This is a great pensive for renting. It makes me beg the question: Are you a LANDLORD?

It is true that you will write 360 mortgages checks, on a 30 year mortgage. It is also true that you will be tempted to buy all new everything before you move in, completely paint the interior, and decorate. Some people even carry it farther into insanity and buy a new car to go with the new garage. OK.

Now let's look at the pros of homeownership. If [a big if] your Realtor is on the ball and listens to your needs, you will find a dream home. You will be able to enjoy it for many years, and will gain from the appreciation and euity you experience only in ownership. Real estate, regardless of the current news headline, still remains one of the best and strongest forms of personal investment, and is still the safest investment to make.

When you rent, you get no tax advantages. Your LANDLORD get all of them. You cam write off the expense of home improvements for a home you OWN. You can leave real estate as an inheritance, and via a reverse mortgage, you can create an annuity from your home's equity that can pay better than the returns in a volatile stock market.

The single most important thing a homebuyer needs to do before applying for a mortgage is to opt out of ALL pre-screened credit offers, like the card applications you get in the mail, and insurance deals. These can hurt your credit score, and not getting them can raise a credit score substantially. That will save you on interest and closing points.

The problem isn't the home, but paying too much attention to all of the advertising. There are a lot of ways to cut expenses without cutting corners. You can buy scratch-n-dent appliances and cut up to 70% off the price of the appliances. Paint is cheap, but the labor is not. Paint the house yourself and save a lot of money. Move in, to get out of the rent trap. We used the garage as a staging area, except for the bedrooms, and moved furniture from the garage to the areas it belonged in, after decorating a room at a time. This took about two weeks, but no storage costs. Boxed items got placed in the basement, and we move a few into position at a time into the rooms they belonged in to keep from being overwhelmed with unpacking. We had already unpacked the most critical items, and while moving things to the bedrooms, ran the dishes in the dishwasher to make sure they were clean before use.

If we had continued to rent, we would not have gained an additional 30% equity in our ome, which is a better return than the stock market.

You just have to Be patient about buying a lot of stuff. then you will do fine. Your real estate adviser should help you with everything involved in the purchase. This is even more important for first time buyers. The other thing that Realtors can do for clients is to hook up with the building and home improvement centers, and provide a discount for the client on all purchases. Home buyer warranties can also help solve breakdown issues. her is usually only a small deductible to fix most major items in the home.

That is how I work with clients in my real estate practice. It takes more effort, but always pays off better.

see my blog: www.aciverain.com/lousellsco for more ideas on everythig fro buying and selling property, to tips on buying home electronics,and home networking.

Learn more about this author, Lou Farris.
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