How to Buy Your Dream Home: A First-Time Buyer’s Survival Guide

Buying your first home is an exciting time for all homebuyers, as it is a huge milestone in any adult's life! However, we all know that buying a home can be a nerve-wracking experience that can make even the most experienced buyer want to pull their hair out. To help you ease your stress, we have compiled the best research to use to buy your first home without driving yourself crazy while doing it. Keep on reading for our best tips and tricks to buying your first home.

Are you someone that loves lying in the sun, tropical weather, and a laidback atmosphere? If so, then you should buy your first home in the coastal state of California. It is the best time to buy a house in California right now, as the market has been red hot for the past year. In 2021 alone, the housing market grew by over a whopping 20%. That is an insane amount of growth that you will want to get in on the base floor. Don’t wait for the housing prices to catch up with this growth and jump in immediately!

You might be wondering where you should live in California. Should you live along the rocky coast, near the big lights of L.A., or perhaps you should stick close to the mountainous region of Northern California. To help you decide, we have put together some information on our favorite county.

As the name suggests, this county is absolutely golden in terms of living standards. We suggest that growing and young families look at buying homes in this area due to the low crime rates and highly rated schools. Here is some more precise information:

 

The last thing any growing family needs to worry about is safety. All parents dream of living in a place where they can let their kids ride their bikes and play outside freely without constantly worrying. Parenting is hard enough without worrying about unsafe drivers or unsavory characters in your neighborhood. El Dorado is one of the safest places to live in California; in fact, it is actually rated 58% safer than any other county in the United States.

El Dorado County homes for sale are becoming increasingly popular due to the safety of the county, so you’ll want to start viewing homes before they get taken up too quickly.

 

The public school system in the county you choose to move into is incredibly important. More often than not, children will attend the same public school as all of their friends and neighbors. With this in mind, you will want to be sure that the schools in your county are top tier.

Luckily for you, El Dorado County schools continually rank incredibly high in comparison to other public schools. Just take a look at the county’s website page, which is fully dedicated to honoring their public schools.

 

Now that you know all the basics, I am sure you are wondering what activities are nearby houses for sale in El Dorado County. This county is a great place for families because many of these activities are geared towards connecting the people with the nature around them. For instance, many of the locals take horseback rides through the Auburn State Recreation Trails.  Or, you can go ahead and go explore some of the world-class rock climbing sights.

Now that you have explored one of the best counties in all of California, it is time to deal with some of the less exciting parts of buying a home. Many of you are deciding between buying your home outright with cash or choosing to use a loan to make your purchase. Deciding what loan to use can be extremely tricky. Here is a quick breakdown of some of the different loans you can expect to encounter when buying your piece of El Dorado County real estate.

 

The fixed-rate loan is going to be the quickest to process out of all the loan options. This is because a fixed-rate loan is also commonly known as the conventional purchase option for most buyers and, for that reason, is also the most popular of the loans offered.

Most homebuyers can expect to wait about four weeks when using the fixed-rate loan.

 

Unlike the fixed-rate loan, the adjustable-rate version falls slightly behind in terms of speed. This loan, while just as popular as its competitor, has the inability to process as quickly because it is dependent on the ever-changing stock market.

The adjustable-rate loan is the perfect choice for homebuyers who do not mind shouldering the risk associated with the loan or waiting an extra week or two on closing.

 

For some, the FHA loan is the perfect way to achieve the goal of purchasing their first house. This is because the loan has a small list of requirements in comparison to other choices, which makes it especially appealing to first-time home buyers.

However, because the loan is protected under the Federal Housing Administration, it does have a much longer closing time than other choices on the market at times but also can be as quick as 28 days.

Finally, it is the big moment you have been waiting for: the closing day of your brand new El Dorado home. Now, it is time to bring out some important documents, such as a closing disclosure. This crucial document states what you should be prepared to bring with you on the big day.

 

 

Also, don’t forget to bring along an attorney or realtor with you to help with any last-minute issues that may come up.

Are you feeling like this is too much information to take in and most likely too much to handle while you are already handling all of the personal tasks that come along with moving? If you find yourself feeling this way, you need to contact Haus Homes Real Estate Group.