For some, it is a childhood dream. For others, a New Year’s resolution. Buying your first home is one of life’s most personal decisions; as such, you should take it easy, especially if you are abroad and want to invest in Colombia. How to recognize the moment to take the next step? Here are five questions that you must answer with sincerity.
Do You Have the Necessary Qualifications?
Buying your first home requires financial, work, and emotional stability to commit to becoming an owner. The scenario changes depending on the time of life you are in and your intention to buy, so the path of a single person starting his career will be different from that of parents who have been saving money for years to fulfill their dream. Financial and labor stability are two essential components in the equation; since they depend on whether the number saved for the down payment is sufficient. Moreover, you have the necessary income to access a mortgage and an additional fund to face the costs associated with the purchase: taxes, insurance, and repairs.
Have You Contemplated All
If the conclusion of this evaluation is not satisfactory, you can contemplate other alternatives, such as housing leasing. Leasing is an option in which the bank owns the property; hence, you pay a monthly lease fee for a specific time, and in the end, you can exercise the purchase option for a previously agreed value. Furthermore, it is still not enough if you already have an amount destined to buy your first home. You can believe in preconstruction, which allows you to separate your home with 5% of its total value and finance the rest of the initial installment in installments from 3 to 24 months.
Why Do You Want to Buy Your First Home?
The motivations of each buyer are different, as are the roads they must take to reach their goal. It is not the same to buy your first house with the idea of living in it or that your relatives in Colombia do it, to do it as an investment, and even these two purposes include variables. Do you want to benefit from the value of your home to earn money? Are you looking for a property that you can rent and eventually use? Or are you preparing to return to Colombia? Your purchase intention will be the road map to choosing a property with the right size, location, features, and price.
If this is going to be your home or that of your family, living in it for at least 3 and 5 years is advisable to avoid losing money with the costs generated by the sale and a new move. If you are a Colombian abroad, your goal is to invest in further development to benefit from their profitability. If you want a safe place to rent while you return, you must ensure that the area of your potential home is attractive, along with good demand and recovery potential.
Do You Have the Help You Need?
In addition to examining conscience and wallet, buying your first home requires research, paperwork, and clear information to avoid surprises. Good advice from experts in the field can make significant differences when investing in these dimensions: find the property that suits your needs and expectations, the credit that benefits you most, and an accompanying principle so that the process is simple and agile. Moreover, you must acquire the right workers to do the job for you! So, search well before you go through with it.
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