Consult elders and mentors – Seek out older people that care about you for advice about buying a home. Whether these are your parents, grandparents, older friends or even mentors you worked with in school or at the job, you can benefit from their experience. They may have already bought a home, or several, and they will have experience to draw on and advice on where they went wrong and what they did right. There is a steep learning curve to buying your first house, meaning you will need all of the help you can get to get good results.Another advantage to talking to these people is that some of them may offer to help you with your down payment. If this happens it can be extremely beneficial.
The higher the down payment you can come up with the more favorable loan terms you can usually get. This can save you thousands – and even tens of thousands – of dollars over the life of the loan. Your elders are also probably in a position to explain the great tax advantages of home ownership. Anyone who has owned a home for an extended period of time can attest to some of the great tax perks. Whether it is deducting your mortgage interest every April, building equity with each mortgage payment, or not getting taxed on capital gains profit, owning a home almost always wins financially over renting.