How to Know When You're Ready to Purchase a Home

Purchasing a home seems to be one of the largest undertakings for an individual or family today. For first time home buyers, the lingo is often confusing, there seem to be too many options to sort through and understand, and the idea of purchasing a large investment that is "yours" to own for a number of years almost seems too daunting. I"m to help guide first time home buyers and those wondering if they are ready to buy a home through the process of home buying. Hopefully those that are wondering if they are ready to buy a home will find the answers to their questions

Why should I buy a home, instead of rent? Am I ready to own?

Pros of Home owning
I understand for some, that the idea of renting is appealing, as you typically are not responsible for maintenance, fixing problems or repairing things gone wrong. You also are not tied down to the residence for more than a year, unless you choose to extend a contract. The step of actually owning a home instead of feeling free to leave an apartment is sometimes what stops more people from buying.

The truth is, when you pay your rent payment each month, you are veritably throwing it away. You could drive through your neighborhood throwing $5 bills out the window and achieve the same result. When you rent, you can typically pay $6000-10,000 a year. And when you leave, all that money stays with the landlord, as opposed to when you pay the same amount towards a house and sell it, you get a large amount of that money back. If you buy a home and invest $10,000 over a year in mortgage payments, after 3 years you have invested $30,000, instead of merely paying rent.
This calculator will help you see if renting or buying is a better financial decision for you: http://partners.leadfusion.com/tools/freddiemac/home10/tool.fcs

A home looks fantastic on your credit. While it is classified as debt, it is considered as "good debt". Few debts (school loans and mortgages) can be considered good debt.