How to Finance Your First Home

It was just a few short years ago that I really considered buying a home. As a single woman with only one income I was uncertain where to begin. After asking my mom and my friends their opinions about buying I felt more confident that I should take the big step and try to purchase my first home.

I had no one to tell me where to begin. Living alone and supporting myself had taught me to make certain I had money to pay the bills and enough left to feed myself. There was no rich uncle and no nest egg to fall back on.

I sat down and wrote all my bills on paper and totaled them up. I knew how much I made and how much was being spent, but I had no idea how much a house payment would be. I also knew that a bank would be hesitant to finance such a large purchase with only one income and a small income at that. I had excellent credit, never late on a payment, had even borrowed money from the bank to buy a car and paid if off in record time, but a house was a much bigger purchase, and I had already decided that I would not ask anyone to co-sign for me. I had looked at the interest rate of purchasing through the bank. It wasn't a good move for me even if I could get the loan through them.

I spent a lot of time working on different scenarios, but when it came down to knowing where to go for the purchase I couldn't come up with a plan. So I prayed and waited.

Several months had passed, and the house that I was renting was about to cave in around me. The bathroom floor was about to fall through, and during the winter you had to wiggle the wires in the floor furnace to get it to come on. Even then, it was questionable whether it would run through the night.

My close friends kept telling me that I really needed to get out of that house before it burned down around me. But where was I going to go? I had continued to pray, but I had quit looking for ways to finance my first home. I simply did not know where to go until one day at work I was told about a new home development that was being planned near where I lived. I went and got the application and filled it out and mailed it.

A few short weeks had passed before I got the call to come for an interview and to bring pay stubs, etc., because I would be filling out an application for a home loan.

I was so excited! It seemed to take forever before I heard back from the company, but when they did call they wanted me to come and talk with them. At the meeting they told me that I had been approved, but the payments for one of the homes would be an amount far above what I had ever imagined. I told them that I did not want to commit to that type of a payment for 30 years of my life. I also explained that I did need to find a home, due to the fact the rental was in such bad shape, and in my community there were very few rentals that were any better. After talking with them they told me that I did have approval for financing, and if I found a home within the price that I was looking for to call and they would help me.

My search began. Within a week I had a house picked out and a few short months later I signed the papers on it. I purchased my home for an unbelievable amount and the interest rate was the lowest around and fixed for the lifetime of the loan.

My home is financed through USDA. The taxes and insurance are included with the house payment. I make one payment a month and they take care of the rest.

If you are wanting to make a home purchase call your local USDA and see if they can help.