4 Questions to Ask Yourself before Buying a House

Before buying a house, there are a litany of questions you could considering asking yourself. A lot of sources will tell you that the best thing to do for your decision making is to create an elaborate spreadsheet with financial goals and barriers lined out in detail. Other sources might recommend more introspective questions to bolster your home-buying confidence instead. Here at San Jose Appraiser, we like to combine the best of both worlds. Buying a home is a remarkably unique and personal process, that needs more than one kind of wisdom to execute. Take a gander at these 4 questions that we think you’ll benefit from asking yourself, before buying a house.

1. Are you ready for unpredictability?

Even with all of the research and market analysis in the world, there will still be unpredictable changes to the housing marketing and to your own life. You might buy a house and plan on selling soon after, assuming that the market value increases. But, it might not. It might decrease. An unknown factor could influence your local economy. You might need to move suddenly. These unexpected changes are all conquerable, in theory. Are you in a stable enough place to not have to fully rely on one specific factor to go exactly as planned, in order for buying a new home to be a feasible option for you?

2. What’s your savings history like?

Do you have a good rapport with that savings account? Is it hard for you to put money away and not touch it, or is that as natural to you as your ABCs? If you are comfortable putting away extra money in case your plans A, B, and C don’t turn out, that’s a good sign for your home buying future. Alternatively, if that’s not the case, well. You might want to consider changing your savings trends before making the necessary financial steps forward, for buying a new home.

3. Do you want to be planted somewhere?

This is a no brainer for some, and a very tricky question for others. Perhaps you’re looking into buying because you’re tired of “wasting money” renting. Or maybe you’re trying to plant roots somewhere that you would like to settle. If you like the idea of being owning property somewhere, but, don’t have a history with that place, you might be better off continuing to rent for a bit longer. Until you’ve already made sure that you want to have physical ties with one location, buying a house in that location can be a risk.

4. What’s your credit score?

I’m sure you were waiting for this one. Yes, the lower your credit score the higher your interest rate will be. There’s no way around it. There are ways to increase your credit score. Even if you’re content with your credit score (perhaps you’ve recovered it from where it was), take a minute and ask yourself if you could stand to bring it up a little higher. If so, what’s stopping you from waiting till your credit score increases to start the house hunting?

You could even consider spending time talking to your close family or friends about these 4 questions. Getting perspective on your own housing needs and financial assets will help you be prepared for the unknowns that home owning can bring.