture should be a quick, easy and, perhaps most important, inexpensive process. However, finding affordable chairs, couches and other home furniture sometimes can be difficult, particularly for those who recently bought a house and need to furnish their residence on a budget.
Lucky for you, we're here to help you discover top-notch home furniture at budget-friendly prices.
Now, let's take a look at three tips to help you furnish your residence without breaking your budget.
1. Keep an Eye Out for Sales
Furniture stores are available in cities and towns nationwide, and these shops generally offer sales at different times throughout the year. As such, you should plan a trip to various local furniture stores to find the best prices on furniture for your living room, dining room or other areas of your house.
In many instances, it pays to shop at furniture stores on weekends. These stores commonly provide weekend sales that may enable you to save hundreds or thousands of dollars on assorted home furniture.
Also, you may want to plan ahead for potential holiday sales. Furniture stores frequently offer significant discounts around Independence Day, Christmas and other major holidays. And if you capitalize on these holiday sales, you may be able to pick up deluxe furniture at bargain prices.
2. Look Online
Craigslist and other online classified sites make it easy to browse for furniture from any location, at any time. Meanwhile, these sites may enable you to locate high-quality preowned furniture at a fraction of the cost of brand-new items.
If you see furniture online that you like, don't hesitate to reach out to a seller. Because the longer that you wait to contact a seller, the more likely it becomes that he or she will sell the furniture that you want to a rival buyer.
3. Negotiate When Possible
Oftentimes, you may be able to negotiate the price of a sofa, ottoman or other furniture, regardless of whether you buy from a furniture store or independent seller. If you understand the art of negotiation, you may be better equipped than other buyers to acquire first-rate furniture without spending too much.
Perform research before you kick off your furniture search – you'll be glad you did. With furniture price data at your disposal, you can find out how much your dream bed, shelving unit or other furniture costs and budget accordingly.
Furthermore, if you need extra assistance as you search for home furniture, you may want to work with a real estate agent. In addition to helping you buy a new home, a real estate agent may be able to put you in touch with the top furniture retailers in your area. Or, in some instances, a real estate agent may be able to convince a home seller to include his or her furniture in your home purchase.
Ready to acquire outstanding furniture for your new home? Use the aforementioned tips, and you can increase the likelihood of discovering amazing furniture at prices that match your budget.
Photo by Fizkes via Shutterstock
Months of searching, attending open houses, and viewing available homes finally paid off. You’ve found the perfect property in the perfect neighborhood for the perfect price. You’re ready to make an offer. Then, it happens, you get the dreaded call from your agent telling you there are multiple offers on the property. How does that happen?
Reasons for Multiple Offers
Re-marketing. Remember, the listing agent has the legal and fiduciary duty to the seller to seek the highest price possible. Not only does the higher offer pay the agent more, but it also gives the seller more to work with. As the listing nears its expiration, the agent has an incentive to market it more aggressively so that they can earn their commission. That means more open house events, changes to the listing to bring it back into focus even if it’s been on the market for a while, and other marketing tools.
Inventory shifts continuously. That means at any given moment, fewer houses on the market puts the home you want on more buyers’ radars. Even a house they looked past a month ago might interest them today. This is especially true when you use narrow search parameters because everyone else using those parameters sees the exact same homes.
Buyer demographics align. If you chose to wait until the end of summer, or after the holidays for family reasons, the chances are high that a bunch of other folks did as well. If you’re an empty-nester and waited for fall to start looking, so did other buyers in similar life situations. They’ll like the same things about it that you like.
New listings. Buyers that have lost out to multiple offers in the past now know better than to “sleep on it” when they see a new house available that fits their needs. The typical multiple-offer scenario happens within the first two weeks of a listing reaching the market. This is true particularly if the home is priced right, has curb appeal and desired upgrades or renovations in a preferred neighborhood.
Pocket listings. A so-called “pocket listing” is when a seller’s agent knows a home is going on the market but is not yet listed, and it that appeals to certain buyers to whom they give the head’s up. Some pocket “buyers” ask for notification when there’s another offer. Since the listing agent represents this buyer, there’s nothing stopping their agent from helping them present a better offer than yours. Ask your agent to learn if the other offer is from a client of the listing agent since it makes a difference in how you craft a counteroffer. Options include increasing your offer, your agent could reduce their commission, closing without contingencies, etc.
Trust your agent’s advice on preparing a counteroffer and whether submitting a personal letter with the offer is a promising idea. In some cases, it’s about the bottom line; but in others, it’s an emotional decision to sell a home.
Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
One of the critical steps involved in looking for a home is the process of negotiating for a mortgage. Many people dread this process because they find out exactly how much money they are going to have to pay each month. At the same time, this is also an opportunity for people to negotiate for more favorable terms. Think about options such as waiving origination fees, reducing points, and asking for a lower interest rate. In the end, most are locked into a mortgage that will last from 15 to 30 years. As the months start to roll by, losing a large chunk of that paycheck will start to get old. Fortunately, there are ways to pay off a mortgage more quickly.
Pay More Each Month
The first option is to pay more than the minimum loan payment each month (or increase the frequency of the payments). Increasing the amount of each payment will ensure that extra dollars are being applied directly to the principal. This will reduce the amount of interest paid over the life of the loan, therefore, allowing for a quicker pay off.
Refinance the Mortgage
Another option to consider is to refinance the loan with a different lender with more favorable terms. This could all you to secure a pay off date that isn't so far into the future. This is a great idea if interest rates have dropped since the mortgage was first installed. Refinancing at a lower interest rate can help you pay off your mortgage faster but it will likely impact your monthly payments.
Split the Payment in Half
Finally, here is a creative approach that may work for you especially if you collect a paycheck every two weeks. Split your monthly mortgage payment in half. Send payment for that amount to your loan provider every two weeks. This approach allows you to submit one extra monthly mortgage payment each year. This added payment goes directly toward the principal and can cut years off of the life of your loan. Check with your lender they may have options like this that you can enroll in right from origination.
