Are you afraid to take the first step to leave your rent and buy your own home? No problem, here we bring you an article that will help you and show you everything you need to know about buying houses in Puerto Rico.
Necessary requirements to buy a house in Puerto Rico
- have a credit
Possessing a credit is one of the mandatory requirements for a mortgage loan to be granted. Because it is quite a determining factor that, due to their youth or lack of experience, most have not finished developing.
There are banks that, in their different services, offer the so-called mortgage loans. These are granted even when the client does not have a pre-established common credit. It is common to request some evidence of what is called an extraordinary credit.
This kind of credit is known as the one that does not deserve to be in the credit reports. On the other hand, it appears in the different payments that the person makes, such as the payment of water, electricity, telephone service and even rent.
Something for which the credit is so important to request some type of mortgage is the divergence that is reflected in the cost. In other words, customers who have fairly good positive credit will have a better chance of being granted the desired loan. Also, they can opt for better offers with more optimal financing conditions and with low interest. On the other hand, those with bad credit will find it much more difficult to get a good offer or have a rather limited list of options, but it does not mean that it is impossible to obtain it.
- Mortgage loans
Mortgage loans are one of the best options for young clients, because they are
starting and find it very helpful. Therefore, it becomes one of the main requirements.
This class of mortgage loans cover almost 97 percent of the total value of the property to be purchased or, if this is less than the previous one, the sale price.
In addition, it tends to be more flexible than the granting of credit. The client who is needing a mortgage loan does not need to have credit.
At the time of doing the credit report, since you do not have a credit history or if you do not have a long one, you cannot be prohibited from granting the loan. In either case, you would be required to prove the existence of alternative credit.
Despite all of the above, there are so-called conventional loans. In these cases, the banks review the economic history of the young client to make certain considerations.
At least, they take into account that they have been able to raise the money by their own means. With this, they can demonstrate that the financing of the loans can be for themselves and, at least, they can face them. On the other hand, they demand that the young client have a stable job and a constant income of money. It doesn’t matter much where he is working as long as it’s legal.
Steps to buy a house
- First of all, do a fairly thorough inspection of the property. I checked every detail. In this step, it is highly recommended to hire an inspector who has a medical eye that doesn’t miss any detail that a regular eye misses.
- Don’t limit yourself to a single property. View as many properties as you like. Compare all the features between them. Whether it is the prices, the conditions of the house, the price-quality relationship and the terms in which the purchase and sale is taking place.
- Analyze the price of the property from the perspective of the size of the land on which the property is located.
- Check well that the property does not have legal problems. The kind of problems that could break zoning rules or have state inconsistencies.
- Make the mortgage loan when you have all the requirements that are needed so that the bank can consider you suitable to give you a loan.
- Do not let the bank find out the status of your credit until you have decided who will do the financing.
- Don’t let the big mortgage intimidate you. Even if the amount of the mortgage is more than 100,000 dollars, this transaction is linked to the OCIF.
- Consider that in a buyer’s market there will be many more opportunities and offers to buy and a sale. At the same time, sellers will be more willing to negotiate the final price of the property.
Before buying the house
To define the steps well or give a vision of what should be done when wanting to start a purchase, we established a series of questions that help to see various perspectives
- What are the basic needs or requirements that my future home must cover?
Your future house must adapt or go with your lifestyle, with the dimensions and characteristics that are your preference. Therefore, when you start going to see homes, make a short list with your most important preferences, such as where you are located. Also, what benefits does the house bring: like if it has schools nearby, if it has easy access to public transportation. You can also make some considerations about what the house should have and what you want it to have. Minimum considerations are features that the account must have. -House-. Meanwhile, what is desired are expendable things.
- used to rent Is renting the same as buying your own home?
Not at all. Renting and owning a home are not the same at all.
As usual,
When renting one, you ignore several tasks, such as the maintenance of the property.
But, on the other hand, when you rent, you cannot generate assets, have ownership rights and not have to suffer the increase in rental fees.
Likewise, it is impossible to be able to alter it in any way, even if it is only the aesthetic aspect when it comes to a rental. At least, not without the landlord’s permission.
Instead, owning a home of your own is a very different story.
By purchasing a home, you are creating your own place. At the same time, it can be considered that a long-term investment is being made. Buying a home makes you eligible to be considered for a tax break.
In this way, it can make it more feasible to face new responsibilities. Some examples of this are insurance, maintenance services, real estate. Even when it can be considered that the sacrifice is worth it. Because all of this represents immense personal and financial freedom, something well worth the effort to work for.
During the purchase of the house
- Do I really need a home inspector?
This inspector is in charge of ascertaining the safety of the home and potential dangers. These try to analyze the infrastructure of the house, the construction conditions and the different mechanisms that the house has. Likewise, he establishes everything that must be repaired.
Contrary to what is believed, his work is not about whether the house is really worth the price imposed. It is exclusively about the quality of the house and its operation. In general, he checks electrical wiring, water pipes, ventilation, power sources, floors, among many others. Being, basically, the entire house. This has to be in charge of seeing if repairs are warranted or not, communicating the cost that they would have if they were found.
- Is my presence at the inspection necessary?
In reality, your presence is dispensable, but it is a better option if you are present. In this way, the inspector will be able to answer each and every one of your questions about the house and better inform you what the problems are. In turn, it’s the best way to get a professional’s perspective on the home you plan to buy.
- Do I have to have homeowner’s insurance?
Indeed, it is very important that you have it when consolidating the purchase. Therefore, you must have carefully planned the situation to have this insurance before the sale. On the other hand, finding an insurance agent from the beginning of the purchase guarantees saving money. These are the main sources of data on safety cost savings
At the end of the purchase of the house
- What considerations should I take into account before the purchase is complete?
In general, this is one of the few occasions that you will be able to see the property in the form of “white work”. That is, without any type of furniture. This will allow you to have a better perspective of what the house dimensions. Take a good look at the quality of the walls, and take a good look at the behavior of the seller at the inspection. Because, this is where all the observed problems arise and remain unresolved. The seller can become obtuse to correct them.
- How can I know what or how to set the final price of the sale?
Usually, the final price is a single payment. But the factors that affect it range from attorney fees, location, utilities, and credit.
How much does it cost to buy a house
In Puerto Rico, currently, there is a drop in house prices due to the current crisis. Because purchases plummet in times of crisis.
A percentage of 3 out of 10 citizens cannot get a job, plus the national debts are huge. Due to the agreements and relations that the United States has with Puerto Rico, many citizens emigrated to prosperous states of the former.
Making the housing market much smaller or, with fewer clients. Thanks to this, you can find houses for 100,000 dollars or 85,000 dollars. This does not mean that houses that are still quite luxurious cost up to $300,000. Of course, if there were no crisis, they would be even higher.
Thank you very much for reading our article, we hope you have found it useful. Any questions, read it again, you may have missed a detail. We recommend you read our other articles on related topics.
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