Buying Your First Home

Deciding to buy a home is a major decision that most of us will face at least one time in our lives. Not only is it an emotional decision but it is one of the more important financial decisions we will face. There are several factors to consider before making the commitment of such a large purchase. The ten principals of economics will come into play when deciding which home to buy, in what area to buy it, or if you should just rent a home. The domestic economy and international outsourcing has weakened the local economy leading to fear and making financing more difficult than ever.   Buying a home has been a major source of frustration for me in the last few months. In this paper I will outline the factors that have lead to my decision to buy a home now.
The first of the ten principles of economics says that people face trade- offs. If I decide to spend twenty dollars on lunch today I will only be able to spend five tomorrow. This principle relates to home buying in several ways. If I buy a home in a small town I might be able to get a larger home on a larger piece of land for the same cost as a smaller home in a city. The trade- off would be that I might have a longer commute to work and other amenities. If I have a longer commute I will be spending more money in gas and I would put more miles on my vehicles over the years. A larger home would be nice but a larger home has larger heating and cooling costs. In my experience consumers bills were half as much as they are living in a home. One of the reasons is when you live in an apartment your neighbors are using their heat and air conditioners to cool their apartments so I didn’t have to use mine as much. Time is another cost in owning a home. When you own your home you have to mow your lawn do small repairs that you would normally just call your landlord for. For example, the house that I am renting right now had a leak in one of the pipes that was connected to the master bathrooms’ shower. If I owned this home I...