Focus on your lifestyle, not your age. Both have drastically different current and future budgets for buying a home. In short? Your real estate decisions should reflect your needs right now. But if you have teenagers, Garrison suggests, “consider a smaller property, as it may be an empty nest sooner than you think.” Although buying a home for the first time is an important decision, it turns out that there is no perfect age to do so.
When it comes to taking the plunge, it's more about individual preparation. If you're looking for a new home after age 60, you should think differently than when you were in your 30s. The margin of error is much smaller now and it will be more difficult to recover from a bad financial move. If the home you buy doesn't appreciate, or you can't keep up with mortgage payments, you could put yourself in an unsustainable financial position where you could be forced to sell the home to manage your debt burden.
While there's no “right age”, there are trade-offs between buying when you're a young adult and waiting until you're older. If you have a fixed income, such as social security, with increases in the cost of living, it may not make sense to get a 30-year mortgage. However, some loans allow you to buy with a small down payment, making it easy to buy at a young age. None of that is meant to suggest that you are irresponsible if you don't buy a house at a certain age. It's wise to sit down with a financial advisor and a good buyer's agent to consider the best approach to financing a home.
We recommend consulting with your financial advisor and a major buyer agent to decide if buying a home is the right option for your retirement goals. The bottom line is that those who bought homes before age 25 got the most benefit from their housing investment. When you buy a home, you're actually investing in your future, which could get you a good tax break for the mortgage interest you pay (be sure to talk to your tax professional to confirm the benefits you may be entitled to). First Bank can help you decide if the time is right to buy, providing you with expert financial guidance and a wide variety of competitive mortgage options, including conventional and government loans. A qualified agent can help you stack the deck in your favor by identifying properties that are most likely to appreciate in value in a short period of time.
Don't be pressured to accept the first mortgage offer you receive; look for a lender you're comfortable with and who offers you a good offer. Consult your financial advisor and an experienced real estate agent to ensure that taking out a mortgage will not put you in a difficult financial situation in the long term. There's no “right age” to buy a home, but it's smart to assess where you are in life when deciding whether to buy or not. Buying a home can benefit you at any age, young or old, as long as the conditions are right. If you're 65, you're not too old to buy a home, as long as you have the finances to make a down payment, cover monthly mortgage payments, and keep up with expenses such as maintenance and property taxes.
