Financing And Purchasing: Home Buyer Assistance

When hunting for that first or even second or third home, there are many ways that home buyers can benefit from a little home buyer assistance. Usually provided by many different companies, these benefits, ranging from before you even start searching till after you sign on the dotted line, are there for buyers to take full advantage of when purchasing a home.

Sometimes, however, buyers are unaware of what the government and non-profit organizations are offering. Let's face it - the whole process of purchasing a home can be a little confusing without a guiding hand. As we all know, searching, purchasing, and moving are never easy. In fact, the sheer headache from it all is enough to discourage anyone. That's why a few companies, in addition to offering down payment and home buyer assistance, have also decided to include moving assistance (by way of additional services or financial discounts) to help those customers who are purchasing a home and now need a hassle-free way to get to their next location. Ultimately, an experienced real estate agent can help you with all of these options. Let's take a closer look at these benefits so you can better understand what they can do for you once you are ready to begin purchasing a home.

Down Payment Assistance Programs

If you do an online search for 'home buyer assistance,' you'll easily find numerous down payment assistance programs for first time buyers purchasing a home. Non-profit organizations and government agencies have created these home buyer assistance programs to encourage home ownership in constituencies where people might not be able to afford a down payment to get them in a home of their own. These programs assist both buyers (through down payment assistance) and sellers by increasing the number of home buyers, creating demand for homes in the market.

A great example of one of these home buyer assistance programs is Nehemiah, which since 1998, has helped provide over $1 billion in gifts to new home buyers. Nehemiah, the nation's largest and most trusted non-profit down payment assistance program, helps buyers with a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan purchase a home with a $0 down payment as a gift from the organization and possibly $0 in closing costs as well. Buyers utilizing down payment assistance (DPA) represent over 37% of all FHA insured purchase money mortgages.

Using a Qualified Real Estate Agent

Using the resources of a good, experienced real estate agent can be extremely beneficial for the home buyer. Assistance in searching, negotiations, and closing are just a few of the things they can guide you on while in the process of purchasing a home. They listen and understand exactly what their customers' needs and goals are and proactively look for that ideal home from the thousands on the market. Better yet, they have access to more information and more records than you do as it would require more time to research everything fully and accurately without the help of an agent.

After the perfect home is found, your real estate agent will assist you with the contract offers, negotiations, and closing. These three steps in the home buyer assistance process are of the utmost importance because an inexperienced buyer could commit many mistakes when purchasing a home for the first time. An agent uses that experience to weigh extraneous factors that only people in the industry might be aware of, possibly saving you thousands of dollars when purchasing a home.

Acquiring Proper Insurance

Every home needs insurance that will protect the owner from massive loss in the event of fire, natural disaster, or accident. For those reasons, a good home insurance policy will help protect your largest asset. If you, as the buyer, are financing the property with a mortgage, home mortgage lenders will require that you acquire the proper insurance to make sure that an investment in the property is financially protected in the case of an unfortunate event.

Another form of insurance that must be included is title insurance, which is a great tool to have against financial loss from possible defects in the title to the property you buy.

Taking Advantage of DPA

Because the real estate market is tight, many developers and individual home sellers are providing incentives to facilitate and promote the sale of their properties. Cars, pools, and even $25,000 worth of solar panels for green homes are among some of the benefits previous buyers have acquired on top of the regular home buyer assistance programs and services. It's just a matter of researching and finding the ones that are right for your situation.

The company I am associated with and many other companies in the industry, for instance, provide many of these home buyer assistance services that have been mentioned above. Our primary goals are to help you find the home of your dreams and easily acquire down payment and home buyer assistance. Whether you have bought a home before or are purchasing a home for the first time, governmentally-sponsored FHA loans and other non-profit DPA programs are there to help you realize your dream of owning a home!