Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home Read Online Free Page A

soon. If you’re planning to return to school or quit your 9 to 5 to pursue an acting career, you might not want to lock yourself into a mortgage. Still, you may be a potential homebuyer if you can afford something more modest within your anticipated future income or can pay the mortgage by co-owning the property or taking in renters.
    • It will cost you far more to buy than to rent. Run those numbers, using calculators like the ones listed above. In some markets, home prices have risen so dramatically that you can still rent for much less than you can buy—even after you factor in tax deductions and inflation. If that’s the case, you might be better off renting and investing elsewhere.
     

“But … I Can’t Afford It”
     
    Maybe your main reservation about buying a home is that you simply can’t afford one. Scraping together a 20% down payment can be no small task when you’ve already got your plate full with your current bills. Or perhaps you’re afraid you won’t qualify for the gigantic loan you’ll need or won’t be able to pay it once you get it.

     
    Focus on the spaghetti. Caryn and her husband Alec were stretching to their financial limits to buy a house, and Caryn says, “We were nervous, but our agent told us, ‘You’ll just need to eat spaghetti for about a year, and then things will even out.’ For some reason, that image stuck in my head, and I thought, okay, I can handle eating spaghetti for a while. In fact, that’s about the way it worked. The first year, we depleted our savings, not only with the house closing but with repainting and buying furniture. Now we’ve settled in, and owning a home doesn’t feel like such a big load on our shoulders anymore.”
    If you’re trying to get a down payment together and finding your efforts frustrated, don’t lose heart. There are alternatives: For example, you may be able to augment your down payment with a loan from a family member, or even enter into a cobuying arrangement with a friend.
    As for the mortgage payment, people who think they can’t afford it often focus only on the big number—the five, six, or even seven-digit figure that says what a house is going to cost. But a mortgage allows you to spread that number out over a big portion of your life. Finally, let’s not forget that the first home you buy isn’t necessarily going to be the one you’ll live in forever. By remaining flexible, and starting with a not-quite-perfect house, you can break into the housing market. That’s why they call it a “starter” house—it’s only the beginning. The equity that you accrue may very well help you get into that next place.
    Small Can Be Beautiful
     
    If you think living in a small space means you’ll be cramped, uncomfortable, and aesthetically disappointed, check out www.apartmenttherapy.com . Under “house tours,” your secret voyeur can look at tiny spaces other people have transformed into fabulous homes. Be inspired!
     

“But … I’m Single”
     
    Some people are reluctant to buy a house because they’re single. But did you know that more than one-fifth of homebuyers today are single women? Obviously those women have figured out that there’s no secret rule that says only couples get to buy houses.

     
    Invest in my present as well as my future. Real estate agent Joanna knows about not wanting to buy a house as a single woman—she’s seen it in many of her clients. But, says Joanna, “The problem with waiting to do something the traditional way is, what do you lose during that waiting period? I was in my early 30s and ready to have a place of my own. Plus, it makes sense to spend the money and get a tax write-off rather than pour it into rent. This isn’t to say that buying alone wasn’t stressful—I stretched financially to make it work. But since buying, my house has gone up in value and continues to do so.”
    Maybe you’re worried that you’ll have to move as soon as you meet Mr. or Ms. Right. While