Home Moving tips How to Reduce the Stress of First Time Home Buying

How to Reduce the Stress of First Time Home Buying

Last updated on: January 18, 2022

As a first-time home buyer, buying a house is a brash introduction into the world of real estate; especially if you never cared for it before.

This article aims to help you navigate through this very unique period of your life; recognizing that it is perhaps the biggest financial investment of your life up till now which for that you need to pay a big portion of your income as monthly mortgage payments.

Curated from the lived experiences of other home buyers and realtors, you get the best advice on how to handle effectively, the stress of first-time home buying.

Lower Your Financial Stress: Draw Up a Budget

When you draw up a budget that truly reflects the state of things, you lower one of the most important stressors of all- financial stress. A first time home buyer who has sufficient information on how much he/she would be needing to cover the total costs certainly has it easier. You should find the answer to “how much mortgage can I afford” by getting a mortgage pre-approval before starting the process. Also you should figure out the closing costs using reliable closing cost calculator to not face any surprise costs at the end. To reduce your financial burden, always learn about first time home buyer programs that being offered by all the levels of government. Especially check the first time home buyer incentives being offered by CMHC just were introduced by the federal government in 2019.

Lower Your Time Stress: Have a Detailed Plan

Buying a property often requires you to move from one location to another. This process is made easier by planning ahead. Give yourself at least 6 months to figure out the best way to make this move. This is especially true if you plan to buy a property type that is different from the one you were living in before, for instance if you’re moving from a condo apartment to a detached house.

After spending 2-3 weeks drawing out a budget and sorting out the financial aspect of home buying (e.g. down payment, mortgage payment etc.), you then have to find the best real estate agent which would also take a couple of weeks. Next, you would love to visit between 20-30 properties which takes another 2-3 months so as to get only the best property for your price. After you make a choice and make an offer, closing in on a house would usually take an average of 2 months from offer date. Reasonably, rushing this process leads to heightened stress!

Lower the Process Stress: Get a Best Realtor

One basic rule when trying to make a house purchase is to hire a realtor you trust. Hiring an agent, you don’t have much confidence in is one way to give yourself a hell of a lot of stress! Finding the best real estate agent has two main roles: to guide you in decision making and comfort you when you start feeling panicky during the home buying process. Hiring an experienced real estate agent is one investment you’d be glad you made.

Lower Your Stress With the Right Tools

There are amazing online tools that can help reduce the amount of stress you feel while buying a house and moving to a new location. One such helpful app acts as Free Moving Concierge and walks you through different processes involved in moving and this way, the stress you feel while moving is significantly reduced. Also using mortgage stress test calculator will help you to ensure that you will pass it for your needed mortgage and feel relaxed that it is a matter of when and not if for you to buy your desired home. .

Lower Self-Induced Stress Due to the Desire to Renovate Extensively

The danger in choosing to purchase a home that requires a lot of renovation is that it indirectly places you under enormous stress to repair/reconstruct the house so it looks perfect before you can move in. This is a huge recipe for creating huge amounts of psychological pressure due to several unknown issues that might be associated with renovation. Your experienced realtor would work with you to choose a property that doesn’t need as much renovation, and you can make plans towards making it perfect for yourself/your family without being under too much stress.

Wrapping Up!

While it is perfectly normal to feel some anxiety while buying a house, don’t get so caught up in the process that you forget that this is supposed to be a blissful period; not the time to have numerous panic attacks. After this purchase is made, you’ll never be a first-time home buyer again, so enjoy the process!

Special Mention!

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