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You’re up for buying your first home, but there are so many choices, how can you ever decide?
These ideas should help:
Location is of up-most importance. You have probably heard, “Buy the worst house in the best location,” instead of the other way around, and this is true. A beautiful home in a run-down neighborhood will do little for your current sanity or future resale.
Makes sure the “bones” of the house are good. If the price is right but the home needs more work than you can reasonably afford, let it go. If the house has a good foundation, a good roof, stable walls, working electricity and running water and all you need to do is a little up-date, you’re probably in for a winner. If you have to “gut” the house and repair an old roof, you may want to reconsider.
Does the home have at least two bathrooms and three bedrooms? Unless you are planning on adding some rooms, you’ll want to consider the re-sale value. A two bedroom one bath home is going to be a harder sell than a four bedroom two bath home.
Make sure you can afford the monthly payments including home insurance. Write down everything you see yourself spending in a given month and make sure you have extra money that can be put into a savings account. There will probably be tight months ahead no matter what you do to cut back. A savings account that you are building on a monthly basis will take away much of the stress of home ownership.

