As we head into a new decade, I wanted to reach out with some advice for any prospective homebuyers out there. Here’s what you need to know about buying a home in 2020.

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Are you considering buying a home in 2020? If so, here are three important things that you need to start thinking about right now:

1. Start building your savings. There’s a myth out there that you need a full 20% for a down payment, but that’s not true. There are plenty of great first-time homebuyer programs out there that will allow you to buy a home for 5%, 3%, or even 0% down. However, you’ll still need to save for costs such as the earnest money deposit, inspections, and appraisals. We can assist you with setting up a home savings account where small amounts can be built up over time. We even have some people who put their tax refund into an account like this to build it up faster.

Keep your credit card balance under 25% of your limit.

2. Build your credit. You need to keep it clean, too. Lenders want to see creditworthiness and payments that are on time. Make sure you do not make any major purchases or open new lines of credit while you’re going through the home-buying process. Try to limit your spending on your credit cards and keep your balance under 25% of your credit limit.

3. Start thinking of where you want to live. Do you want to live in a close community or would you like more land? What schools do you want to be near? Think about what style of home would work for your family. These are all important things to decide before you start looking at homes in person.

If you’re planning on buying a house in 2020, you need to start thinking about all of these things and more right now. If you have any questions, my team and I are here to answer them. Just give us a call or send us an email today so we can start getting a plan put together for your personal situation.