How to know if the answer to “Should I buy a new Healthy Efficient Home?” is “yes”:
- 1. You want to own a home.
- 2. Being a homeowner is a lifestyle change that comes with a lot more responsibility. Taking care of your property and extra costs are part of the deal. But the perks of being the primary decision-maker may make it all worthwhile:
- 3. Control over your living space. When you own your own home, that space becomes yours entirely. You can paint the walls orange—you can knock the walls down if you really want to.
- 4. Ability to make a neighborhood your home. Owning a house allows you to plant some roots and make connections. Because you control how long you’ll stay there, you can settle into a neighborhood and not worry about your landlord selling or charging more rent than you can afford.
- 5. Building equity. Paying your mortgage might feel similar to paying rent, but it’s not. Every month, a little more of that home becomes your financial asset. This is called building equity in your house. Once that equity is built up enough, it boosts your wealth and creditworthiness.
- 6. More predictable housing costs. Rent can fluctuate, but a fixed-rate mortgage makes your housing costs more predictable. Improved home value, property taxes, and insurance rates can affect that payment some, but typically less than a spontaneous rent hike.
- 7. You want to save a significant amount on your utilities.