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What I Learned Building My First House

Many people dream of building a great home. With the strong housing market, now is a great time to invest in a new home. However, building a home is more complicated than many people realize. There are many variables to consider when building a home. Working with an experienced builder is one of the most important things that anyone can concentrate on. There are many people who are excited about the possibilities in their new home. Here are some things to remember when building a home.   Building a Home is Hard Work Building a home takes a lot of careful planning. Some people wrongly assume that building a home is an easy process. However, homeowners must be willing to work hard in order to finish on time. One of the biggest reasons that homes do not finish on time or on a budget is because the owners are not organized. Before starting the building process, you need to have plans for each part of your home. Your home builder should be able to walk you through the expected cost of the home. It is up to you to get your part done in order to complete the home within the allotted time schedule.   Get a Home Warranty A home warranty is one of the best investments that anyone can make. A home warranty will protect the homeowner in the event of something going wrong. Some people do not want to pay money for a home warranty. However, with just one issue coming up in your home, the home warranty will pay for itself. There are many people who think that the home warranty cost is too high. There are cheaper options available in the market if you spend enough time looking around. However, compared to the cost of repairing a home, a home warranty is a great deal. It is risky to build a new home and not have some sort of home warranty. In fact, many areas of the country require a warranty for people who build a new home. Before you move in, getting a home warranty that covers your needs is vital.   There Will be Delays Building a home is a long and difficult process. During this process, there are going to be times when the project gets delayed. These delays can result from things like weather or simply poor planning. This is one of the reasons that homeowners should put some buffer into their time and financial budget for a new home. Working with a great builder is one way to minimize delays. Experienced builders know how to plan for things that they cannot control. Looking at online reviews is one of the best ways to make sure that you are choosing the right builder for your needs.   Staying on Budget is Difficult Staying on a budget during the building process can be difficult. When building a home, every area of the home can be customized to fit the needs of the homeowner. There are many people who end up spending thousands of dollars upgrading their new home. This is a major financial issue because getting a new loan is a difficult process. In order to prevent these issues from occurring, you need to make sure to stay on budget with each part of the home. When you get approval for a home loan, getting a little extra financing is always a good idea. This will give you some room to splurge on various areas of your home. Some people end up taking a second loan to finish their home. This can result in financial disaster if the housing market crashes.

5 Fun and Simple Ways to Save Money for the Family

Saving your family money is nowhere near as difficult as many people think, which means you can lower your family’s bills and save a little money in more than one place. Saving is the easy part. It’s figuring out how to do it in your own family’s budget that makes the concept a little more difficult. With these five money saving tips, you’ll be on your way to more savings and a more fulfilling life in no time.  

Get Quotes

The first thing you need to do is go over the budget and see where you can save money on your expenses. You can get free insurance quotes for your car as well as your home, you can ask your credit card companies to lower your interest rates, and you can call the cable company and tell them you’re paying too much. Most are happy to lower your bills for you if they suspect you might leave for another company.  

Make a Meal Plan

You don’t have to sit down and plan every single meal for every single day of the week, but you should have enough meals on the menu for the entire week. You can eat them any night you want, but pick seven meals you’re going to eat this week and make a list. Now you can go to the store once and buy everything you need rather than a dozen times to pick up that one extra thing you forgot. You’ll end up spending far less the fewer times you go to the store.  

Take Some Time

Impulse buys are difficult, but you don’t have to live with regret each time you make a purchase. Is there something you love more than anything, and you really want it? Put it in your online cart and leave it there for 24-hours. If you still can’t stop thinking about it at the end of your 24-hours, it’s for you. If you still aren’t sure you want it or not, don’t buy it. The key here is to really decide you want it. If you do want it, you’ll know at the end of the day. If you don’t, you just saved yourself a lot of money and regret. If you’re worried about regret after making the decision to buy something, perhaps the decision isn’t the right one for you and your family.

 

Find Local Deals

Did you know you can take your kids out without blowing the budget? It’s easy to spend $100 at the movie theater on just tickets and popcorn for the average family, but you can find a better way to do it. Most movie theaters offer $1 movies for families all summer. Bowling alleys have $1 bowling night, and even skating rinks offer family packages to save money and encourage people to visit. Take advantage of those when they are offered.  

Lower Your Utility Bill

One of the biggest wastes of money in most all households is the energy bill. Start shutting the blinds during the hottest part of the day to keep it cool inside and the air from running over-time. Cook outside during the summer to prevent heating up the house. Light a fire instead of turning up the heat. Turn off lights, set timers, and invest in a smart thermostat. The more you save on utilities, the more your family can save elsewhere There are hundreds of ways you can save your money, and it all starts at home. Start paying your credit card balances in full each month to avoid paying interest charges. Start filling up your gas tank rather than putting a little in here and there. Eat at home more often, and be sure to only buy things you need. You can negotiate with just about anyone, and that’s what makes it easier to save on things you need the most for you and your family.

Shopping Tips for This Year’s Home Buying Season

A whopping 50 percent of homes are sold in the summer. Even though there can be benefits to buying at other times of the year, you might find that shopping for a home during the traditional home buying season is ideal, since you can go house shopping while the weather is warm and so that you can buy a home and move in-between school years for your kids.

 

Regardless of why you are choosing to go shopping now for your home, you probably want to make sure that the process goes as smoothly as possible. Luckily, if you follow these tips, you can help ensure that you have the best possible success when shopping for a home.

 

Set Your Budget First

 

First of all, you’ll want to set your budget first. There is really no reason to waste your time looking at homes that you can’t afford, after all. Plus, you don’t want to buy more home than you can easily afford, which can make things a lot more stressful once you’re actually in the home and making your mortgage payments.

 

There are online calculators and basic formulas that you can use when deciding how much of a home you can afford. However, you will generally only want to use these numbers as a starting point. Only you really know how much you feel comfortable paying for a home each month, so it can be worth it for you to sit down, make a budget and get a number in mind of how much house you can afford before you ever start shopping around.

 

Get Prequalified

 

If you are unsure of whether or not you will be able to actually qualify for a mortgage, it can pay for you to work with a mortgage lender to get prequalified. Few things can be as upsetting as house shopping and falling in love with a house only to find that you can’t actually buy it because you can’t get approved for the loan. By working with a lender now, you can determine if you will be able to get a mortgage and can get an idea of how much you will get approved for.

 

Make a List

 

Before you start shopping, think about the things that are most important to you. You might want to have a certain number of bedrooms to ensure that the home will be a good fit for your family, for example, or you might prefer a home that has a nice, large yard for gardening. Making a list of these things can make it easier for a real estate agent to show you homes that you will actually be interested in and can help keep you focused on what you really want so that you don’t start looking at homes that won’t be a good fit.

 

Don’t Be Afraid to Negotiate

 

When looking at homes, don’t be afraid to negotiate. In many cases, you can negotiate a lower price on a home. Some sellers are also willing to take certain steps to sweeten the deal and encourage you to choose their home out of the ones that you are looking at, such as by covering closing costs or adding in a budget to swap out the flooring or to paint.

 

Plan for Other Costs

 

You shouldn’t just be thinking about the cost of buying the home. You should also be planning for other costs, such as by saving up for closing costs, shopping around for home and auto insurance quotes so that you can secure affordable homeowner’s insurance and thinking about how much you will have to spend in utility deposits and moving expenses.

 

If you are getting ready to start shopping for your dream home, you probably want to ensure that the process goes smoothly. Luckily, following these tips can help you enjoy the best possible success when shopping for the home of your dreams.