Please forgive the lack of inexperience, we are hoping to buy our first home before next January. Mine and my husband’s family have always rented, so we really have no personal experience or advice when it comes to these situations.
When is the ideal time to start being serious about looking to move in by January 2027?
Assuming that we are able to use the VA loan, how much money is a realistic goal to have saved up to help with the costs of buying a home? We don’t want to be screwed over in any way financially and want a smooth transition from our rental.
We are working on building our credit—but is there a certain credit that is difficult to work with?
Is there any other advice you’d give a young couple trying to buy a home together? I’d appreciate all the help!
Thank you!!!!
First Time Homebuyer question
byu/Master_Result_1172 inMilitaryFinance
Posted by Master_Result_1172
2 Comments
It takes a few months to find a home (or multiple attempts), make an offer (or multiple), have it accepted into contract, get through all the inspections, and then to close the deal. Start looking by late summer should be sufficient unless you’re in a market where you stand a good chance at losing multiple bidding wars along the way. For info, contracting a purchase with a seller to closing the deal usually takes about 30-45 days. The rest of the timeline that happens before that point will depend on you and your local market conditions.
As for money, the VA mortgage will allow you to close with minimal money down and I’m pretty sure you can even roll most of your closing costs into the mortgage. That said, there are a TON of expenses for a first time home buyer: moving expenses, lawn mower, basic hand tools, good vacuum cleaner, shop vac, garden hose, rakes/shovels, lawn/patio furniture, grill, painting supplies, lighting, TV wall mounts, weed eater, hedge trimmers, window treatments/blinds, etc. There’s literally a ton of expenses that you won’t even think about until you suddenly need something. That ignores furniture to finish out the place, painting and renovations, maintenance, etc that you might want to do to make the place yours. There’s a lot that goes into a first time home buying experience. For a first time buyer, I’d try to have the better part of $5-10k on hand after closing just for the inevitable buying spree to follow.
There are first time buyers courses online, I personally went through Fannie mae. It’s going be very overwhelming but give yourself time and you got this!