On Buying Your First Home

Source: Freedigitalphotos.net

By Benedict F. Baluyut, RMT, REB, RFP

Have you dreamed of acquiring your very own home? Have you imagined, seating on your porch, sipping your morning coffee and reading your newspaper. Seeing your neighbors in the street mowing their lawns or cleaning the front yard? Or just getting ready for morning rush of going to work.

Buying your first real estate residential property requires tedious and multiprocessing tasks of properly planning and making wise but crucial decisions. Buying a house doesn’t involve you as a breadwinner but involves your wife as a co-maker and a borrower and the whole family as beneficiary in securing your very own home and in the right neighborhood where you can live and flourish.

In my current experiences a real estate professional (PRC licensed real estate broker) it points to these important questions I raise for my clients before buying their prospective home?

Where is the location and accessibility of the house? – For first time buyers, real property must be located in a very accessible to main thorough fares and public transport, proximity such as schools, markets, church, business establishments, work place / office and others.  The golden rule in location is that it the home should be close within range of the conveniences on your planned homestead;

Do you have a working budget – For most licensed real estate broker / real estate salesman will ask you these questions if they have a ballpark figure of the property the prospective client wants to buy. These should be disclosed in order for them to find a property with their listings and would lessen the time in searching for a right listing;

Are your finances in order? – For most first time buyer, they should be financial ready, sound and capable in putting on the down payment for their dream home. A down payment of a home may vary from the standard 20% to 30% but with most developers can offer lesser at 10% during promotions by the marketing strategists of these property developers. Usually, a real estate professional would provide explain the intricacies of the property and give you a sample computation in order to have an idea on how much a property will cost in the long run. With the increase trend of socialized housing in recent years, the “Rent-to-own” payments schemes had been paved by socialized housing developer to attract prospective clients on such properties; 

Are you prepared to take mortgage or loans? – There are payment options available in borrowing money from a financial institutions or agencies such as a bank, private lending firms, and even the Home Development Mutual Fund (PAG-IBIG Fund). A credit investigation and background check is done by their credit investigators. If a prospective qualifies on the standards of the credit investigator of the lending institution. He or she is given an approval on lending their money needed to pay the property to the property developers. Financial documents, your Net Disposable Income (NDI) or daily to monthly expenses of cost of living and other pertinent details should be in order in getting your loans approved. Putting everything in order is crucial to fast track your acquisition of your dream home.  Currently, there are available real estate financing schemes in the market and most of their interest rates per annum may vary starting at 4% to 18% per annum on the years of the property will be settled from a minimum of one year to maximum of 30 years, fixed rates and adjustable mortgage rates are also available;   

Security, amenities and other facilities of the house where it is located? – Most buyers will not settle for less on the safety and security of their loved ones. Safety and security has become a top priority for prospective clients. Some would prefer to live in secure and good neighborhoods such as a private subdivision, townhouses and clients may prefer in non-subdivision residences.

Other things to remember: Are you prepared to add extra cost on these? Homeowners Association 

Fee for those living in private subdivisions, real estate taxes, Property Insurance and Deeds of Restriction on the subdivision you intend to acquire your property etc.  

With the growing consumer confidence of most Filipinos going high, many people have dream of owning a property but are hindered with the facts that it involves higher understanding on finances that an average Juan do not understand but the pride of ownership is somewhat an achievement for those who have acquired and already paid the mortgages and liens it reflects on their resiliency of saving for their future as it adds to your financial net worth in financial report card.