Advice for Single Homebuyers.

Buying a home is an exciting experience for anyone, and even more of a milestone when you’re doing it solo, but it can be a little different when you’re purchasing on your own. While it can be easier to tailor your mortgage and home search to exactly your needs, it can be somewhat more stressful handling the purchase of a home on your own… fortunately, that’s where a Dominion Lending Centres mortgage expert can help! They assist with your mortgage application, pre-approvals and final financing to make the entire mortgage process much smoother.

In addition to using a mortgage expert and having a trusted realtor, here are some other tips that can help improve your homebuying experience:

1. Be Aware of Your Financial History

Understanding your credit score and your financial history can help to improve your qualification potential. If your credit score is a little lower than it should be, or lower than you’d like for what you are trying to qualify for, you can take steps to improve this prior to seeking a mortgage and get better results.

2. Ramp Up Your Savings

Of course, while a mortgage will cover a large chunk of your home purchase, you are also required to have a down payment. In addition, you need to consider closing costs (1.5-4%) of the purchase price, as well as ongoing maintenance and costs for your new home (repairs, utilities, property taxes). It is important to determine your budget so you are aware of what you can afford monthly.  BUT before you shop is also a great time to start ramping up your savings account so you can put more down and potentially reduce the overall mortgage.

3. Study The Marketplace

One of the most important aspects of homeownership is understanding what you can afford and where you want to live. These two key components can help you to determine your budget and the areas that you should be looking for a home, as well as what type of home size, amenities, etc. Understanding what is available can provide you with more information and help you fine-tune your shopping list.

4. Be Flexible When Possible and Firm When Not

While shopping for a home on your own can be much easier as you’re only concerned about your own needs, it is still important to be flexible. While it is easier to find a home that fits just ‘you’, keeping your options open can also have its benefits. Of course, if there are things you cannot live without or a location you really need to be in, it’s important to be firm about those things as well. Creating a list of wants and needs can help you determine where there is room to be flexible, and where there isn’t.

5. Consider Your Present and Future Needs

While you’re shopping for your new home for you today, you will also want to consider what your life might look like in the future. What are you doing 5 years from now? 10 years? Do you want to start a family or have children? Do you plan on changing jobs or perhaps requiring a move in a few years? All these things are important to be aware of so you can make the best choice for you today, but also ensure that you are considering your future needs.

6. Protect Yourself

Lastly, while you might not be purchasing your current home with a partner, it is important to leave room for this in the future to ensure that you and your home are protected. If you have another individual move into your home down the line, you could become common-law and that could cause complications. Having an honest conversation about expectations and responsibilities can help, as well as writing up a document for both parties to sign, indicating these responsibilities as well as outlining the investment made by the original owner and new partner.

If you are a single homeowner looking to make a purchase, but are not sure where to start, don’t hesitate to reach out to a Dominion Lending Centres mortgage expert. As an expert in mortgages, they have experience in all types of situations and purchases and the knowledge to walk you through the process and ensure you get the best home and mortgage for YOU.

It is not time to bury your head in the sand if you are experiencing financial stress. As with life confront your worries head on and you may realize that you have many options for a financially secure future.

4 Methods to Melt Your Financial Stress.

If you lost your job tomorrow, would there be a list in your head right away of things you could do to hang on or would you just be at a complete loss?

Financial knowledge will allow you to better assess your options and create a plan without getting overwhelmed. However, even with the best laid plans and all the financial literacy in the world, it’s impossible to completely eliminate financial stress — so how do you cope?

1. Have a clear picture of your financial situation.
Do you know your average monthly spend? Do you know how much you owe, the interest rate on your debts, and how much you pay each month in interest charges? Have you ever tracked and categorized your expenses to identify areas (car? dining out? home improvement?) where you could cut back if required?

Avoiding these questions is understandable because the answers may lead to some hard lifestyle choices but turning a blind eye to your real situation will only lead to never-ending financial stress. You need to clarify your situation, collect and analyze your data, and then start creating a plan of attack.

2. Accept your mistakes.
Move on from any emotional reaction and learn to live with any poor financial decisions from your past. Regret and anger won’t make that beach vacation you took on your credit card disappear! That beach vacation is long gone, just focus on your plan to channel more money towards paying for it!

If you need to pass on a night out with the gang because you want to put that $75 towards your card, then just come out and tell them. More than 50% of Canadians live paycheque-to-paycheque, so you won’t be surprising anybody!

3. Set small, achievable financials goals to bolster confidence and measure progress.
If you have credit card debt, try adding $100 to your monthly minimum credit card payment. If you have no credit card debt, open a TFSA and contribute a $100 a month. A hundred bucks might seem like a modest amount, but it is a realistic goal that will get you started and will help a lot more than you think.

Did you know that a $100 monthly deposit into your TFSA ($1200 year) from age 18 to 65 with will grow to almost $400K based on historical stock market returns?

Adding $100 monthly to the minimum 3% payment on a $5K credit card debt will cut the time required to pay off the balance from 251 months down to 38 months and save you $4500 in interest charges!

4. Get inspired and stay motivated.
Follow a personal finance YouTuber or blogger that you really connect with, hang a goal chart or progress tracker on the wall, talk with a friend or relative who has the same issues and work together — there are lots of methods and resources available to help you, even with a limited budget.  It’s critical to maintain a positive attitude and don’t beat yourself up — there are plenty of others in the same boat!

The ultimate goal is to completely eliminate financial stress by building passive income, so you don’t have to go to work everyday to pay the bills. Achieving this goal will take time and there is bound to be some stress along the way. Learn to cope and stay focused on your goals.