Tips To Help You Find A Budget-Friendly Home--In Both Price And Energy-Efficiency
When you buy a home there can be a number of associated costs and expenses in its acquisition and maintenance. Buying a home on a budget requires you to find the right home that will both reduce your purchasing costs and reduce costs related to paying for its recurring energy bills. Here are some tips to help you find a home with a friendly price and energy use.
Search for a Home with a Discounted Price
One of the best ways to help you save on the purchase price of your home is to look for a home that is not move-in ready. A home that is not move-in ready will have a large number of repairs and upgrades it will need to make it to your liking, which you can use to negotiate the price down. For example, if you're looking at a home whose previous owner had indoor pets or was a smoker, then the interior will need new paint or flooring. You can offer a smaller amount for the home to allow you to complete these repairs and updates. Or you can look for a home that needs a new roof, for example, or has an overgrown and unkempt yard without landscaping. Your realtor can help you write up an attractive purchase offer to submit to the home's owner.
You can also look for a home where the seller is highly motivated to sell due to personal circumstances, such as divorce or job loss. This kind of homeowner will want to sell their home quickly and realize some of its equity before they fall behind on payments and lose it in its entirety to the bank. Negotiating the price with a motivated seller will help you and them out for a win-win situation. Your real estate agent can help you search for properties that are financially distressed, such as a home in a short sale status or going into foreclosure with their bank.
Consider the Orientation of the Home
When you look at the amenities of a home, you should also look at the home's orientation in relation to the southern sky to keep your home's energy bills lower and help with your monthly utility budget. This can be easy to do with the help of your realtor, their information, and their photo-packed database of homes for sale.
As you search for and locate homes that interest you, look at photos of the homes and their orientation on a map to see what direction the home's longest sides face. For example, a rectangular-shaped home that has one of its longer sides facing south will be able to use solar heat gain during the winter to keep more of its interior warmer. Then, for any windows on the southern-facing side, you would be able to plant trees for shade, install window awnings, or extend roof overhang to shade the windows when the summer sun is higher in the southern sky.
Finding a budget-friendly home does not need to be an impossible task. With help from a real estate firm near you, you can find the perfect home without breaking the bank.
