By Sara Rathner | Jun 8, 2016   hidden-expenses

When you're thinking about buying your first home, it might seem like it's all about the down payment. You save for years to have it, and you base a good portion of your home-buying budget on it.

Next comes the mortgage. How much will you owe each month in principal, interest, taxes, and insurance? How does that compare with how much you currently pay as a renter?

If you've figured out how to tackle those two huge expenses, you might think you have it made in the shade. With lemonade! But the hard truth is that those are far from the only expenses you’ll incur when you buy a house.

In fact, there are lots of hidden costs to anticipate. These fees might affect your overall budget,…

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moving-mistakes

 

Mistake No. 1: Renting out your old home badly...

Sure, it seems smart to hold on to your old place just in case. It's also nice to collect rent! But that's the best-case scenario; you need to also consider the worst.

“Renting [out] a home can be a great investment, if you know what you're doing,” says real estate investor Mark Ferguson of Investfourmore.com. “The problem is, many people have no idea how to manage renting a home—like collecting rent and checking on tenants—or [to] anticipate the expenses. Landlords have to account for maintenance and vacancies, not just their mortgage payment, so most houses won't make money as rentals.”

So make sure you have a plan to manage your home remotely, and that you can afford to keep paying the…

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Red Deer Sold statistics

As activity levels seem to be warming up, so is the weather! This is about the time that many potential buyers, who have been scoping out their targets, come out to look.

Residential sales reported through the MLS® System of the Central Alberta Realtors Association numbered 224 units in January 2018. This was an increase of 21.1% from January 2017 & the highest level for the month since 2014. Sales activity in all of Alberta was up 6.8% from January 2017. There were 3032 active residential listings on the Association's MLS® System at the end of January, rising 5% from levels at the end of January 2017. This was the highest level of inventory for this time of year since 2011 & the second highest ever.

Information Based on Red Deer Real…

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