Are you ready to buy?

Market conditions are favorable for first-time buyers, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're ready to make the leap. Here are some tips to help you decide if you're ready for home ownership.

1. Take a first-time home buyer class. It will give you an overview of the steps you need to take to be ready to buy a new home and cover items such as the Pro's and Con's of buying, the hidden costs of home ownership, and Do’s & Don'ts for the home buying process. Here are some upcoming classes offered through Minneapolis Community Education.

2. Get pre-approved. Talk to a lender at the beginning of the homebuying process. They can advise you if there are some things you should do to improve your credit score first, then pre-approve your financing. By arranging for financing before you start looking for a home, you'll know exactly how much you qualify for. It may save you the heartache of falling in love with a home you can't afford or losing the right home for you because your financing isn't ready. Here's a mortgage checklist to help you prepare for your loan application.

3. Be conservative. The longer you plan to stay in the home you're buying the more you may want to stretch, but be careful not to stretch too much. Borrowing too much can mean stretching and sacrificing to the point that it's hard to enjoy life in your new home.

4. Consider all the costs. Remember that it's not just a mortgage payment you have to worry about. Be sure to also budget for utility costs, maintenance and repairs.

5. Play house. Try banking the additional amount you'd have to pay if you owned a home each month for a few months to get a better sense of what the payments will feel like. It can help you determine if you're ready for the real thing...as well as build a cache of funds you can use for your move.

Quality Living

I've been spending a lot of time in St. Louis Park lately, a first-ring suburb of Minneapolis. For one thing, that's where our son's family lives and we had fun hanging out with them yesterday, spending a rainy afternoon at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA). Our grandson was fascinated by the Chihuly glass Sunburst, especially appropriate when looking for the sun on a cloudy day.

From a real estate perspective, I've been working with several people buying and selling in St. Louis Park lately and am reminded how the decades-long explosion out to the suburbs and beyond seeking bigger and newer may be coming to an end.

Today's focus seems to be shifting to higher quality...not just in materials and living spaces but also towards a higher quality of life. Although that translates to different things for different people, for many it means not spending so much time commuting and trying to keep living expenses more in check to allow more time for things like spending an afternoon at MIA. It also means living in a neighborhood that has a sense of communty.

A recent article from REALTOR Magazine Online headlines that 'Buyers Say Size Doesn't Matter'. Although the size of the average home grew from 1,500 sq ft in 1973 to 2,495 last year, architects, builders and designers are saying buyers are now choosing to put more focus on quality living spaces rather than ever-increasing size. Predictions are formal living rooms will evolve into a library or music room...master suites will increase...and new homes will continue to have high ceilings, meaning homes will still have a feeling of spaciousness even with smaller square footage.

This echoes the 'Not So Big House' philosphy of Sarah Susanka, whose inspiration came from a growing awareness that new houses were getting bigger and bigger but with little redeeming design merit. The problem is that what makes a house feel like home has almost nothing to do with how big a space is...it has to do with how we shape our homes to fit the way we really live.

As you prepare to buy a home, think about what quality living means to you...what is important to you not only in a home but also in community and lifestyle. Think about your daily rhythms...what you want to keep, what you would like to change with your move...and thoughtfully make your choices in both location and housing accordingly.