Don't Buy A House Until You Can Answer These 3 Questions

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Buying a house is a huge decision that makes a heavy impact on your financial future for ten to thirty years.  Whether you’re buying your first home and you’re ready to start that chapter of your life, or you’re considering going into house flipping and have found a property you’re interested in, it’s important to have all the facts first.

What about the facts about yourself?

There are some questions every buyer should ask before they put a down payment on a property:

Can You Afford to Be Jobless for Six Months?

If your current job, regardless of how comfortable and safe it might seem right now, doesn’t pan out, would you be able to afford to go three to six months without work or any source of income?  This means handling house payments, electricity, food, and anything else that may come up.

If you're a two-partner household, this is far less risky, especially if both of you work. 

If you lose your job and aren't able to pay for your property, you might lose it.  It's important to save up enough so that you can afford to change career paths without batting an eye.

Do You Have The Will to Handle Repairs?

Repairs are something that homeowners deal with that renters don't have to.  This means if your home floods because of your dishwasher, you'll have to handle calling for repairs to the washer, getting the water out, figuring out how much damage happened, and then hiring someone to fix the damage for you. 

Can you afford the time, energy, and money that you’d lose from that?  Every house is different, and you may not have to deal with this issue: but there’s always the chance that something could go wrong.

What Life Changes Are You Expecting Within Ten Years?

What kinds of changes are you expecting in the next ten years?  One of the most important steps to buy a house is to plan your life out and decide if this will still be a financially sound decision five years down the road.  

Large changes can be things like planning to have kids, making career changes, getting married, or getting a divorce if your relationship is already going through a rough period.  If you’re not sure how you’ll afford some of these, and you know they’re a possibility, then it’s time to put the house buying idea on the back burner for later.  Although you can always go back to it, it’s important that you don’t put all of your money, your credit score, your time, and your energy into purchasing a property you might not yet be ready for.

When you’re finally ready to purchase a property, there will still be houses available for you.  Don’t be afraid to wait.

Every Home Is Different: But You Should Still Be Prepared

Although every property is different and may not need the same amount of work or money as other properties, you should work to be prepared for anything.  Hopefully, this will be your perfect house, but be ready if it's not.