Today. I'm going to talk to you about some reasons why you shouldn't buy a home.
I know what you're thinking. What? A realtor is telling me not to buy a house.
I'm Jasmine Lai, Calgary realtor with living and city. And yes, you heard, right!
Our team wants to ensure that your home purchase decision is the right one for
you and can help you avoid things like buyer's remorse.
It's our goal to guide and educate you so that you'll be fully prepared when
it's time for you to buy your home. Reason
number one is you don't know why you need a new home.
Maybe your friends are all doing it,
or maybe you think mortgage rates are going up and you don't want to miss out
understanding why you need a home is a very important step.
We call this the vision exercise. It's how you envision your life,
or how does buying a home,
enhance your lifestyle today and for years to come doing a vision exercise will
help you to gain the clarity and provide a framework and help you to plan.
Buying a home can be stressful, but it doesn't have to be.
If you start with understanding your why and formulate a plan,
then you can proceed to buy with intention. Once you drill down into your why's,
you're going to uncover more of your needs - for example,
maybe it's because your current home is too small for you and your family,
or maybe the location in your current home makes your commute too long.
Not only is the vision exercise, a great preparation tool,
but also a good way to check if you need to buy a home. But hey,
sometimes we just want to buy a home and that's okay too,
but account for your future anticipated needs. So that you're covered.
I'm going to leave a link below so that you can download our vision exercise to
get you started.
The second reason is you don't have any savings when you buy a home,
there are expenses and it's quite different from renting.
And when you own a home,
we always recommend about three to six months of your expenses saved in your
account. So you have a healthy buffer and can budget properly.
The worst possible situation is that you spend all your savings and buying the
home, and then life throws you a curve ball.
Unforeseen expenses related or unrelated to your home do happen.
So having some extra cash gives you some room so that you can handle it.
If you're dialed into your budget and you have a little extra cash for a rainy
day, then being house poor is very preventable.
Third reason not to buy a home. You don't know all the costs in my experience.
A lot of times buyers are mostly focusing on the down payment needed and in
Canada, we need a minimum of 5% and also their monthly expenses like mortgage,
property tax, insurance, and utilities often overlooked.
Our closing costs like lawyer fees, appraisal, home inspection,
review of condo documents, et cetera.
Then there are also one-time costs things like moving costs.
You are moving yourself. You might still need to rent a truck,
or maybe you want to do some small renovations,
like replacing the flooring or perhaps buying furniture.
Then there's maintenance costs. If you're renting,
it's a call to your landlord and your landlord will get it fixed for you.
When you own a home, you're responsible for the cost of repairs.
We recommend budgeting about one percent annually for any maintenance or repairs
you may need to do. Are you finding this video valuable so far? If you are like,
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The fourth reason is you have other high interest deaths.
We need to look at your overall financial situation.
Do you have other debts with high interest? For example, like credit card debt.
If you buy a home, these problems aren't going away.
If you have already saved a down payment,
it might be a better choice to take care of these high interest debts. First,
if you're not sure where you stand or what you qualify for,
your mortgage don't guess contact your mortgage,
broker or lender so you can understand your position moving to or within
Alberta.
We've got you covered connect with Felix by emailing us here and he can discuss
your options.
We use the number five is you only plan to live in the home for a short period
of time. I would say if you plan to live in the home less than three years,
then it might be better choice for you to evaluate your situation. First.
This is because when you're settling the home again, later,
there are costs associated with it. And since appreciation on house values,
historically see steady growth over longer periods of time.
It's safer to hold it for longer. Of course,
your enjoyment in your home is important too. And it's not always about money,
but it's always good to look at the big picture before you decide I'll be
learning something new today.
I'm Jasben Lai with the LiveInnerCity real estate team,
helping you keep real estate simple. And as always, we are here for you.
See you again soon.