What factors determine where you live?

• Work
• Schools (for your kids)
• Property Taxes
• Safety
• Lifestyle
• Income

Using a realtor to find a rental property:

• As a tenant you do NOT pay the realtor
• The landlord pays the realtor a commission.
Steps involved in purchasing a property:
Step #1 – To get pre-qualified or -pre-approved
• Contact a commercial bank or a credit union
• They will look at your income, credit score, assets and debt.
• You get pre-qualified for a certain $ amount.
Types of mortgages:
15 year mtg, 30 year mtg, ARM (Adjustable Rate Mortgage).
Example: Purchase Price $300,000
Down Payment (10%) $ 30,000
Mortgage (Loan) $270,000
15 Yr. Mtg Payments will be larger, but the TOTAL interest will be lower.

30 Yr. Mtg Payments will be smaller, but the TOTAL interest will be higher.

ARM (Adjustable Rate Mortgage)

I recommend that you get a 30 year mortgage. The reason is that your
monthly payments will be lower.
You add an extra amount each month to your payment and that will
reduce the length of the loan and the total interest that will be paid.

Monthly Cost of Purchasing a home (house, condo, apartment)

Monthly Mortgage payment to the Bank $
PLUS:
• Property Insurance
• Property Taxes (about 2% of purchase price)
• HOA Dues (Homeowner’s Association)
• Utilities (Water, electric, cable, internet, etc…)
• Maintenance (Yard, pool, etc….
Step #2 – Find a property
Do it yourself by using Zillow or Realtor.Com
OR
Hire a realtor to help you find a property

Step #3 – Once you find the property, you will make an offer. The offer
will require a security deposit ($5,000 or $10,000 or $20,000). The
security deposit is returned to the buyer if the deal falls through and it
was not the buyer’s fault.
When you make the offer, make it contingent (it dependent) on these 3
things:
1. An appraisal

2. On an inspection

3. On your final mortgage approval by the bank

Other Options:
#1 – You can buy empty land and build a house.
You will hire a “general contractor” that will manage the project.
Make sure that before you buy the land that you check with zoning
from the city to make sure there are no building restrictions.
Advantage: Is that you can customize the house as much as you
want.

#2 – You can buy a house from a developer.

A developer buys a very large piece of land and then build many
homes and creates a “community”
Disadvantage: You are limited as to how much you can customize
the hours.