First Time Home Buyers Archives - Homes For Sale in Bergen County New JerseyHomes For Sale in Bergen County New Jersey

50% of Homeowners Bought Their First Home by This Age

First, a disclaimer: You should, of course, live your life on your own timeline. But, if you were curious about the median age of homebuyers, a snapshot from the National Association of Realtors reveals that it’s 32. To get super specific… the average household income of the median homebuyer is $75,000, their homes were 1,640 square feet, and they spent $190,000 on their first property. (If that price tag seems low, note that only 17 percent of the first-time homebuyers purchased in urban areas).

Again, and we’re really driving this home, you should buy a home when it makes sense for you. (In fact, here are good reasons to not buy a house).

But if you do want to use age 32 as a rough target age for becoming a homeowner, you can start taking some financial steps to get there—no matter if that means planning to buy a house in six months or a decade.

We asked financial experts to lend their best advice for syncing up your finances with your home-buying timeline. Here are the money moves you should be making if you are aspiring to be a homeowner.

5 Ways Tiny Homes Don't Actually Save Money in the Long Run

Sure, you already know a tiny home is likely to be a fraction of the cost (and size) of a traditional starter home. But you may be curious how the two home types compare when it comes down to day-to-day living costs—and which one shakes out to be a better investment in the long run.

While expenses (often unexpected ones) are a common denominator in ownership for both home types, the things that will siphon money from your savings account can differ dramatically between the two. Here, a breakdown of home ownership costs: Starter home versus tiny home edition.

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Here's How I Got a Mortgage (Even Though I Thought I Couldn't)

After my husband and I got married, we quickly started to think about the impending doom/joy (whichever way you want to call it) of “possibly” starting a family sometime in the future. To add to it, we both started to work from home: My project management position had recently gone mobile and my husband worked as a music producer in a home studio. Suddenly the two-bedroom apartment in Philadelphia we’d been renting for about four years (and paid roughly $1,000 per month for, including water and parking), felt oppressively small. We needed more space.

The 3 Traits That Signal a Bad Real Estate Agent

The first step to becoming a homeowner is finding a great real estate agent. He or she is vital to moving you through the home buying process and will be by your side from the moment you view your very first listing until you’ve been handed the keys to your new property. Since your agent will play such a big part in your search, it’s crucial to find someone who is the right fit for you.

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What’s the Difference Between Pre-Qualified and Pre-Approved?

The terms pre-qualified and pre-approved almost sound like they could be synonyms. But when it comes to home financing, there’s actually quite a big difference between the two—and securing pre-approval for a loan is actually what brings you closer to the closing table.

One Person You're Forgetting to Talk to While House Hunting

Before I put an offer in on my house, I already knew all the neighborhood quirks I would encounter once I moved in. I knew I’d be able to faintly hear a train at 10:05 p.m. most nights, that I’d be living along the high school homecoming parade route, and that one of my elderly neighbors recently had a stroke and would love to have help walking his dog.

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This Is The Salary You Really Need to Buy in the Bay Area

It’s not news that increased capital flowing into the San Francisco Bay Area has made the area’s housing market absurdly competitive. But it’s still shocking to see the already high numbers get even higher—and so quickly. Case in point: Zillow recently released a study stating that, by June 2019, a whopping nine cities in the Bay Area will likely have median home values of more than $1 million. In fact, four of the five most expensive cities featured on the list are in the Bay Area: Burbank (a small town close to San Jose), Morgan Hill, East Palo Alto, and Broadmoor Village. Each of these cities already has a high median home value as of June 2018—ranging from $984,300 to $999,500—but are expected to hit at least $1.1 million, on average, next summer.

My Husband Didn’t Want a House—So I Bought One Without Him

Our apartment sits on one of the busiest thoroughfares in New England. Working from home, we hear traffic, sirens, neighbors, the train, people shouting outside, our maintenance crew or the city’s department of public works taking on some project. I hate noise—and communal washing machines, sharing a bathroom, summer heat without central air conditioning, washing dishes by hand, living in three rooms with inadequate storage, and parking three floors down.

The 7 Things You Absolutely Must Do When Moving Into a Co-Op

Before you pack one box in anticipation of your move to a co-op, you want to be sure you know everything about the building itself, whether it’s quirky rules, upcoming construction, or ongoing squabbles. This will go a long way to easing your move-in process.

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This Bargain Find Saved Me During the Home Buying Process

To say I was a bit stressed out while hunting for and purchasing my first home would be a gross understatement. You see, I’m a planner. I like to know what to expect in any given situation, and having to trust our real estate agent to guide us through the whole process—without having a road map detailing each step of that process—made me a nervous wreck. There seemed to be so many moving parts that it made my head spin.

But one smart purchase helped me maintain my sanity all the way through the closing. I purchased a portfolio organizer, which came to be known as my “home binder,” to store all the paperwork related to the sale. If you’ve purchased a home before, you know what I mean: From inspections and appraisals to loan information and vendor business cards, you wind up drowning in a sea of documentation.

Having one handy product to store and organize everything helped put my mind at ease that nothing would fall through the cracks (on our end, at least) and that we’d always have information at hand when needed. I recommend one that zips closed so you have peace of mind that everything will stay neat and tidy.

Having a home binder truly was a lifesaver for me, and—whether you’re buying your first home or your 10th—I highly recommend picking one up.

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Homes For Sale in Bergen County New Jersey