How to be Financially Prepared to Buy Your First Home?

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A house is often one of the largest and most important purchases we make in our lives, but getting ready to buy your first house can be a little intimidating.  First and foremost, you have to be financially prepared to make the jump to home ownership.  Here’s a step-by-step guide to ensure that buying your dream home doesn’t turn into a nightmare.

Step 1: Make sure that it’s the right time to buy a house.

The first thing you should do before buying a house is to make sure it’s the right time to do so. Take into consideration the state of the real estate market and your financial and personal circumstances. In general, when you might move in the next five years, it may be better to rent than buy a property.

Step 2:  Determine how much you can afford

Once you decide you want to buy a home, the most important thing to do is to look at your income and expenses. Examine your personal cash flow and determine how much you can set aside for your monthly mortgage payments. Ideally, you should not spend more than 30 percent of your gross monthly income on housing. Otherwise, you will be “house poor,” meaning you live in a beautiful home but have difficulty in covering other monthly expenses such as utilities, groceries, etc.

TIP: Keep your total housing payment under 30 percent of your gross monthly income.

Step 3: Trim Your Expenses

The best way to save money for home ownership is to cut down your expenses. Know the difference between your “needs” and “wants.”

Are there any expenses you can lower or get rid of? Look at your internet bill, for example. If you are paying for a telephone bundle that you are not actually using, you can get rid of that and lower your monthly expenses. Can you do without cable TV or reduce the number of channels you pay for? Call your provider to downgrade your plan.

Try to practice a simpler lifestyle, and do away with unnecessary luxury. Trade your daily Starbucks with inexpensive coffee, cook your own food as often as you can, and take your lunch to work. It’s often surprising how much you can actually save and set aside for your home buying project.

Step 4: Take advantage of opportunities to increase your income

If you enjoy cooking or baking, you can sell at your office, at bazaars, or weekend markets. Or maybe try to sell online. You can also consider taking on a part-time job or a freelance gig as a writer, designer, etc. There are a lot of options. Look for ways you can use your talent and passion to boost your income.

Sometimes, you just have to ask your boss for that much-deserved pay raise. 

Step 5: Prepare your finances

You need to save cash for a down payment, typically between 3.5 and 20 percent of the purchase price. Don’t forget to save up for other fees and expenses involved in the home buying process, such as reservation fee, monthly down payment, and closing costs.

As a rule of thumb, prepare 20 percent of the property’s purchase price for your down payment. A higher down payment makes the loan tenure shorter and monthly mortgage and interest payments smaller.

TIP:  Don’t underestimate how much money you’ll need. Be ready to have cash over and above the down payment amount.

You also need to begin to collect documents that you’ll need for verification on your mortgage application.  If you’re applying for PAG-IBIG or bank financing, have a checklist of requirements. You will need documents as proof of income, such as bank statements, certificate of employment, and copies of your tax returns.

 

Can Unpaid Credit Card Prohibit Me from Getting a Home Loan?

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When planning to buy a house for your family or a property for investment, one should look into his financial status to make sure he can afford the purchase. Financial status is one of the major factors that allows you to purchase a property. Most lender like banks look into the person’s capability to pay off debt before they approved any home loan application. 

But what if you have an existing unpaid credit card, will that show during financial capacity evaluation and affect your home loan application?

What do lenders look into a home loan application?

Are you planning to buy a property soon and wondering if an outstanding credit card debt will affect your home loan application? One of the main factors that lender will look into is your financial capacity. This includes your income, credit history and your debt service ratio. Your income will tell the lender how much you’re earning and they can compute your debt service ratio from it. Debt service ratios is the portion of your monthly take-home pay that will go to your monthly amortization. This will let them know that you have enough money to cover for you monthly needs and expenses will be able to pay for you monthly amortization is approved. Lenders also looks into credit history which is a record of how a person managed his or her credit in the past. These includes total debt load, number of credit lines and timeliness of payment.

Will the lenders see unpaid credit card history from another bank?

Yes. Lenders like banks and non-banking financial institutions provide information to the credit bureaus or offices to make a the information into one credit report. This credit report can be looked up by any of the lending institutions. This financial background check allows them to see any undisclosed information like unpaid credit cards.

Why is credit card payment history important when applying for a home loan?

Credit card transactions is one of the easiest to build a credit score and credit history. But when not managed well, it can also pull you down when applying for a loan. Lenders look into history of credit card payment to decide whether or not they will approve a loan application or not. This will tell them the ability and timeliness of the person to pay his debt. So when you have an outstanding unpaid credit card payment, this will show up when they are evaluating your credit history and will tell them the risk involved of not being paid back the money they will lend you to buy your home.

Can I still apply for a home loan even though I have an existing unpaid credit card?

The best thing to do is to go over your credit history and check for any existing unpaid credit card or any outstanding debt you have. Settle any existing debt first before applying for another loan. The reason while you need to settle a debt first is because any existing debt is considered in your debt service ratio. If the ratio shows that you have more debt than funds for your basic necessity, it will tell the lender that you do not have extra money to pay off the amortization if they approve your home loan application. When you pay off your debt, it is best to work on your savings to show your lenders that you have fixed your financial difficulties and is now ready to take on the responsibility of pay for a home loan to get your dream house

 

Tips for Negotiating Your Household Costs

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When it comes to expenses on amenities and utilities for your home, you might feel like spending is unavoidable, but there are a ton of ways to save cash and put money back into your pocket. Simple negotiation tactics and strategies can help you save money when it comes to home expenses, so use these tips to try negotiating your way to better savings. 

How can I negotiate?

Negotiating is a very important skill, especially when you need to speak up about your financial affairs. Although negotiating with a friend, colleague, or even a stranger might seem intimidating, it can lead to beneficial changes in your life. Whether you are negotiating your cable bill or your new salary, you can improve your financial situation and be equipped for future bargaining situations with a few of these techniques.

• The Foot-In-The-Door Technique: To increase the chances of someone complying with a large request, you can start by making a small one. For example, if you are looking to buy a secondhand lamp for $20, you might negotiate the price down to $15. You could then follow up by asking if you could purchase two lamps for $30. This allows you to leverage the small, initial discount to get an even better discount.
• Door-In-The-Face Tactic: This technique uses the opposite approach to the Foot-In-The-Door tactic. Initially, you make an unreasonable request to get turned down. After your first request is shot down, you follow up with a smaller request. This will make the person you are negotiating with feel obligated to agree to a more reasonable ask.
• Take It or Leave it Method: This tactic is a hard bargaining method. You may list a price for an item you are interested in and instead of negotiating the price, you respond by explaining that the price you offered is the only price you are willing to pay or you will walk away. This puts pressure on the seller or vendor to make a quick decision. 

Try negotiating your rent

Whether you are looking to settle down in an apartment or your landlord is raising the price, you may not have known that you can negotiate your rent. Here are a few possible strategies that may work for you.

• Politely ask your landlord if the rent price is open to discussion
• Express your track history as a good tenant
• Inquire about a possible lease extension
• Compare their rent ask with market prices and negotiate based on data

Lower your utility bills

We all know how expensive utilities can be because they add up over time. If you’re paying for cable, lawn services, cell phone bills, electricity, trash pickup, and many other costs, these tactics could be super helpful to cut down on your monthly bills.

• Assume that your regular costs can be negotiable by researching discounts
• Avoid contracts that may impose costly fees
• Shop around and compare utility prices for different vendors
• Call to inquire about quotes and ask a company to match a lower rate you found somewhere else

Negotiating is a great way to cut down on your expenses and funnel your money back into your bank account. For more great negotiation inspiration, check out the infographic below from Mint for conversation starters and additional tips.