Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I'm Matt,
Speaker 1: and today we're discussing what you need to do before
Speaker 1: you buy a house, Matt. Before you buy a house,
Speaker 1: there are a lot of ducks that you need to
Speaker 1: get in a row, and we're gonna put those ducks
Speaker 1: in a row with people, uh in just a few minutes.
Speaker 1: I'm excited to kind of tackle this topic today. That's right, Joel.
Speaker 1: But before we kind of kick things off, we are
Speaker 1: in our new dining room space. Kate and I have
Speaker 1: renovated our house. We we did in a few episodes
Speaker 1: on renovating a few weeks ago. Gosh, we are so
Speaker 1: freaking happy to be back in our kitchen, in our
Speaker 1: dining room now that we have this sort of connected
Speaker 1: space for our family to spend a lot of time in.
Speaker 1: And it's nice as well for you and I to
Speaker 1: be able to record and not have the instat pot
Speaker 1: over my shoulder here, plus all the spices behind you
Speaker 1: over there, that whole thing going on. It was easier
Speaker 1: to get the beers from the fridge because it was
Speaker 1: just an arms length a way when we recorded in
Speaker 1: your old dining room slash kitchen. Because everything was mixed
Speaker 1: together in one. But but no, this is a nice
Speaker 1: new space, and yeah, it looks really nice, and it's
Speaker 1: nice to have kind of an upgraded recording studio here
Speaker 1: at your dining room table. That's definitely more comfortable and honestly,
Speaker 1: and just the utility that Kate and I that we
Speaker 1: have been able to get out of it as a family.
Speaker 1: We're not even done yet. We still have a punch
Speaker 1: list of things that need to be completed before we,
Speaker 1: you know, write that final check like we talked about
Speaker 1: when it comes to renovating your house. But I realized
Speaker 1: how much stress was sort of on us by not
Speaker 1: being back here and sort of having our our usual
Speaker 1: space and feeling like we're kind of camping out. You know,
Speaker 1: we've been camping out for the past three or four
Speaker 1: months now while this has all been going on, and
Speaker 1: it's nice to be able to resume life and to
Speaker 1: pick up what we left off. Yeah, Matt, and there's
Speaker 1: some really interesting income producing aspects of your innovation that
Speaker 1: we are going to talk about in a future episode.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna need some time and some numbers to
Speaker 1: come in on that. And uh yeah, so we'll get
Speaker 1: to that maybe a few months down the road. But
Speaker 1: first I've got a frugal versus cheap for you. I'll
Speaker 1: bring it, and that is school lunches. Your daughter and
Speaker 1: my daughter, they both go to the same elementary school.
Speaker 1: School lunches are four dollars there, and that's for a
Speaker 1: nice lunch, right, like if they have an incredible lunch program.
Speaker 1: And it's like the nutrition and all the thought that
Speaker 1: goes into these meals, Like last time that my wife
Speaker 1: was there, like the kids were eating beat salad, which
Speaker 1: is amazing, Like I love beats. That's impressive. But the
Speaker 1: fact is four dollars is still a lot of money.
Speaker 1: And in our family were able to feed each one
Speaker 1: of us individually for one dollar per meal, so this
Speaker 1: is four times that. And Kate and I we're having
Speaker 1: the discussion the other day and we were asking ourselves,
Speaker 1: are we withholding a sort of special experience from our
Speaker 1: daughter by not allowing her to buy school lunch? Are
Speaker 1: we depriving her of this sort of fun thing that
Speaker 1: the other kids get to do, Because it's something that
Speaker 1: recently she has been sort of mentioning, kind of on
Speaker 1: the side a little bit she did she hasn't like
Speaker 1: demanded anything, but yeah, what are your thoughts on that? Well,
Speaker 1: So we actually let our daughter buy one day a week,
Speaker 1: so she buys either Monday's or Fridays, and we usually
Speaker 1: picked the meal that we think she's gonna enjoy the
Speaker 1: most based on those days. It's one fewer day that
Speaker 1: that we have to pack a lunch for, which just
Speaker 1: kind of makes it easier to get out the door
Speaker 1: in the morning. But for the most part, we're packing
Speaker 1: lunches because it's way cheaper. Yeah, well, that's that's where
Speaker 1: we are with it. We feel like that it's frugal
Speaker 1: because otherwise we're spending four times flasts or twenty bucks
Speaker 1: four weeks a month. You're looking at eighty bucks just
Speaker 1: for lunches, just for one kid. And I don't know,
Speaker 1: part of that is we can't really get around and
Speaker 1: like we know our lunches are just as nutritious, But
Speaker 1: there's just I guess the fun aspect of it that
Speaker 1: we feel we're sort of depriving heavy of a little bit.
Speaker 1: And I mean basically, she just wants to be able
Speaker 1: to like eat pancakes when they have pancake Day, or
Speaker 1: like French toast, right, you know, Yeah, that's definitely the
Speaker 1: one you should let her have. And so I didn't
Speaker 1: know you guys actually did that. I didn't know you
Speaker 1: you did one day a week thing. And I think
Speaker 1: we might start looking ahead to the lunch menu and
Speaker 1: maybe when there's a day in particular that sounds extra delicious,
Speaker 1: maybe we'll start allowing that. You know, it's cool, Matt.
Speaker 1: You can actually ask if you have an Amazon Alexa device,
Speaker 1: you can ask it to read the cool lunch for
Speaker 1: our school. Someone told me that I heard that recently
Speaker 1: as well. You know what else you can ask Alexa
Speaker 1: to do? Play our podcast, can you really? Yeah, you
Speaker 1: can say Alexa, play How to Money and it'll it
Speaker 1: will happen. So, by the way, if anyone's listening to
Speaker 1: us right now and they have an Alexa in the room,
Speaker 1: Alexa probably just played our podcast because I said, alright, Matt,
Speaker 1: so real quick, let's tell everybody. The beer we're drinking
Speaker 1: on the show today another beer from rhein Geist. Our
Speaker 1: friend Natalie, who works at Ryan Guys, sent us a
Speaker 1: couple of bottles, and so today on the show, we're
Speaker 1: drinking a barrel aged Imperial stout called Ink. And I
Speaker 1: was looking at the bottle. Man, I love how they
Speaker 1: got this little skull. They've got like a droplet I
Speaker 1: assume of little beer dripping down from a barrel. A
Speaker 1: little droplet has a little skull designed into it makes
Speaker 1: it look hardcore. It's like a mixture of hardcore and Q. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's so small, it's pretty cute. Yeah. I just
Speaker 1: took a sip. This is good and I can't wait
Speaker 1: to delve into our full thoughts at the end of
Speaker 1: the show. But for now, let's get into the topic
Speaker 1: of hand. What to do before you buy a house?
Speaker 1: And Matt back in the episode thirty of the show,
Speaker 1: we discussed by buying a home is typically a terrible investment.
Speaker 1: And so if you're thinking about buying a home, oh man,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be a great investment, and this is
Speaker 1: gonna be good for me financially over the long haul.
Speaker 1: Well that's likely not the case. And if you want
Speaker 1: to know more about that, go back and listen to
Speaker 1: episode thirty. But for so many of us, buying a
Speaker 1: home has large appeal for so many other reasons besides
Speaker 1: just being a quote unquote investment. Right, So, how do
Speaker 1: you buy a home intelligently? In light of the fact
Speaker 1: that buying a home might not necessarily be the smartest
Speaker 1: financial decision, but it is a decision that many of
Speaker 1: us choose to make for so many other reasons. The
Speaker 1: other thing, too, is that it's just such a huge
Speaker 1: deal to buy a house, right, Like it's intimidating and
Speaker 1: it's a big deal, and it's because it costs a
Speaker 1: ton of money. This isn't a purchase that we make
Speaker 1: frequently at all. You know, unless you're getting an fh
Speaker 1: J loan, you've gotta put down like twenty for down payment,
Speaker 1: and that is a huge amount of money. Last year,
Speaker 1: the median home prices in the US were over three
Speaker 1: thousand dollars, So we're talking at least sixty thou dollars
Speaker 1: that you've got to put down, not including as in
Speaker 1: costs or anything else associated with a move. And because
Speaker 1: this isn't a purchase that we make all the time,
Speaker 1: we're just less familiar with the process. Like even if
Speaker 1: this was something that we did annually, like home buyers
Speaker 1: might feel a little bit more comfortable, But the fact
Speaker 1: is that's not the case. And so I'm glad that
Speaker 1: this is something that we're tackling. I think we've got
Speaker 1: a lot of homebuyers out there, especially a lot of
Speaker 1: first time homebuyers, and with us being the Spring, that's
Speaker 1: a hot time to buy a house for sure. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no doubt. So where do you even begin, right finding
Speaker 1: an agent bruising Zillo. Nope, that's definitely not where you
Speaker 1: want to start. The first thing you need to do
Speaker 1: is take stock of your situation, your personal situation. Buying
Speaker 1: is only going to be a decent move if you
Speaker 1: plan on living in that home for seven years or longer.
Speaker 1: And if you can't make that kind of time commitment,
Speaker 1: it's almost always a bad financial move to buy a house.
Speaker 1: In that case, you're better off renting or you're gonna
Speaker 1: lose money typically when you sell, because of the transaction
Speaker 1: costs involved in buying and selling real estate. Sorry, Joe,
Speaker 1: this reminds me of episode fifteen, So even further back,
Speaker 1: we talked about renting versus buying and if you are
Speaker 1: sort of on the fence of whether you should maybe
Speaker 1: continue renting or maybe this is time for you to buy.
Speaker 1: This is sort of back in the old days when
Speaker 1: Joel and I are recording, But go back and listen
Speaker 1: to that episode. We we we talked about a lot of
Speaker 1: important things that you want to consider when it comes
Speaker 1: to renting versus buying a house. And so after the break,
Speaker 1: we're specifically going to talk about how you should be
Speaker 1: thinking about purchasing a home, like what is the mindset
Speaker 1: that you should have, And we're also going to spend
Speaker 1: a good amount of time talking about financing because that
Speaker 1: is a very important part of buying a house. Game changer.
Speaker 1: All right, Joe, let's go ahead and kick this thing off. Man.
Speaker 1: You know, if it turns out that you are ready
Speaker 1: to go ahead and buy a house, we've got a
Speaker 1: solid order of approach that we think that everyone should follow.
Speaker 1: First of all, make sure that you're spending a lot
Speaker 1: of time thinking about where it is that you want
Speaker 1: to live. And especially if you're moving to a new place,
Speaker 1: this specific location that you're possibly moving to could make
Speaker 1: or break things for you. You know, it could mean
Speaker 1: maybe a longer commute for you, or it could mean
Speaker 1: a short, simple bike ride. And you can even mean
Speaker 1: higher taxes versus lower taxes. You know, if you're in
Speaker 1: an area that is maybe more affluence and the home
Speaker 1: values are much higher, you're gonna see a bigger tax
Speaker 1: bill every single year. Yeah, man, I feel like people
Speaker 1: often don't spend enough time on the front end thinking
Speaker 1: about the specific location they want to live in. They
Speaker 1: maybe draw too big of an outline around where they're
Speaker 1: willing to live and they cast in it too wide,
Speaker 1: and because of that, they're not focused enough on a
Speaker 1: specific neighborhood or location. They don't figure out the specific
Speaker 1: place where they do want to live. And especially if
Speaker 1: you're moving to a new place and you're planning on
Speaker 1: buying right away, if you haven't done your research, you
Speaker 1: might end up buying a place where the location just
Speaker 1: doesn't work well for you, your family, your commute right.
Speaker 1: And renting, well, that's not that big of a deal.
Speaker 1: You live there for a year, you move on to
Speaker 1: the next place. If you just move on, yeah, But
Speaker 1: if you buy something, man, that's a huge pain. The
Speaker 1: transaction costs are huge that and that's why we mentioned
Speaker 1: before the break living in a place for seven years
Speaker 1: potentially that sounds like a long time, and it is
Speaker 1: a long time. But the transaction costs are killer in
Speaker 1: real estate. It can make or break the home purchase.
Speaker 1: Even if your home appreciates over time, you could still
Speaker 1: end up having to bring money to the closing table
Speaker 1: if you're only in there for three or four or
Speaker 1: even five years, which is kind of I guess been
Speaker 1: what financial experts traditionally say how long you should be
Speaker 1: in a house. So considering that location, spending more time
Speaker 1: on the front end, making sure that that location is
Speaker 1: exactly where you want to be. It's worth that due
Speaker 1: diligence because it could save you a lot of money
Speaker 1: in the long run. And the next thing you want
Speaker 1: to make sure that you're considering is the size of
Speaker 1: the house and the different amenities that you're wanting. You know,
Speaker 1: there's a balance between having enough house now and then
Speaker 1: looking ahead to your likely needs in the future, like
Speaker 1: three hot tubs. I need three hot tubs in the
Speaker 1: future need them all. As we recently covered, renovating is
Speaker 1: really expensive, So you want to have enough house now. However,
Speaker 1: you also don't want to pay tons of money just
Speaker 1: to have some extre amenities that you rarely use. Right
Speaker 1: If you consider often you use that guest bedroom, where
Speaker 1: that guest bath. After doing the math, that could be
Speaker 1: the equivalent of paying five hundred to a thousand dollars
Speaker 1: a night if you're only using those amenities just a
Speaker 1: few times a year. Yeah, so it might be better
Speaker 1: for you to be a little more generous and put
Speaker 1: up your friend or your family in uh nearby hotel
Speaker 1: as opposed to putting them up in your own house,
Speaker 1: having a smaller house, which means right lower monthly out
Speaker 1: of pocket expenses. It all just really depends on your
Speaker 1: situation and what you prioritize. And also now is the
Speaker 1: time to start thinking about your credit. You know, if
Speaker 1: you kind of have had some things in your credit,
Speaker 1: now is when you're gonna want to start having that
Speaker 1: cleaned up and making sure that you qualify for the
Speaker 1: best rates, because having a credit score a hundred points
Speaker 1: lower than what it actually could be could and up
Speaker 1: constion you tons of money down the road, and I'm
Speaker 1: talking thousands and thousands of dollars if you don't have
Speaker 1: to qualify for the best product. Yeah, Matt. On episode ten,
Speaker 1: we talked about how to improve your credit score, gave
Speaker 1: you kind of some tips and tricks. One thing you're
Speaker 1: gonna want to stay away from is anyone who says
Speaker 1: pay me money and I'll help you clean up your
Speaker 1: credit score. That is a no no, because those people
Speaker 1: often are gonna take your money and not help you
Speaker 1: very much. But it's definitely of utmost importance to make
Speaker 1: sure that your credit score is in tip top shape
Speaker 1: because the ultimate terms that you're gonna get from a lender, well,
Speaker 1: your credit score is going to be a huge factor
Speaker 1: in how good those terms are. And so thinking about
Speaker 1: your credit score now and how much you can boost
Speaker 1: it by doing some of the things we've talked about
Speaker 1: in that episode, that is going to make a huge
Speaker 1: difference in the rate that you end up getting and
Speaker 1: ultimately what you're out of pocket is every month on
Speaker 1: that new home purchase. That's right. Once you've done all
Speaker 1: those things, now is the time to start looking around
Speaker 1: and seeing if the different things that you value in
Speaker 1: a home, if those things fit within your budget, and
Speaker 1: if they're realistic. These days, almost all home searches begin
Speaker 1: on the internet, right, whether it be through Zillo, which
Speaker 1: is my favorite, or Redfin. I like red Finn, do
Speaker 1: you really, Yeah, that's my favorite. But even just with
Speaker 1: Google stree view, you can see so much of a
Speaker 1: house in this rounding area. You know, with satellite view
Speaker 1: you can see what green spaces and parks there are
Speaker 1: close by by, kind of zooming out a little bit.
Speaker 1: There's a lot you can do remotely before even leaving
Speaker 1: your house. The only downside, though, is that if you
Speaker 1: get your heart set on a certain size home or
Speaker 1: part of town that you can't actually afford in right, Like,
Speaker 1: so you started looking and you realize that, like, oh wow,
Speaker 1: in reality, I can't afford where I want to actually live,
Speaker 1: you might be tempted to increase your budget. And so
Speaker 1: if you know that that's sort of how you operate,
Speaker 1: and if that's you, we would recommend to start with
Speaker 1: your budget and then limits your options based on what
Speaker 1: you can afford. And we're gonna get to that in
Speaker 1: just one second. But I did want to say that everybody,
Speaker 1: no matter what your price point is, everybody has kind
Speaker 1: of a dream home. Everybody has a thought of the
Speaker 1: place that they want to live, and the reality of
Speaker 1: the budget never matches up to exactly what we want.
Speaker 1: Right those three hot tubs I mentioned, Matt, I didn't
Speaker 1: get them. I don't even have one hot tub, and
Speaker 1: it's a huge bummer. I'm not gonna lie at one
Speaker 1: of these days hot tub. It's in the car day.
Speaker 1: But everybody has to make trade offs, and so just
Speaker 1: make sure before you start looking super hard and getting
Speaker 1: your heart set on things that are budget breakers, that
Speaker 1: you've kind of dialed in a dose of realism of
Speaker 1: what you can actually afford. And one of the ways
Speaker 1: that you can do that is by actually touring some
Speaker 1: homes before you're actually in the market to buy, to
Speaker 1: do some walkthroughs and see, Okay, if I really want
Speaker 1: this kind of house, I might have to move to
Speaker 1: a neighborhood that isn't exactly where I wanted to be,
Speaker 1: or man, if the neighborhood location is the most important
Speaker 1: factor for me, you know what, I might have to
Speaker 1: live in a smaller house. And those are the kind
Speaker 1: of trade offs that in all likelihood you are going
Speaker 1: to have to make. None of us get that exact
Speaker 1: perfect dream home that we want, And so touring homes
Speaker 1: that are on the market during this phase can be
Speaker 1: just kind of really helpful to setting some realistic expectations
Speaker 1: before you're even in the market. Rajeel, And again, the
Speaker 1: goal here is to initially figure out what your ballpark
Speaker 1: figures are of what you can afford. Like you said,
Speaker 1: maybe after seeing the costs, you might realize that you
Speaker 1: can't actually afford in that area that you want, or
Speaker 1: maybe after realizing that you actually need down, you realize
Speaker 1: you need to say for another year, Like, that's a
Speaker 1: lot of money, and that that's sort of like the
Speaker 1: information gathering stage of house purchasing, thinking a lot about it,
Speaker 1: seeing what's out there, getting a field for the different
Speaker 1: neighborhoods you want to do, all of this before you
Speaker 1: actually start taking what we'd call real steps towards purchasing
Speaker 1: a home. Okay, real steps though, getting financing right. That's
Speaker 1: a huge important step, and I gotta be honest, it's
Speaker 1: the step that people usually skip. They usually call on
Speaker 1: one lender, maybe two, but often the due diligence and
Speaker 1: the research uh that people give to getting financing is
Speaker 1: way less than they need to and it ends up
Speaker 1: costing them a lot of money. So let's go over that.
Speaker 1: A general rule that you should think about when getting
Speaker 1: financing for a home is that you should strongly consider
Speaker 1: not taking out a loan that is more than three
Speaker 1: times your income. And you know what a lender might say, No,
Speaker 1: it's totally okay. You qualify for a loan that is
Speaker 1: five times your income or sick times your income, Like, no,
Speaker 1: you bother you got this, you can make it happen.
Speaker 1: It's okay. You know what, don't listen to them. Listening
Speaker 1: to your lender as opposed to reason in this case
Speaker 1: is a recipe for being house poor, for buying something
Speaker 1: that you truly can't afford, and if something unexpected happens,
Speaker 1: you might not be able to afford that mortgage payment.
Speaker 1: So sticking to that rule of three times your income
Speaker 1: as the maximum purchase price for a house makes sense
Speaker 1: in our opinion. And another rule of thumb that we've
Speaker 1: practiced is that your mortgage payment should not be more
Speaker 1: than of your take home pay. I think that might
Speaker 1: be a somewhat more lenient view towards towards your home,
Speaker 1: and I think that's okay as well, right, Like, it's
Speaker 1: okay to have these different rules of thumb. Ask you
Speaker 1: how much your your housing costs are, because it kind
Speaker 1: of comes down to what you value and what you
Speaker 1: want to prioritize. I know, for Kate, and this is
Speaker 1: literally a discussion that we've had before. We've said, do
Speaker 1: we want to spend more than maybe we should on
Speaker 1: our housing? And we've identified the fact that with a
Speaker 1: bunch of young kids like we spend a lot of
Speaker 1: time at home. We value our time at home, Like
Speaker 1: both Kate and I are both homebodies, and so that's
Speaker 1: something that we've intentionally pursued and we know that we're
Speaker 1: more comfortable spending maybe a little bit more on our
Speaker 1: house And that's okay as long as you have proactively
Speaker 1: identify that as something that you do want to pursue.
Speaker 1: And so whatever your guidelines, you just want to make
Speaker 1: sure that you're not spending too much on housing then
Speaker 1: you can afford. And for you, in particular, Matt, housing
Speaker 1: is also actually you know where you do your work
Speaker 1: and so you home office as well. Yeah, so it's
Speaker 1: got a dual purpose. I will say though, there was
Speaker 1: a stat I saw recently almost fifteen percent of Americans
Speaker 1: spend over fifty percent of their income on housing. Jeez,
Speaker 1: that's a lot. Yeah, that's an awful place to be.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, we just don't want you to be
Speaker 1: in a place of weakness when it comes to buying
Speaker 1: a home. And if you're in a situation obviously a
Speaker 1: mortgage lender typically isn't going to allow you to get
Speaker 1: into that kind of space. But you know what, if
Speaker 1: you follow what a lender tells you can afford. There's
Speaker 1: a good chance that you're going to get into a
Speaker 1: position where you can't afford your mortgage with a comfortable
Speaker 1: level of say means and investing at the same time.
Speaker 1: And that's not the place that we want you to be.
Speaker 1: We want you to be in a place of strength
Speaker 1: in housing. And if that means you need to look
Speaker 1: at buying in a different neighborhood or look at buying
Speaker 1: a smaller home, we think that's a trade off you
Speaker 1: need to be willing to consider, because being house port
Speaker 1: is no fun. Oh, Joel. Also, financing, like, we didn't
Speaker 1: really define it, and I think most people know what
Speaker 1: financing is, but that's just sort of a fancy term
Speaker 1: for how you're going to pay for your house unless
Speaker 1: you have cash to buy your home. And if you
Speaker 1: do have cash to purchase your home, you probably know
Speaker 1: what financing is and you reach spollars. But but yeah, basically,
Speaker 1: pretty much everyone is going to be financing their home
Speaker 1: and that just means getting alone for the purchase of
Speaker 1: that home. And when it comes to getting that financing
Speaker 1: or getting that loan for your house, well, credit unions
Speaker 1: are a great place to start. So if you're not
Speaker 1: a member of a local credit union, we would encourage
Speaker 1: you to go join one and make sure you're shopping
Speaker 1: rates with the credit union that you're a member of.
Speaker 1: Also consider contacting a mortgage broker in your area. They
Speaker 1: often have access to a whole slew of lenders and
Speaker 1: so they can help you find some of the best
Speaker 1: rates available on the market. Ultimately, you're gonna want to
Speaker 1: make sure you go with a lender that has experience
Speaker 1: and that can close quickly. Lenders that have a solid
Speaker 1: reputation that have been doing it for years. You can
Speaker 1: just feel a lot more comfortable with that and closing quickly. Well,
Speaker 1: that's just going to allow you to take advantage of
Speaker 1: some of the best housing deals that you find. And
Speaker 1: we mentioned financing and when making sure you have that
Speaker 1: lined up before you even seriously start looking at houses,
Speaker 1: And that's a big reason why I Joel like you
Speaker 1: want to have financing in place. That way, when it
Speaker 1: does come time to look at houses, you can pounce.
Speaker 1: You can move quickly because in hot real estate markets
Speaker 1: where sellers just have tons of buyers coming to them,
Speaker 1: they're gonna typically go with whoever can come to them.
Speaker 1: The quickest with the best offer, and so you may
Speaker 1: not be able to show up with the best offer,
Speaker 1: but you can definitely get your foot in the door.
Speaker 1: You can have a leg up if you can turn
Speaker 1: it around quickly and you've got your ducks all in
Speaker 1: a row and real quick as well. Joel, you mentioned
Speaker 1: credit unions. This might be helpful for our listeners. But
Speaker 1: so credit unions are essentially the same as banks, right
Speaker 1: like they they all offer savings and checking accounts and
Speaker 1: offer loans whatnot. But credit unions are nonprofit and typically
Speaker 1: offer better rates. And then you've got mortgage lenders, and
Speaker 1: they typically will be faster and more streamline since they're
Speaker 1: only in the business of making loans. Often times they
Speaker 1: end up selling your mortgage to a bank, typically to
Speaker 1: one of the big ones, and you know the big
Speaker 1: bank will be the ones that end up servicing your loan.
Speaker 1: And then, Joel, you know you already mentioned brokers, but
Speaker 1: they kind of shop around for you and they might
Speaker 1: be a great fit for you, in particular if you're
Speaker 1: self employed or if you have a unique buying situation.
Speaker 1: They're aware of the different products that are out there
Speaker 1: and might be able to sort of custom fit something
Speaker 1: more to to you and your needs, and and they
Speaker 1: get paid either directly by the lender or a lot
Speaker 1: of times, uh, their fees are baked directly into your rate.
Speaker 1: I know, for like Kate and I specifically, we maybe
Speaker 1: should have considered a broker early on, like when we
Speaker 1: got our first house, because we had only been in
Speaker 1: business for one year and because of that, we got
Speaker 1: stuck with a terrible adjustable rate mortgage that we had
Speaker 1: to refinance just a few years later, and that costs
Speaker 1: a lot of money. Yeah, So if you don't have
Speaker 1: a credit union and you're in the market for a house,
Speaker 1: will go to n c U. A will put a
Speaker 1: link to that in the show notes. That's gonna be
Speaker 1: the website where you can find a local credit union
Speaker 1: in your area. And so be sure to shop shop Shop.
Speaker 1: You're gonna want to get three to five quotes minimum.
Speaker 1: So many people Matt, like I mentioned quickly earlier, skip
Speaker 1: this step, and you know what, it ends up costing
Speaker 1: them thousands, if not potentially tens of thousands of dollars
Speaker 1: over the long run. And it's not usually the closing
Speaker 1: costs that are the biggest difference, although that can be
Speaker 1: you know, a few thousand dollars even in difference between
Speaker 1: different lenders. Often it's gonna be that slight difference in
Speaker 1: interest rate combined with those closing costs that can cost
Speaker 1: you tens of thousands of dollars depending on the price
Speaker 1: of your home. So you're gonna want to make sure
Speaker 1: you get a couple quotes from credit unions, a mortgage broker, involved,
Speaker 1: a local lender, and online lender, Like, you're gonna want
Speaker 1: to kind of run the gamut. You're gonna want to
Speaker 1: get a lot of quotes so that you can bring
Speaker 1: them to the table, look at the apples to poles
Speaker 1: comparisons and go with the lender that has the best
Speaker 1: overall package for you. Yeah, and the actual document man
Speaker 1: that you're gonna want to use to compare those apples
Speaker 1: to apples is the loan estimate documents. It's gonna have
Speaker 1: your points on there, your interest rate, your closing costs,
Speaker 1: just everything that you're gonna want to take into account
Speaker 1: when it comes to shopping the different lenders. And Matt
Speaker 1: just mentioned getting an adjustable rate mortgage when he bought
Speaker 1: his first house, we would highly advise against getting an
Speaker 1: adjustable rate mortgage. Had they suck. Yeah, that can lead
Speaker 1: to a lot of problems down the road. And so
Speaker 1: the thirty year fixed is kind of the standard in lending.
Speaker 1: That's kind of what most lenders are going to steer
Speaker 1: you towards, and it's also one of the best products
Speaker 1: on the market. But you should challenge yourself to consider
Speaker 1: a fifteen year or a twenty year mortgage if your
Speaker 1: lender offers it, and almost every lender offers at least
Speaker 1: a fifteen year. If you can barely afford the thirty
Speaker 1: year payment, though, you should really question whether or not
Speaker 1: you can afford the home. It's worth looking at the
Speaker 1: fifteen and twenty year mortgage options to see if one
Speaker 1: of the can fit in your life. If they can,
Speaker 1: you're gonna get a lower interest rate, and you're going
Speaker 1: to obviously be paying on your loan for a lot
Speaker 1: less years. The trade off is that you'll be paying
Speaker 1: more every month towards the price of your house. But
Speaker 1: if you can't make a fifteen or twenty year mortgage
Speaker 1: work for you, a thirty year mortgage is a great
Speaker 1: way to go. Just make sure that you can easily
Speaker 1: afford that thirty year mortgage payment in your monthly budget.
Speaker 1: Yea man. The reason for that is because you just
Speaker 1: want to have margin in your life. When you own
Speaker 1: a home, there are a lot of things that can
Speaker 1: go wrong. There's a roof, there's electrical there's furnaces, there's
Speaker 1: just all sorts of systems and plus a lot of
Speaker 1: times you just want to spend money on your house.
Speaker 1: Typically homes are maybe a little bit larger than the
Speaker 1: space that you've been renting, and so there are just
Speaker 1: other expenses that you want to make sure that you're
Speaker 1: easily able to pay. And if the monthly mortgage payment
Speaker 1: is equivalent to what you're paying in rent depending on
Speaker 1: your income, that's potentially a red alert because when you
Speaker 1: were renting, you weren't having to pay for any sort
Speaker 1: of upkeep, and on our new home, guess what upkeep
Speaker 1: is your responsibility. So unless you could easily afford them
Speaker 1: out that you were paying in rent, you're gonna want
Speaker 1: to find a house that provides you with a monthly
Speaker 1: mortgage payment that actually comes in at less than what
Speaker 1: you're paying in rent. And as far as upkeep and maintenance,
Speaker 1: jool like most experts say to expect to pay one
Speaker 1: percent of the cost of your home. And so you know,
Speaker 1: earlier I mentioned that the median price of homes in
Speaker 1: the in the United States last year was over three
Speaker 1: hundred thousand. That means you're looking at spending three thousand
Speaker 1: dollars additional every year just to maintain your home. And
Speaker 1: while we're on the topic of percentages, make sure that
Speaker 1: you have enough for down payment. You know, if you
Speaker 1: don't have at least five percent down you probably shouldn't
Speaker 1: be shopping around for a home is best you're gonna
Speaker 1: be able to get the best rates. There are some
Speaker 1: products out there that allow you to put down less.
Speaker 1: You're looking at three and a half percent for an
Speaker 1: f h A loan, for a v A loan, even
Speaker 1: zero percent. The fact is those don't put you in
Speaker 1: a strong position. Doesn't put you in a strong position
Speaker 1: when it comes to the equity that you have in
Speaker 1: the home, but also when it comes to trying to
Speaker 1: purchase that home and make offers, those products just don't
Speaker 1: look quite as strong. And we'll get more into that
Speaker 1: next week. Actually, yeah, Matt, and I think if you're
Speaker 1: bringing less down payment to the table, you need to
Speaker 1: actually be willing to stay in the home even longer.
Speaker 1: Forget seven years, how about ten right or the rest
Speaker 1: of your life? Right? No, but seriously, because if you're
Speaker 1: putting down on a home and you stay there for
Speaker 1: five years, the chances of you selling your home and
Speaker 1: going to the closing table and having to write a
Speaker 1: check are are highly unlikely. But if you buy a
Speaker 1: house with zero percent down with the v A loan
Speaker 1: or three and a half percent down with an f
Speaker 1: h A loan, and you're only there for four or
Speaker 1: five years, the chances of you having to write a
Speaker 1: check at the closing table, well they're pretty high, and
Speaker 1: you might not have the money to cover it. And
Speaker 1: so if you are going to come to the table
Speaker 1: with less money down, which I don't think it's the
Speaker 1: end of the world. Necessarily, it helps get a lot
Speaker 1: of people in a home that they really want. Just
Speaker 1: consider how long are you going to be in the home,
Speaker 1: and you might need to just extend that timeline in
Speaker 1: order to make it work. Yeah, So we're gonna talk
Speaker 1: specifically about the different fee ease and costs associated with
Speaker 1: purchasing a house next week. But right after the break,
Speaker 1: we're gonna cover your new best friend who's gonna save
Speaker 1: you tons of money your realtor. M all right, Matt,
Speaker 1: let's talk realtors. It turns out most people find a
Speaker 1: realtor from their cousins, best friend or Facebook or something
Speaker 1: like that, right, And that's just not the best way
Speaker 1: to find a realtor in your area. And I said
Speaker 1: in your area, because it's really important to find someone
Speaker 1: who specializes in the neighborhood or town where you live.
Speaker 1: An agent with experience and connections is priceless. They know
Speaker 1: the ropes, they know the system, they know the people.
Speaker 1: And so one way to find that right agent is
Speaker 1: looking at for sale signs of homes that are for
Speaker 1: sale in your target area. If you see the same
Speaker 1: agent on lots of them, that's a great agent to
Speaker 1: consider asking to represent you in the home buying process.
Speaker 1: The same thing applies when you're looking at listings online.
Speaker 1: If you see that same name popping up over and
Speaker 1: over at homes that you're interested in, they're probably a
Speaker 1: great choice to be your representative agent as a buyer. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, man, When you have a great realtor who
Speaker 1: is focused and specialized in a specific area, there's a
Speaker 1: good chance they'll know of deals even before they even
Speaker 1: hit MLS and before they go public, there is a
Speaker 1: chance that you can get a really great deal. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Those are called pocket listings. And by the way, you
Speaker 1: just mentioned MLS, that's the Multiple Listing Service and that's
Speaker 1: where pretty much everybody who wants to sell a house
Speaker 1: list their home. If you're for sale by owner, it's
Speaker 1: harder to get your home on the MLS. But the
Speaker 1: MLS that's like the holy Grail. You have to have
Speaker 1: your home on there in order to get maximum exposure
Speaker 1: to all the buyers that you want to potentially reach.
Speaker 1: It's like Apple Podcasts for podcasts. Right. If your podcast
Speaker 1: ain't there, ain't nobody listening, right. But also keep in
Speaker 1: mind too that the Internet is honestly changing what it
Speaker 1: looks like to go and look at homes with your realtor,
Speaker 1: like it used to be back in the day that
Speaker 1: your realtor would send you maybe six or seven, you know,
Speaker 1: homes that they've handpicked, and you get to go and
Speaker 1: you tour them and you decide is this one gonna
Speaker 1: be nice? Maybe it will, maybe it won't. But it
Speaker 1: was kind of time consuming, kind of old school. Did
Speaker 1: you do that with your first house? Oh? Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: there was a lot of Saturday driving around with my realtor,
Speaker 1: which is fascinating because now I feel like so much
Speaker 1: of the process is shouldered by the buyer. Yeah, which
Speaker 1: is good though, I think because it's completely Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: more efficient, and because there are tools out there now
Speaker 1: that allow the buyers to have more autonomy to search
Speaker 1: and to make their own filters and to create their
Speaker 1: own criteria to find the home themselves. And what that
Speaker 1: means though, is that you plan to meet at the
Speaker 1: house with your realtor, but you don't have to drive
Speaker 1: around in their car while, you know, making awkward conversations. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And so you mentioned that sometimes realtors who specialized in
Speaker 1: the neighborhood might have access to what are called pocket listings,
Speaker 1: and that means that they hear about something that's going
Speaker 1: to come up for sale or something that's just kind
Speaker 1: of on the d L there on the inside, and
Speaker 1: they know what's coming up. And so it's good to
Speaker 1: have an agent who is connected, who's well connected, and
Speaker 1: who has access to pocket listings like that. So, for example, Matt,
Speaker 1: I've got a real estate agent. She's the best. Typically
Speaker 1: I'm searching on my own on the MLS for properties
Speaker 1: that interests me. But if a pocket listing comes up
Speaker 1: that she hears about that fits my parameters, she knows
Speaker 1: what I'm looking for, she will send it to me
Speaker 1: and she'll say, hey, I know that you're in the
Speaker 1: market for this kind of property. Does this interest you.
Speaker 1: This is coming up on the market in a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks, and I know about it ahead of time,
Speaker 1: so we can get in ahead of other potential buyers
Speaker 1: by being quick and jumping on it now. And so
Speaker 1: that's one of the benefits that having an experienced agent
Speaker 1: can offer you. In addition, I feel like an experienced
Speaker 1: agent helps you with the negotiation process. And I know
Speaker 1: that potential homebuyers might be a little more apprehensive to
Speaker 1: a realtor taking kind of a bite out of the
Speaker 1: pie taking a percentage fee. And we'll talk about this
Speaker 1: more next week. But having a great agent is similar
Speaker 1: to having a great lawyer in a court of law.
Speaker 1: They're going to help you in the negotiation process. And
Speaker 1: in all honesty, I've had great agents that have saved
Speaker 1: me more than the fee that they're taking. So don't
Speaker 1: cheap out on an agent. Find a good one. And
Speaker 1: we've already mentioned Zillo, right that's my favorite, Joel, you
Speaker 1: mentioned Redfinn, how that's your favorite. They are amazing tools,
Speaker 1: and they allow homebuyers to do a ton of research
Speaker 1: on their own. It allows them to really get to
Speaker 1: know a neighborhood and familiarize themselves with what an area
Speaker 1: has to offer. However, don't neglect to actually go visit
Speaker 1: and go drive around the streets in person. There's so
Speaker 1: much that you can gather from just being there as
Speaker 1: a human being. Yeah, and you're gonna want to drive
Speaker 1: those streets not only during the day, but at night too,
Speaker 1: because some neighborhoods, I don't know where you live, but
Speaker 1: but where we live, neighborhoods can change from day to evening,
Speaker 1: and so driving by at different times of day can
Speaker 1: help you get a better feel for the neighborhood. And
Speaker 1: not only different times during the day as well, man,
Speaker 1: but just on the weekends too. So by checking it
Speaker 1: out on the weekend as well, just drive by and
Speaker 1: see what's going on over there. That's an awesome way
Speaker 1: to get a feel for the community. And you can
Speaker 1: also do something that I like to call the wave test,
Speaker 1: which is when you're driving around in an area that
Speaker 1: you're scoping out, you know, have your window down hopefully
Speaker 1: it's not too bitterly cold. And then when you see
Speaker 1: someone kind of walking on the street or hanging out
Speaker 1: on the front porch, just wave at them. What you
Speaker 1: get to do is you get to see how friendly
Speaker 1: they are and if they just kind of stare at
Speaker 1: you and glare well, I don't know, maybe this isn't
Speaker 1: the best street, or or maybe they're just having a
Speaker 1: bad day. I don't know. Is there like a percentage
Speaker 1: of waivers that you're looking for in a neighborhood to
Speaker 1: determine whether it's worth buying a house in or not.
Speaker 1: Like in general, I am looking for folks that are
Speaker 1: just happy to see me. Right, Like if everyone that
Speaker 1: you wave two just stares at you and they're wondering
Speaker 1: why it is that you're waving at them, It's like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I want to live somewhere that's friendlier.
Speaker 1: I want to live on a friendly street, And for
Speaker 1: me personally, that's something I value. I like it. The
Speaker 1: wave test. Yeah, another important thing to do, Matt. Not
Speaker 1: only perusing Zillo and redfin right, more weeks and months
Speaker 1: you spend on those sites, perusing homes and neighborhoods. It's
Speaker 1: it's gonna help you. But it's also important for people
Speaker 1: to take a look at a lot of homes in person,
Speaker 1: especially for first time homebuyers. This is the largest purchase
Speaker 1: you're gonna make potentially in your life. So do the research,
Speaker 1: and not only the online research, but the more homes
Speaker 1: that you see in person, you're gonna start to see
Speaker 1: the corks the different homes present. If you look at
Speaker 1: three homes before you make an offer, you're just in
Speaker 1: a much inferior position to someone who's looked at fifty
Speaker 1: homes before they make an offer. You just have a
Speaker 1: whole lot more idea of what you're getting into if
Speaker 1: you've looked at a much larger percentage of homes. Yeah, Joe,
Speaker 1: I love that you said first time home buyers as well,
Speaker 1: because I know for Kate and I as first time
Speaker 1: home buyers, it took us a while to figure out
Speaker 1: what it was exactly that we were looking for, Like
Speaker 1: it took us looking at ten houses before we realized that, like, oh,
Speaker 1: we're looking for a bungalow, We're looking for a front porch,
Speaker 1: Like that's the kind of home, that's the kind of
Speaker 1: vibe that we're looking for, and because we have never
Speaker 1: owned a home, we didn't quite know how to verbalize
Speaker 1: that to our realtor. And she didn't know because she's
Speaker 1: just like, well, this is how much she said you
Speaker 1: could spend, and this is these are the areas that
Speaker 1: I know you can afford it. I fitted in your parameters.
Speaker 1: I don't understand. But what we didn't realize was that, oh,
Speaker 1: we're looking for a front porch, and typically bungalows have
Speaker 1: a front porch, and typically you can find in these
Speaker 1: nineties bungalows in these types of neighborhoods. For first time
Speaker 1: home buyers, it's I think it's really important to look
Speaker 1: at as many homes as possible. And also when you're
Speaker 1: looking at these different homes, make sure you're taking lots
Speaker 1: of pictures, especially of sort of like the weird things, right,
Speaker 1: the different quirks, the things that aren't in the pictures
Speaker 1: of the listings, because the listing photos they look really
Speaker 1: good because they're taken by a professional real estate photographer
Speaker 1: and they're made to make that house look as large
Speaker 1: as possible, uh, while excluding all the different oddities. And
Speaker 1: so by taking pictures and even jotting down a few
Speaker 1: notes will help you to remember these different homes, and
Speaker 1: that might also help you to remember the different feelings
Speaker 1: that you had when you went into these homes, because
Speaker 1: you know, if you're looking at maybe three or four,
Speaker 1: maybe five homes in a row, a lot of times
Speaker 1: they can kind of blur together. And sure you can
Speaker 1: go back and look at the pictures, but having some
Speaker 1: additional photos on your phone is an awesome way to
Speaker 1: sort of document the weirdness of that particular house. Yeah, Matt,
Speaker 1: speaking of quirky things, I think, especially a lot of
Speaker 1: first time HomeBuyer, but homebuyers in general, they kind of
Speaker 1: want that fully put together home, right, and the fully
Speaker 1: put together home can have a couple of issues with it. One,
Speaker 1: it can be prohibitively expensive to have the home that
Speaker 1: has like granite countertops and everything is completely finished properly.
Speaker 1: And the other thing is maybe it can look slick
Speaker 1: on the outside, but beneath nothing's really been replaced. There's
Speaker 1: old electrical, there's old plumbing, and so it can look
Speaker 1: good to the naked eye, but down deep, that house
Speaker 1: has a lot of potential issues with it. And so, yeah,
Speaker 1: do you have thoughts on what people should be looking
Speaker 1: for when they're buying a house, when it comes to
Speaker 1: finishes and curb appeal. Yeah, well, I mean in regards
Speaker 1: to like the specific systems, right Like, we're gonna talk
Speaker 1: a lot about that. Next week. We're gonna talk about inspections.
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about the specific steps that you want
Speaker 1: to say when it comes to actually purchasing a home,
Speaker 1: the things that you can't see. But I want to
Speaker 1: encourage folks to not be afraid to look at ugly houses.
Speaker 1: Like you said, a lot of times we're sort of
Speaker 1: turned off by just weird things, Like you walk into
Speaker 1: a house and you think, oh, it doesn't smell like yeah,
Speaker 1: one it to smell, or like there's weird art on
Speaker 1: the walls. But those are all things that you can change.
Speaker 1: Paint color, even a chandelier in the dining room, like,
Speaker 1: these are things that are easily modified that you can
Speaker 1: quickly change to make that home feel more like your
Speaker 1: own home. And so I mean, I just want to
Speaker 1: encourage folks to not be afraid to purchase a home
Speaker 1: that might feel a little ugly, but it's got the amenities,
Speaker 1: it's got the room count, and it's got the number
Speaker 1: of bathrooms that you're looking for, or it's in the
Speaker 1: right area that you're looking at. You want to make
Speaker 1: sure that the crucial, like the most important things are
Speaker 1: taken care of. Don't be turned off by, Oh, they've
Speaker 1: got weird pendance over their bar I would never put
Speaker 1: those in my house. Well, it doesn't matter, you can
Speaker 1: swap those out. I see. First time homebuyers would have
Speaker 1: fall into this line of thinking, right, and it keeps
Speaker 1: them from purchasing a home that they could really get
Speaker 1: a deal on and then spend a couple hundred bucks
Speaker 1: on after the fact and truly make their own and
Speaker 1: just maybe a couple of weekends worth of work. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if you're looking at wood paneling or old cabinets with
Speaker 1: old hardware, those are the kind of things that you
Speaker 1: can quickly change for almost no money. But those are
Speaker 1: the kind of things that so many homebuyers ride a
Speaker 1: house off because of even though it is a solid
Speaker 1: home in the place where they want to live, they say, Matt, Nope,
Speaker 1: it's antiquated, it doesn't fit my style needs. I think
Speaker 1: it's really good advice, Matt. That's something you want to
Speaker 1: avoid judging house purely based on because there are so
Speaker 1: many other intangibles. Maybe dealing with those things and being
Speaker 1: able to fix those little things up over time can
Speaker 1: help you get into the size house that you want
Speaker 1: in a neighborhood that you like, and then make that
Speaker 1: house your own over time. Plus you mentioned wood paneling.
Speaker 1: It all comes around. Dog. I feel like wood paneling
Speaker 1: is hot. That's true. That's true. Man. When we bought
Speaker 1: our house, it has the original wood molding from the
Speaker 1: nineteen twenties. Yeah, the trim around your door. But yeah,
Speaker 1: that like the crown molding and all that. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so there it's all unpainted, original wood molding, original stain.
Speaker 1: It's amazing. It's hard to find, right. And I remember
Speaker 1: walking you with my wife and she said, well, maybe
Speaker 1: if we painted this white would be a little bit better.
Speaker 1: And I was like, no, no, no, we can't do that.
Speaker 1: We can't do that. This is original. I mean, this
Speaker 1: is a hundred years worth of age on this beautiful trim.
Speaker 1: No one's painted it yet. We can't be the ones
Speaker 1: to do that. We're not going to touch that patina. Yeah,
Speaker 1: until we grew into it and we love it. I
Speaker 1: mean I loved it from the get go, but we've
Speaker 1: really grown into it. And that's just the kind of
Speaker 1: thing that once you've lived in the house for a
Speaker 1: matter of months, that stuff just doesn't bother you like
Speaker 1: it did when you walked in there the first time.
Speaker 1: Your eyes are tuned to every single detail as a
Speaker 1: first time HomeBuyer, especially walking through a home, and you
Speaker 1: know what, you can change little things over time, and
Speaker 1: also some of those things that bothered you maybe upon
Speaker 1: first walk through start that big of a deal as
Speaker 1: you grow into the home. Let's go ahead now and
Speaker 1: take us back to the beer. We've got Ryan Geist
Speaker 1: Brewery and today we're drinking ink, which sounds weird to say,
Speaker 1: but this is an Imperial stout aged and bourbon barrels.
Speaker 1: This beer, to me, Matt, felt like a quintessential stout.
Speaker 1: None of the flavors necessarily stuck out in a major way.
Speaker 1: Nothing was off putting. It was just amazingly nice, pleasant
Speaker 1: bourbon barrel aged out. If anything stuck out in my
Speaker 1: mind just a little bit, there is a little bit
Speaker 1: of kind of light fruitiness, almost like Belgian quad or
Speaker 1: something like that. Oh yeah, dude, kind of mixed in
Speaker 1: like get you if you're fine tasting notes. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about becoming a SMaL Ya. Maybe in my
Speaker 1: next life, we'll see, but yeah, this was super delicious.
Speaker 1: I thoroughly enjoyed it. Nice man, I am with you.
Speaker 1: This was an incredibly well balanced beer. You know, when
Speaker 1: you think of like the classic or the quintessential college experience,
Speaker 1: and you think of, you know, the perfect college town
Speaker 1: and you've got the sports, and you've got the academics,
Speaker 1: and it kind of has it all. And that's when
Speaker 1: I feel about this beer. When it comes to a
Speaker 1: bourbon barrel Aged Doubt, it's sort of quintessential. It's got
Speaker 1: everything you want. It's got the barrel, it's got the
Speaker 1: dark flavors, it's got a cool name, inc It's got
Speaker 1: everything you think of when you want to have a dark, boozy,
Speaker 1: bourbon barrel Aged Doubt. And I'm incredibly thankful that our
Speaker 1: friends over at Ryan Guy sent this our way. We're
Speaker 1: looking forward to, hopefully someday visiting that sweet tasting room
Speaker 1: that we mentioned last episode. Just this amazing industrial space.
Speaker 1: And that's one of the things I love about breweries
Speaker 1: is how they're sort of reclaiming these old, massive spaces
Speaker 1: that have been neglected and turning them back into spaces
Speaker 1: that people can enjoy and serve amazing craft beer in
Speaker 1: all Right, Matt, onto our final thoughts. What to do
Speaker 1: before you buy a house? Well, just remember house does
Speaker 1: cost a lot of money, and any time that you
Speaker 1: can spend researching and familiarizing yourself on the front end
Speaker 1: will prevent you from making an ill advised decision buying
Speaker 1: a bigger house than you need, buying a house that
Speaker 1: you're unwilling to stay in for seven years or longer.
Speaker 1: Don't be afraid to spend more time before you buy
Speaker 1: in order to ensure that you're making the right decision. Also,
Speaker 1: now is the time to clean up your credit. You
Speaker 1: want to make sure you have things in order before
Speaker 1: it comes time to applying for your mortgage. It takes
Speaker 1: time to straighten now your credit, so make sure you
Speaker 1: go ahead and get started on that well before you
Speaker 1: start shopping and putting offers on houses. Yeah, a good
Speaker 1: credit score can make a huge difference in the rate
Speaker 1: that you end up getting offered, which has a specific
Speaker 1: correlation to the out of pocket costs of your mortgage
Speaker 1: every month, And in regards to that getting financing, be
Speaker 1: sure to shop, shop shop. You want to make sure
Speaker 1: you get three to five quotes minimum. Most people skip
Speaker 1: this step. They go with one lender and it ends
Speaker 1: up costing them thousands of dollars. Getting multiple loan estimates
Speaker 1: that you can compare against each other will save you
Speaker 1: lots of money. And also, don't underestimate the importance of
Speaker 1: a great neighborhood agent who's familiar with your area. And
Speaker 1: while you're looking at different houses, keep in mind you
Speaker 1: want to look at a ton of houses, especially if
Speaker 1: you're a first time HomeBuyer, and don't forget the wave
Speaker 1: test and to see how maybe receptive the community might
Speaker 1: be to you. And also don't be distracted by weird furnishings.
Speaker 1: You know, a house with less curb appeal could be
Speaker 1: an incredible deal for you. Alright, Matt, this episode has
Speaker 1: been about before you buy a house. Next week we're
Speaker 1: gonna get into I'm ready to buy a house? What
Speaker 1: do I do? All right? And so we're gonna get
Speaker 1: into all those specifics a week from today. So make
Speaker 1: sure you check out next week's episode for more details
Speaker 1: on what's next in the process. And so everyone, thank
Speaker 1: you all for listening. We really appreciate it's we'll have
Speaker 1: our show notes up for you on our website how
Speaker 1: some money dot com. And also if you have some
Speaker 1: feedback for us. If if you feel like that we
Speaker 1: have left some things out or that we have some
Speaker 1: room for improving, go to how to money dot com,
Speaker 1: forward slash do Better and there you'll be able to
Speaker 1: send us a note and we would love to hear
Speaker 1: your feedback. We're always trying to improve and make sure
Speaker 1: that we're doing things well, so we'd appreciate it if
Speaker 1: you shot us a message. Yeah, and if you like
Speaker 1: the show and you found it helpful, we'd appreciate it
Speaker 1: if you would consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts.
Speaker 1: And also if you dig it, hit the subscribe button
Speaker 1: while you're there. Joel, Until next time, Best Friends Out,
Speaker 1: Best Friends Out,