Many people just assume that they are ready to take on the project of owning a home, but they actually are not. Believe it or not, not everyone is ready at this particular stage in their lives to own a home, and we can tell you whether or not you are one of them. It’s a commitment (a 30-year commitment, to be up front) and it’s something that you cannot do half-way. It’s all or nothing when it comes to a mortgage, and you certainly do not want to find that out the difficult way. Here are a few subtle signs you are not ready for a mortgage.
You have bad credit
You don’t have to have perfect credit to obtain a mortgage, but you have to have something above 620. Otherwise you’re just not ready. It shows you have some financial issues that might mean you don’t have steady work, that you are simply bad with your money or that you are not responsible enough to own a home just yet. Let’s work on getting that number up and then we will focus on owning a home.
You don’t have a down payment
I know so many people who don’t use a down payment to purchase a home, and it is just an expensive and overall bad idea. Why would you want to pay more money for a home when you could just put money down and have instant equity? Private mortgage insurance is not cheap, so why would you want it?
You have no savings
This goes hand in hand with not having a down payment, but also for other reasons, too. If you don’t have savings, you can’t buy new furniture. You cannot afford to fix things that might go wrong with the house when you move in, such as having that septic tank emptied or that painter come in and help you fix that bright green bedroom you hate so much.
Being ready for a mortgage is a big deal, even if you think that homeownership is not. In fact, if you don’t think that homeownership is a big deal, you are not ready for a mortgage in any way, shape or form.
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