Home Buying Tips
-
Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: How We Saved on Our First “Major” Purchase as Homeowners
Being a new homeowner after years of renting means that there are several items we are now in the market for that I wouldn’t have even thought of before. What’s more, these items are often on the pricey side, pushing them into the category of “major purchases.” For example, this past week, we bought ourselves…
-
Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: Surviving Our First Winter
One major difference between Springfield, Missouri and my previous city of residence (Glendale, California) is that, here, we have these things called “seasons.” Furthermore, unlike a California winter where you might have to put on a sweater when it dips into the 40s, we do see snow, ice, and occasional sub-zero temperatures here in the…
-
Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: Prioritizing New Projects
So far in this series, I’ve gone through some of the expenses that come with buying and owning a home. However, in addition to some required costs, homeowners may also face self-imposed spending in the form of projects. Obviously, these can range in size and price based on the condition of your home when you…
-
Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: Letting Professionals Do the Heavy Lifting
When buying our first home, I was afraid that I’d quickly feel as though I was in over my head. Thankfully, though, that didn’t really happen. Then again, that’s undoubtedly because we surrounded ourselves with professionals who were able to do a lot of the leg work for us as well as “hold our hands”…
-
Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: Mortgage Payments vs. Monthly Payment
Even if you’ve never owned a home, you’re probably aware that there are several regular expenses you’ll need to concern yourself with. Yet, something you might not realize is that what’s often referred to as your “mortgage payment” typically encompasses more than your interest and principal. So what’s the difference between a mortgage payment and…
-
Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: How an Apple Card Can Affect Your Mortgage Application
Buying my first home was quite an experience. For the most part, it was a positive one — yet there were moments where I was completely dumbstruck and, to quote Will Ferell, felt like I was taking crazy pills. One such moment happened as we were looking to secure pre-approval for our mortgage. As I’ll…
-
Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: The Spam & Scams After Buying
In case you missed it, I recently kicked off a new “Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer” series here on Fioney. Although I will cover major topics and share my own experience with them throughout this series, I also want to highlight some aspects of buying a home that I had never heard of before…
-
Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: The Story of How We Bought a House
In 2015, my wife and I moved to Springfield, Missouri. At the time, while we originally elected to rent an apartment, we figured we’d eventually be able to buy a house here thanks to the lower cost of living and easy-going housing market. Despite this, although we’d revisited the idea from time to time, it…
