Home Buying

Buying a Home? 4 Things You Need To Know

Buying a home is an incredibly exciting and impactful undertaking for everyone from first-timers to retirees. Unfortunately, that excitement tends to blind people to the realities of their situation, resulting in mistakes that can have serious financial consequences. While first-time buyers are most prone to these errors, anyone can fall victim to them if they are swept up in the home buying process. To avoid these pitfalls, here are 4 questions that you must know the answers to before buying a home.

Buyers, Don't Panic If Your Credit Score Falls

After finally purchasing a home, buyers are often dismayed to find that their credit score has taken a significant dip. If you just spent the last year working to boost your score and qualify for a mortgage, then it's understandable to be a little concerned at seeing it suddenly fall. To make the situation even more confusing, this decline often lags several months behind the home purchase, raising doubts about what actually caused it to happen. Luckily, recent studies shows that a drop in credit score following a home purchase is not only normal, but generally corrects itself in less than one year! Keep reading to learn why scores fall after buying a home, how large you should expect the decline to be, and when you can expect the score to return to normal.

Closing Costs Should Be Something You Need To Budget For

person writingClosing costs is something that people don’t often think about when they are looking to buy a home. It is important to make sure that you are prepared to cover these costs when you finalize your home purchase. They can account for 2-5 percent of the cost of the home, this can be an expense that can be a substantial amount.  Budgeting for these costs will help make sure that you are not surprised by the amount.