Buying a home can be a wonderful experience that brings your family closer together, or it can be a downright nightmarish experience. If you have not taken the time to prepare, it may be the latter. Buying instead of renting is a big decision and it can be extremely liberating to know you are building equity and can do whatever you want with the home. However, being unprepared for the buying process can cause a lot of unnecessary stress and anxiety. When it is time to buy a home, there are a few different things that you should keep in mind:

Credit Counts

One of the first thing that you should do when you think you want to buy a home is check your credit. The lender will use your credit to decide if you qualify for the loan, but they will also use your credit score to determine your interest rates. If your score is down, do not get depressed and give up. You may want to consider putting off buying a home for a little bit, but simply start working on your credit. A good credit score gives you a lot of freedom, and there are companies that specialize in helping you work on your credit situation. 

Pre-Qualify

You do not want to find he perfect house and then find out that you cant qualify for the loan. This situation an be incredibly deflating. So, the best thing that you an do is pre-qualify for the loan. This is a very simple process where you take your past two years tax returns, pay stubs for the last month, and your credit score into the lender and they will determine how much they are willing to loan you for the home. This gives you a budget for your home, but it also will let the seller know you are serious about buying the home. 

Patience

One of the most important attributes that you can have when buying a home is patience. If you find a house that almost meets your criteria it is easy to put an offer in. However, remember that there are usually a lot of houses for sale, and many of them come on the market each day. Be very picky with the home that you buy, because it is a very big investment. You want it to be a great investment for the years to come.