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For most people, it’s a dream to be able to save for a house. It’s the big-ticket items in life that take the longest to save for, however, which means that you need to strategize when it comes to saving for a deposit. Putting your money where your mouth is and making sure that you have enough money to put down as a down payment takes some time, and that means you need to do as much research as possible to be able to get this right the first time.
Whether you are using lending services like dfwspecialtylending.com or you are going the traditional route with your bank, understanding where you’re going to get your mortgage is the first step. Once you speak to somebody about the mortgage, you can figure out your affordability and whether you can afford the price range you’ve been looking at this whole time. It’s why they say not to look for a house in case you can’t afford it! Here are some of the top tips that you need for saving for your first house to be successful.
- Set yourself a goal. Once you understand your affordability, you could start setting goals for your down payment. Whether you are saving anywhere between 3% to 10%, start saving a percentage of the time. If you tell yourself that you have to save thousands of dollars for a house, it’s going to be much harder to reach that target. Break the target into 10 segments and celebrate each milestone. This can help to keep you motivated along the way.
- Go through your expenses. A good way to get started with saving for your first house is to know what you’re currently spending and what you could avoid spending. Ideally, you should be looking at everything that you spend with a do I want it or do I need it mindset. This will help you to stop spending unnecessarily, and help you to cut down where you are spending too frivolously where you don’t need to.
- Get yourself a savings app. There are so many creative ways that you can save money that you may not have considered before. But the good news is that technology prevails! There are plenty of apps out there that can help you to save, and whether you and your partner have combined finances or not it really doesn’t matter. Open a complete savings account that’s different from your current account and you’ll be able to save together.
- Be smart. If you come into extra money from a scratch-off or from a work bonus, even your tax return, put that money into your savings account – don’t just spend it. It’s important that you’re looking at money as an asset and not just something you can just spend.
- Keep reminding yourself why you are saving. Saving money can feel silly sometimes, especially with the cost of living rising. Instead of thinking of owning a home as an unreachable goal and one that keeps moving away from you, think of it as something that will happen one day and you’ll be able to be in the right mindset for saving the whole time.
