Category: First Time Home Buyer

When it comes to buying a house, it helps to understand exactly what you can afford – and that starts by understanding the costs of buying a house. Your mortgage payment will be the biggest recurring payment on your home. But, there are four other primary costs of buying a house that you need to know about. Here’s a breakdown of the four other costs and how working with Homes for Heroes to buy a home can help with costs.

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It is good to know what home closing costs you may need to pay, as you prepare for your home purchase and the closing process, so we assembled this list of potential home closing costs. It’s not likely your loan will include all of these costs and some may not apply to your particular circumstance due to your location, your service providers, and the type of loan you choose.

If you are not currently working with a mortgage lender, and would like cost estimates for your situation, we recommend you speak with a mortgage professional. Sign up with Homes for Heroes and we will connect you with our local specialists who can provide you with more accurate information because they serve within your community, and they will save you money.

If you’re not ready to speak with someone, we get it. Here’s the list of potential home closing costs to reference:

Read More “26 Potential Home Closing Costs – How to Save Closing Fees”

Location, location, location. It’s the first rule of real estate and it’s usually the first thing people consider when looking to buy a home. Next might come the square footage, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms and so on. While these are all important factors, they don’t tell the whole story of your potential new home. Even homes in the best neighborhoods can come with tons of hidden – and often costly – maintenance issues. Yes, you’ll have a home inspection to help catch anything that doesn’t meet standards, but that comes at the end of the home buying process. Here is what to look for when buying a home.

Read More “Hidden Issues – What to Look for When Buying a Home”

Homeowners understand owning and maintaining a home takes work. We all want to provide a protective, safe and friendly home for ourselves , our family, and all of our guests. When you’re busy working your job(s), caring for your family, and maintaining a home, things can occasionally get missed. Because there’s so much to do around the house this time of year, we compiled the most complete fall home maintenance checklist for our heroes to tackle their fall home maintenance to-dos, and also created a convenient single one-sheet checklist you can download to reference every year to assure nothing is missed. If you’re a first-time homebuyer, this post provides essential information and the free fall home maintenance checklist download is a great tool to keep you ahead of the game.

Read More “The Complete Fall Home Maintenance Checklist”

Many home buyers want to know, “What is earnest money?” If you are in the market to buy a home it is important to understand the function of earnest money; especially in a highly competitive housing market. It’s common to experience multiple bids on a property. Unfortunately, home buyers can find themselves losing out on potential homes unless they make their offer more competitive than everybody else who wants that home. The key to successful house hunting in a sizzling market is crafting a stellar purchase offer. Earnest money can play a key role. Here you can learn how you to use earnest money as a competitive advantage when submitting a purchase offer on a home. 

Read More “What is Earnest Money? | Why it is Important for Purchase Offers”

While buying your first house is exciting and something to be proud of, it can be a confusing and complicated process that can leave you feeling intimidated. First-time home buyer classes exist to help alleviate some of the anxiety that comes with purchasing your first home by informing you about crucial aspects of the process. The classes can help you learn how to prepare, where to look for moving help, what to look for in your real estate agent, and so much more. If you’ve never bought a house before and you’re nervous about the experience, a first-time home buyer class will have countless benefits to you. Read More “The Benefits of Attending a First Time Home Buyer Class”

Congratulations on looking for a new home. During this process, you may need to fill out the Internal Revenue Service Form 4506 or the Form 4506-T.

This form is used to get access to your previous tax transcripts that the IRS has on file. With this form, you can order your individual 1040 tax transcripts, your business 1120 or 1120S transcripts, 1041 and 990 transcripts, as well as your Wage and Income transcripts. Using the 4506 Form, you can order up to the last four years of transcripts.

Read More “What is Form 4506 and Will I Need it to Buy a House?”

Buying a home can be a long, difficult process. But when you finally make an offer on a house and that offer is accepted, there’s a moment of jubilation, excitement and relief. Unfortunately, this isn’t the end of the home-buying process. You have simply entered a new phase known as “under contract.” But what does being under contract actually mean? And what more do you have to do to complete the purchase and finally own your home? Here’s what you can expect now that you are officially under contract. Read More “We Are Under Contract, Now What?”