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“We are making every step of the home buying journey faster, more convenient, and accessible for everyone.”
Pros of Buying a Home
Buying your own home offers you the pride of ownership and the freedom to do what you want with your space. You can paint walls, replace carpet, build a garage if you have the space and tear down walls at will without having to go through a landlord for even the tiniest modifications.
On top of doing what you want with your home, owning your own home is a solid and secure method for building equity. Each mortgage payment is one step closer to being able to leverage that equity for further investment opportunities.
On the topic of investment opportunities, buying your first home can be something you enjoy for yourself, but you can also look at the possibility of turning your home into an income-producing property. Whether it’s renting out a bedroom to a roommate or the basement to an independent tenant, owning your own home can be a great alternative source of income.
As a first time home buyer you might be interested in a fixer-upper. In that case a purchase plus improvement mortgage might be for you.
Cons of Buying a Home
The challenge of getting into the home ownership market is no small feat. Perhaps the biggest challenge is coming up with a sufficient down payment. Down payments are determined by the purchase price of the home you are looking at, and in Canada, houses can be very expensive depending on where you buy.
With every home comes the reality of maintenance and repairs. Many of these expenses are foreseeable, but occasionally something unexpected happens and it can be difficult to swallow the cost of these situations.
Finally, when it comes to owning a home, you are at the mercy of the market. Buying and selling at the right time can be a tough thing to predict and there’s always a risk of loss if the value of your home is low if you need to sell quickly.
Moving Forward with Buying Your First Home
While there is notable risk in buying and owning a home, it’s fair to say that both the immediate and long term benefits of owning a home generally outweigh the potential downsides.
Now that you’re feeling confident that home ownership is something for you, let’s discuss how to pull it off.
Finding Enough Money for a Minimum Down Payment
Every home purchase requires a down payment and this can be a big hurdle to jump over to get into the home ownership market. In Canada, down payments can be as small as 5%, but most lenders look for 10-20%.
If you can achieve a higher down payment to reduce your mortgage payments, this can be even more beneficial. All of this can be calculated with a simple mortgage payment calculator that is available on any financial institution website.