You may be surprised at how much you remember going into this course.
The Decision
The decision to buy is where the whole process begins.
We know that buying a home is a major decision. It's also a good lesson in financial discipline. Fortunately, the odds are in your favor of everything going well. Even first-timers have an easier time of it nowadays.
The current homeownership rate in the U.S. is at more than two-thirds of the population. People now own homes at a younger age, too. More than half of all "Generation Xers" aged 30 to 31, and 36 percent of those aged 25 to 29 already own a home. No matter what your age, it's always worth taking a look at homeownership. If you are looking for your second or third home, you are nearly home free (so to speak!).
Do You Qualify for a New Mortgage?
This is the first big question.
Even though owning a home is a little easier today, the decision on whether you're ready to buy now, upgrade to a larger place or figuring out how much you can afford, depends on a mortgage lender. If you're like most people, you're not independently wealthy and you don't have piles of cash lying around, so you'll need to financially "qualify" for a mortgage loan. That means looking at your finances in depth and at your spending habits.
To qualify means having a lender review your financial situation and provide tentative approval for a loan amount sufficient to purchase a home. That's the first step. The next step is actually applying to get the loan. Along the way, you'll be putting your finances under the microscope, the financial equivalent of a DNA test.
But First, Let's Investigate Your Credit & Personality Type...
Each of us fits into general category of financial behavior.
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