My Dad was raised during the Great Depression. An excellent mathematician, he became an Accountant for a living. Both because of his experiences while growing-up and I believe because of his own nature, he was a frugal man.
When the time came that I expressed an interest in buying a home for myself and my wife, even though I was already a Mortgage Lender at the time, it should come as no surprise that I talked it over with Dad. I bounced some numbers off him to get his reaction and input. We did the math and accounting of a purchase. Then we did some more math. And then we went over that math again.
While Dad had a bit of a hard time overlooking the vast amount of work and repair that needed to be done in the tiny, older home my wife and I eventually chose to purchase, he'd come to believe that the numbers .. the location and the potential of that home ... were excellent for us. By that point, we'd crunched the numbers every which way we could to make sure the purchase made sense for us.
My wife and I knew exactly what we hoped to accomplish in our little home and when we hoped to accomplish it. We devised a Plan for ourselves. We'd found out what our costs would be right down to the penny. Then we did some math with those costs and numbers.
We added, subtracted, multiplied in numerous ways, numerous times. Then we made a back-up Plan for our initial Plan. And then we devised a back-up Plan for our back-up Plan. And then we did our math ... again and again. Once satisfied to their outcome, we went ahead with the purchase.
I wish I could tell you that our initial Plan went without a hitch because of all our planning and that math we did. It didn't. Neither did Plan B ... Plan C or subsequent revised Plans.
And by this point, I suppose you've noticed the many times I've mentioned the word math or accounting in this post. How many times I've stressed its importance to my wife and I during our first-time home buying experience. As it turned out, the math we'd run for our first home's purchase and remodeling were pretty much wrong. Yet after doing so, they were completely and thoroughly right too.
Yes, the projected outcomes predicted by our math were pretty much wrong every step of the way in specifics. Costs, timeframes, etc. all ran more or less then what we had figured they would.
But having performed such detailed math, accounting, and
My own experiences are exactly why I stress to clients the importance of knowing and fully understanding the math of their finances ... the debts and savings ... their credit ... every detail of their financial capabilities and limitations ... very early in their home buying and mortgage process.
Six months to a full year in advance is not too far out to speak to a Mortgage Lender, especially if you're a First-Time Home Buyer or healing from a Short Sale or Foreclosure. Every bit of that timeframe is needed to get finances, credit, and personal math in order.
That amount of time and preparation certainly paves the way for a smoother Home Buying transaction. And it will definitely pave the way for a smoother life as a Home Owner too. You'll have thoroughly prepared yourself for home ownership (and its surprises) with your own Plan A and back-up Plans.
Why math is important to your Chicagoland Home Buying and Mortgage Process. Contact me today to get started ...
* Hoping to Buy a Home or Refinance in the Lincoln-Way Region ... Will County ... DuPage County ... or elsewhere in Chicagoland? Contact Me today! I'll put my 36 years of mortgage experience and expertise hard to work on your behalf and together we'll do your personal math.
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