This is a guest post from Alita Hall, professional accountant and owner of AMH Bookkeeping LLC.
Preparing to buy your first home? This can be such a stressful endeavor. Doing all the finger shopping (online shopping) of homes you’d love to have in neighborhoods you’d love to live in can be both hopeful and haunting. Feeling like it will take you so long to get there.
I’ve got news. It won’t. You will not have to feel stressed or overwhelmed with how it will happen. There are plenty of resources out there that can help you prepare for this step in your life.
Here are my top 3 tips to managing your personal finances so you can purchase the home of your dreams.
Treat your personal finances like a business.
Track them using accounting software.
Print out your reports weekly.
Make shifts as you move toward your goal.
This first step gets you organized and thinking about your finances in an objective manner, removing the emotions, and allowing you to see where the hemorrhages are and get them plugged up.
2. Make a plan on how to handle the stress.
There will be stressful days.
They cannot be avoided.
Give yourself grace during those times.
When planning to buy a home, the pace things move at, coupled with not being able to spend like you have become accustomed to, will test your mettle. You want to create a plan for how you or you and your spouse will deal with it when the issues rise. Planning for it now can save you energy and give your peace of mind for later.
3. Create your savings accounts now.
Yes MULTIPLE savings accounts.
Renting and owning a home are drastically different. When you are renting a home, the landlord is responsible for all major appliance repair as well structural repairs like hot water heaters, furnaces, plumbing, roof, basement, and electrical.
When you become a homeowner, YOU are responsible for ALL of those things and so setting up the multiple savings accounts, one for property taxes, another for major repairs like roof, plumbing, and electrical, and a final savings account for appliances and insurance, you are positioning yourself for success. I must mention, these accounts are in addition to your traditional savings accounts.
A couple of bonus tips, and I am sure this one goes without saying:
Obtain your annual free credit reports from ALL 3 bureaus. Compare what is on them and start to pay off some of those smaller items. This can and will have a huge impact on your credit score.
Next, keep maintaining your personal finances like a business. Having those statements when applying for a traditional loan or FHA loan will keep you organized. You will be able to determine much faster your ability to make large repairs, remodels, or take a nice vacation. A bonus benefit to this is you can teach your kids how to do it, instilling in them those financial tools and tips you may have wished you had at their age.
Planning to buy a home should be a wonderful time. Use these tips to keep it that way. For more information, especially on the software used to manage your personal finances, you can schedule a Let’s Get Organized call with me here: https://amhbookkeepingllc.as.me/lgo.
Congratulations on this journey and I wish you all the best!
Alita M. Hall is an accomplished accounting professional. She has obtained her Associate’s of Applied Sciences degree as an Accounting Specialist and her Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Business Management with an Accounting Concentration from Hamilton College and Kaplan University respectively. She has been in the accounting field for over 18 years and has spent the past 6 years working exclusively in the area of real estate accounting. She is the founder, owner, and CEO of AMH Bookkeeping, LLC, a boutique style accounting firm specializing in bookkeeping for women owned businesses and real estate investors. Find out more about Alita here: https://flow.page/amhall.