How to Navigate the Home-Buying Process

The home-buying process is exciting but overwhelming, even for those who aren’t doing it for the first time. You can ease your stress and focus on the excitement of your future home by becoming more familiar with how to navigate the home buying process.

In this blog, we’ll explain how to navigate the home buying process in times like this, explain how long the home buying process takes, and how self storage can help you throughout the process.

How to Start the Home Buying Process

Before you begin searching for houses on Zillow, there are some tasks you need to complete. Do you know how much house you can afford? Do you have a bank lined up to give you the money to buy the house you love? When starting the home-buying process, having a good credit score, money for a down payment and closing costs, and a real estate agent is helpful.

Once you choose a real estate agent, they should walk alongside you as you navigate the home-buying process. The steps include:

• Raising your credit score. If you know you will buy a house soon, do what you can to raise your credit score. This can give you a stronger likelihood of getting lower interest rates (saving you thousands of dollars throughout the course of your mortgage).
• Seeing how much you can afford. Mortgage calculators can help you determine how much of a house you can afford. This is essential to the home-buying process because it allows you to narrow your search to show only homes you can afford.
• Getting pre-approved for a mortgage. Many homeowners won’t accept an offer if the buyer is not pre-approved for a mortgage. A pre-approval letter gives the seller the peace of mind you will have the funds to pay for the home once it’s time to close.
• Start searching for homes. Now for the fun part! You get to start searching for homes. Your realtor can take you to different homes for sale in your area. Once you find one you love, you can make an offer!

Home-Buying Tips

Once you start thinking about buying a house, there are tasks you can do to make it a more enjoyable process. Some home buying tips include:

Start Saving Earlier

The earlier you start to save for a down payment, the more money you will have. This can help to lower your monthly payments and the amount of interest you pay throughout the life of the loan.

Don’t Finance Anything While Under Contract

If you have made an offer on the house and the owner accepted it, don’t make any large purchases that need financing in the meantime. This will affect your credit score and potentially affect your loan’s approval.

Avoid Adjustable-Rate Mortgages

While adjustable-rate mortgages (sometimes called ARMs) allow homeowners to start with lower monthly payments, they are risky. Once the interest rates rise, you might not be able to afford the payments.

Don’t Get Emotionally Attached to a Home

If you let your emotions come into play when searching for your future house, you might pay more than what the home is worth or what you can afford. If this happens, know another house will come along that you will love.

These tips can help you to find the perfect home without getting too far into the process and realizing you don’t have enough money. In addition, it can ease the stress of the home-buying process.

How Long is the Home-Buying Process?

The home-buying process varies based on the market and your motivation to buy a house. Typical homebuyers take around four months to find the home they want to purchase. After that, it takes approximately 30-45 days before you will close on the house.

During the 30-45 days, the following occurs:

• Home appraisal
• Home inspection
• The lender is getting the financing ready
• The seller is making any requested changes to the home

A Self Storage Unit Can Help You Through the Home-Buying Process

Access Self Storage offers many storage unit sizes based on your needs. If you’re in the midst of the home-buying process, you might benefit from utilizing a self storage unit. Here’s why:

• It removes the time pressure of moving into your new home. With a self storage unit, you can gradually start putting items you will move to the new home in the storage unit. That way, you can move in on your timeline. This can prevent you from having a lot of clutter in the new house so you can create an organized space. It can also help make extra room for any renovations that need to be completed prior to you moving in.
• It helps you realize what you should get rid of. If you keep something in the storage unit for an extended period of time, it might indicate you no longer need that item. If you end up donating or selling what you don’t need, those are fewer items you won’t have to move or make room for in your new home.
• It can house your items if you have to move out of your old home before your new home is ready. A storage unit can provide a secure place for your items while in limbo. Once your new home is ready, your belongings will be ready to move into your new home.

Rent Your Storage Unit with Access Self Storage Today

If you’re searching for a new home in Connecticut, New Jersey, or New York, Access Self Storage has facilities with unit availability to help you out in the midst of the home-buying process. Our storage experts will set you up with the perfect unit and be with you every step of the way as you navigate this exciting but overwhelming time. Rent or reserve your storage unit at Access Self Storage today!