Bremerton First-Time Home Buyers

Where, when, and how you buy your first property will have a huge impact on key facets of your life: especially your financial life. You're not only buying that first property, you're also (hopefully) setting yourself up for success on every subsequent property you buy. In order to increase your chances of a lifetime of good real estate decisions, it's a good idea (read: imperative) to do a lot of research and planning before taking the plunge.

Yes, there are first-time loans, down-payment assistance programs, closing cost assistance programs. Most of them require the successful completion of a short, basic first-time home buyer class. Most are offered through the Washington State Housing Finance Commission (WSHFC.) In my opinion, the classes--while excellent and informative--are incomplete. I strongly recommend investigating the following websites and reading at least one of the books (they're available as audio books) before going to the wshfc web site.

If you don't have credit yet, or have some credit issues, here are some good resources:

https://www.consumercredit.com/debt-programs/credit-counseling/https://www.myfinancialgoals.org/ (American Financial Solutions)

 Here are some general links to organizations that promote financial literacy:

 https://www.360financialliteracy.org/  This is a web site sponsored by a national group of Certified Public Accountants.

https://www.nerdwallet.com/ This is a for-profit organization, but I've found it useful in establishing credit, etc. They also have a section on mortgages.

https://www.investopedia.com/updates/first-time-home-buyer/

https://www.hud.gov/topics/buying_a_home

Books:

The Smart First-Time Home Buyer's Guide by Thomas Lutz

Home Buying for Dummies by Eric Tyson, et.al.

Here's a link to the WSHFC. WAIT to go here until you've researched some of the information above. https://www.wshfc.org/buyers/index.htm 

Finally, a good, careful, detail-oriented, caring local lender is worth their weight in gold to the first-time home buyer. Contact me for referrals!

I'd love to talk about any of this whenever you want.

Thanks, ROD