- Are you thinking about buying a house
and want to know how to save for a down payment?
That is what we are going to talk about today.
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Hi, I'm Amanda Vang, welcome back to my channel.
If this is your first time here,
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to my channel to stay up to date on tips
on how to make your buying and selling a home easier.
Today, we are going to talk about how to save
for a down payment, and I will give you seven tips.
When you buy a home,
you need to make some sacrifices,
and it is well worth it at the end.
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Tip number one, spending freeze.
Only spend money on things that are essential,
like your bills, rent and loan payments.
Cut out all things that you don't need.
Those are things like eating out, unused subscriptions,
going to the movie theaters, going on vacations,
buying toys and clothes, getting your hair and nails done,
having cable, buying the newest and latest gadgets.
You only need the essential things.
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Tip number two, create a budget.
It is important that you create a budget
so you can visually see where your money's going.
The budget sheet should have your income,
expenses and savings.
The first step is to print out your last few bank statements
and start highlighting things you don't need.
Sometimes we don't even know what we are paying for,
and because we don't want to deal with it at the moment,
we tend to put it on the back burner.
And now is a time that we need to revisit them.
Pick three highlighters.
For this example, let's choose yellow, red and green.
You can use red for things I've mentioned,
to cut out things like the eating out,
buying toys, and many more.
Highlight and add them up.
That could be your potential savings.
Yellow.
We will use yellow for things we can shop for
to get a lower price.
These are things like car insurance and phone provider.
Green.
Highlight your gas and rent.
Work on this list to change yellow to green
and eliminate red and check back in two months
to see what still needs to be addressed.
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Tip number three, sell things you don't need.
Go through your belongings and see what you can sell.
When you buy a home,
you will most likely go into a cleaning mode anyway,
so do it now to alleviate stress later.
Go through the clothing you never wore
or don't like anymore and sell them.
Even if they are worn down,
go through your furniture and gadgets and sell them.
You can sell them on Facebook Marketplace,
OfferUp and many more.
There are many websites out there
to help you with the process.
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Tip number four, put your credit cards away.
Only spend money you have.
You're going to be paying towards credit card bill anyway,
so let's not spend any more.
Start using cash for purchases.
Debit card is okay.
It makes you think twice before spending it.
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Tip number five, work extra hours.
In today's world, there are so many things you can do
to work extra hours.
If your job offers it, then go for it.
Work overtime,
get a second job, and that can be a part-time job.
Have a side hustle.
You could do things like Uber, Lyft and DoorDash.
If you have a skill you're great at,
offer it as a service and become a freelancer.
You can offer your expertise such as graphic design,
mentorship, video editing.
There are so many things you can do.
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Tip number six, downsizing.
Downsizing, if it is already hard for you to save money,
or you want to be smart about saving
and you are living in a luxury apartment,
I highly recommend you downsize to a normal apartment.
This will save you thousands of dollars.
Here are some examples.
I am going to give you some San Jose/Bay Area figures,
and this will be different in your market.
Example number one,
if you are renting a two bedroom for $4,000,
downsize to a one bedroom
if you don't plan on having a roommate
to help you pay for the rent.
You can find a place for 2,500 a month, and it'll be nice.
You will be saving $1,500
a month, and a total of $18,000 a year.
Geez, do you see how your money is just going out the door
when you are renting?
Example number two,
if you are living by yourself and you are renting
for $3,000, it is better to downsize to $2,500.
And that will save you $500 every month
for a total of 6,000 a year.
Example number three,
if your parents are in the area and you are okay moving back
with them so you can save up, that is totally okay.
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Tip number seven, receive cash as gifts.
When it comes to holidays, such as New Year's, Christmas,
your birthday, always ask for cash
so you can save that money as your down payment.
Download the budget sheet in the description box
so you can be on your way to saving for a down payment.
Now you know how to save for a down payment.
If you haven't seen the video,
what not to do before buying a home,
make sure to watch that,
because it goes over everything you need to know.
If you have any questions, please comment below,
or feel free to reach out to me directly.
Thank you for watching, I hope you found this video helpful.
Don't forget to like, share and subscribe to my channel.
I'm Amanda Vang with Keller Williams,
and I will see you next time, bye bye.