Buying or Selling a Home/young first time buyer

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Expert: - 10/14/2009


Question
Hi, I'm currently 17 years old and I live in San Diego, CA. I have been saving up for a while and my goal is to get around $30,000 by the time I'm 20. I would like to move to the Missouri or Illinois area but out in the country. I've noticed that homes are around 60k-100k for a decent 20 acre, 3 bedroom home. So I was wondering if I would have a chance at purchasing one of those homes without alot of credit and being at the age around 20 since, Since the area seems to be depressed and not too many people are buying. If you could please tell me what I need to do in order to buy one of those houses first I'd be really grateful. Thanks in advance!

Answer
Dear Josh;
I suggest that you save, save, save!  While you are saving establish and keep great credit.  You may want to talk to a lender about your credit and what you can do to improve it if you don't have good credit.  You don't necessarily need lots of credit but what you have must be good.  There are many programs for first time buyers that come and go.  When you are ready, look for a program and/or loan geared for the first-time buyer.

The next thing I suggest is that you contact a real estate professional who can help you with the process of buying your first home.  The agent can help to advise you on which purchase is a better investment and will also assist you with all of the paperwork, inspections, etc.

Best wishes to you.

Jessica Bryan

Buying or Selling a Home

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Jessica Bryan

Expertise

buying and selling process such as:
General questions from first time buyers
How to market a home
Why choose a REALTOR
How do I find a REALTOR
Should I consider buying or selling without a REALTOR--how much can I save
Should I remodel or move
How much can I expect to gain by fixing up my home before selling
Helpful tips when selling
Helpful tips when buying
finding a good mortgage loan
what is the difference between banks, mortgage bankers, and mortgage brokers
Questions from the general public, people thinking about getting their real estate license, newly licensed.
Fellow professionals who have interests in networking and how to get started
What is a market evaluation and how does it differ from an appraisal what are the different loan programs
services a REALTOR can perform
when to use a lawyer
when to use escrow
what are the regional differences in the buying and selling process
what is the MLS and how does it work
how can the layman access information on the web--listings and other information
These are just a few of the questions. I can suggest that if I am unable to answer a question I will refer the inquiry to a source that can.

Experience

Anyone who is in this business and who dedicates oneself to professionalism has continued to take classes and along with it,additional credentials, awards and honors. I can list a host of them, but my greatest accomplishments happen to be those of getting first time buyers (who didn't think they could afford to buy a home)into a home of their dreams. The look on their faces when I hand over the keys is worth all of the hard work.

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