E197: Buying in 2023 feels like climbing Mt. Everest

The United States only has about 1 million homes for sales nationwide. While that sounds like a lot of homes, it’s actually 40% less than the average number of homes you usually get to pick from. That even includes the crash around the pandemic! So, fewer options means for more competition, which means first-time home buyers are going to have a tough time. Today, David talks about some tips to help make the process easier as well as dispel some misconceptions about the market floating around. 

Here are some power takeaways from today’s conversation:

• What you need to know about credit scores
• Overcoming rising mortgage rates
• Saving for a down payment
• Paying off debt (especially student loans)

Episode Highlights:

[04:12] Credit Score Lore

First misconception is that you can’t buy a home if you have a bad credit score. Well, that’s simply not true. Even if you have a 580 score, you can still buy a home. But here’s the real question you should be asking: should you buy a home with that score? So, yes, you can buy a home with a low credit score. But you can save a lot more money in the long run if you take some time to build it up. That’s because if you have a better score, you can buy way more home for way less money. Here’s another big misconception: Many people believe that talking to a unicorn team can hurt your credit score because they have to pull it in the process. However, talking to a team is VITAL in making the process go smoother and you could miss out on so much more money by avoiding this step.

[15:27] Overcoming Mortgage Rate Challenges

Now, there are rising interest rates and that’s no surprise. But, it doesn’t mean it’s any less possible to buy a home. Yeah, it makes it a little more challenging, but that’s okay because there are so many ways to help get around that. Listen to any of David’s other episodes where he talks to other How to Buy a Homies about all the creative ways they dealt with this. Of course, the best way to start on that process is by consulting a unicorn team! 

[18:30] Savings, Debt, Credit Score

 After getting some help, which is the first most important step, there are three other important steps that will make your home-buying process more effective. And those include saving money for a down payment, paying off debt, and improving your credit score. We already talked about your credit score, but we can’t ignore savings and debt. These are two things you can do simultaneously while also working on your credit score. Getting some professional help to develop and savings/debt plan can help you buy a home much sooner than someone doing it on their own.