If You Know This One Thing You’ll Succeed In Your West Knoxville Home Search

In this day and age, we can know anything in an instant. One quick Google search and you can have the answer to any question. This makes us naturally want to know things instantly. We want answers quickly and we want life simplified.

The trouble is, though, buying a West Knoxville home can’t be simplified into a simple Google search. It can be summed up quickly into a 300-word article of everything you need to know about buying a home. A home is a large investment. There’s a lot to know.

Unless you’ve got an endless amount of time, you don’t have the time to become a real estate expert before you buy your next home. And, that’s perfectly fine.

There’s one simple thing you need to know so you succeed in your West Knoxville home search. It can be broken down into one simple number: your mortgage payment. In this post, we’ll explain why this is the one thing you need to know so you succeed in your West Knoxville home search.

Mortgage Payment More Than Just A Number

Before you start your West Knoxville home search, you need to assess your budget.

How much are you comfortable spending a month on a mortgage? You may want to keep it close to your previous payment or you may want to increase it a little bit because you got a raise at work. Regardless, it’s important to take a long look at your budget and see what you’re comfortable with.

Even though you may not realize it, your mortgage budget really does determine quite a bit in your home search. You may be pre-approved for $250,000, but opt to spend less so you can keep your mortgage payment closer to $1,000. Knowing this will dictate whether you spend more or less on a home.

It’s best to know this from the start, so you don’t waste your time looking at your homes that are out of your budget.

You Don’t Have To Spend What You’re Approved For

Once you have an ideal mortgage payment in mind, you’ll get pre-approved. A pre-approval will let you know what you can afford and it can also provide you with an idea of how much you can spend to keep your payment within your comfortable range.

It’s important to keep in mind that there are many times where you may be approved for way more than you want to spend on a home. Just because you get pre-approved for a certain amount doesn’t mean that you have to spend that full amount when you were approved for. This can be a grave error for many buyers when they feel tempted to spend way more than they planned just because they got pre-approved for that amount.

What Decreases Your Payment?

You should also know there are ways to decrease your overall mortgage payment. When you get pre-approved you may find out that you can spend a certain amount, but that spending that amount would increase your mortgage payment by $500 more than you want to spend.

There are some very easy ways to decrease your mortgage payment so it fits your budget, here are a few of them:

• Maintain a good credit score, since you’ll get approved for a lower interest rate.
• Spend less on a house.
• Buy in a more affordable area, so you get more bang for your buck.
• Put more money down on a home, so that you can get a lower interest rate.

As you come up with your budget for buying a home, keep in mind there are some very easy ways to keep your budget in check.

Remember What Happens If You Spend Too Much

Finally, keep your magic mortgage number in mind when you start your West Knoxville home search. Sometimes, it can be easy to get caught up in your home search and forget your budget. But, it’s important to keep in mind what can happen if you spend too much on your home.

When you take out a mortgage, you take out a significant amount of debt. The single biggest mistake buyers can make is overextending themselves. When you take on a mortgage that it out of your budget, you’ll overextend yourself financially. When all of your money goes toward your mortgage every month, it will take the enjoyment out of owning a home.

Are you interested in buying a West Knoxville home for sale? If so, please do not hesitate to let us know. Rick can be contacted at 865-696-9002 or via email at [email protected]. Kati can be contacted at 865-696-1888 or via email at [email protected]. Also, be sure to check out our West Knoxville Home Search Page to see what homes are for sale in the area.