It’s a good time to buy that dream house

Like many others, you’re currently renting a house or a duplex in the Spokane area and you are starting to get the itch to find a home for yourself or for your family. That’s the plan – and it’s probably a very good one.

Chances are you have thought about buying you own piece of real estate. Just about everyone on this planet has done so. You may have felt that you could not buy your own home. You could be right or you could be wrong. There are a number of special financial home financing programs available that are designed to help various types of buyers purchase their own dream house.

Generally, most people who rent probably don’t have enough money saved to make a down payment on a house. There have been new low down-payments on some programs. You can buy a home for just 3 percent down. And, if you are a veteran, you can purchase a home with a zero down payment. There are advantages to being a member of the U.S. military.

If you haven’t been following the recent exceptional housing market in the past few years, your thoughts about not being able to purchase a home may be out of style.

Check with a local mortgage lender to see how much of a home loan you could apply for. You may be in much better financial shape than you might be aware of. You haven’t spent anything yet but now you have the information that can tell you that you cannot qualify for a mortgage. Maybe you can qualify, but you don’t know unless you get with a lender.

With that done and the lender told that you qualify up to a certain amount, the next step is to find your guide in this home finding business – a REALTOR®. Talk with several of these professionals and pick the one you consider to be the best “fit” in working toward your transaction.

Your REALTOR® will have the information on what homes are available in your situation. You may be surprised to find you are in much better financial shape than you thought. You may find you are in a certain housing market and, after looking at a number of areas where you’d like to buy, find that you don’t have saved enough cash on hand. Don’t be discouraged – the home you want just might require a lower down payment that you could handle.

Check with the professionals. They have the current information on available homes. They do this for a living and are very good at it.