Of course, the largest influencer in the decision is finances. If you don’t have the money for it, you won’t be able to buy a home, plain and simple. You’ll need a large enough income to cover a mortgage, plus homeowner’s insurance, and other expenses like utilities and an HOA fee.

But money isn’t the only deciding factor. When it comes to buying a home, you need to also account for your lifestyle, future career changes, your goals and dreams, whether you are ready to settle down or not, and more when making the choice.

Are You Ready to Settle Down?

9 Questions To Ask Before Buying Your First Home

Buying a place, whether it’s a condo, a home, or something else, is a way of settling down for a long time. When you rent a place, you can move away after the contract is up, or even leave during your contract period for a fee. When you buy a home, you can’t just up and leave, you have to sell the place first. Depending on where you live, that could be somewhat easy or very difficult, but usually you are looking at around a 3 to 6 month process.

If you aren’t ready to make a commitment to living in a specific area or city, or think your career might take you to other places, buying a home is not right for you. Renting gives extra flexibility to be able to up and leave at a moment’s notice and move across a city or the world. If your job or even personal preferences mean moving from place to place on a regular basis, don’t buy a place, rent.

Similarly, if you want to see the world, or live in exotic places, don’t buy a home. Pursue those dreams and put your extra money towards them instead of putting it in savings for a home. Get the travel bug out now, because once you have a home, it becomes a lot harder to spend a few months backpacking through Europe.

Comfortable with Home Maintenance?

19 Things a New Homeowner Should Do Immediately to Save Money

When renting a place, if something in the home breaks, you can call the landlord to fix it. Leaky sink? Call them up to contact a plumber for you. Wasps building a nest outside your front door? It’s your landlord’s job to get rid of them.

But when you buy a home, all of these problems, and more, become your responsibility. If you are swimming in cash, then sure, you can call specialists for each problem that needs fixing, but that’s probably not the case. That means getting comfortable with fixing things when they break and managing disasters when they strike. These are all things to keep in mind when looking at homes for sale on a Saturday afternoon.

Another point to consider if you are buying your first home, is whether to buy a fixer-upper home or spend more to get something nicer and newer. A new home will cost more, but have less maintenance needs and costs. A fixer-upper though will have more updating and maintenance, meaning you’ll need to be comfortable working on the home.

Making a Place Your Own

DECORATING MISTAKES FIRST-TIME HOMEOWNERS MAKE

While having to perform maintenance on a home is kind of a bummer, there is a major upside of not having a landlord: You have complete control over the home. There is no landlord telling you not to hang pictures using nails, prohibiting burning candles, or requiring permission to paint the walls. You can do whatever crazy things you want when you own a home, short of violating HOA standards in your neighborhood. To begin your quest to find a home, search online for ‘homes for sale in mount vernon il‘, or set to your preferred location.

Want to paint every wall hot pink? Go for it. Any type of home renovations or improvements are yours to do. That can be as small or large as you want, ranging from a simple paint job to knocking down walls. Home improvements don’t even have to be costly, just be smart about how you do them and you can make your home look great on a budget.

If you’re tired of living under the thumb of a super controlling landlord, consider buying your own home. That way, you have nobody to answer to but yourself (…and maybe the other people you live with).

Taking the Leap, Buying a Home

The Start-to-Finish Guide to Buying a Home

Again, the most important factor in buying a home is finances. If you don’t have the income to cover a mortgage and extra home-owner costs, don’t buy a place. But if you can afford it, have a stable income, and the renting life is starting to become too much to bear, buying a home might be the solution.

Don’t let your first time owning a home become a headache. Plan ahead for everything, from the home buying process, to having a stress free move, to deciding early on what kind of remodels and decoration to do. That way, everything goes as smoothly as possible, and you can quickly adjust to the homeowner lifestyle.

The post How to Know Whether You Are Ready to Buy a Home or Keep Renting appeared first on InstantELLA.

Encouragement

What to say and not say to friends and family coping with serious illness

It’s easy, as a close friend, to worry about the negative experiences your ill friend may have, and while you listen, there can be a tendency to join the pity party. It is good to listen to your friend’s concerns and show them that you understand, but taken too far, you can enable a negative mindset.

Don’t forget that a bit of encouragement can go a long way. And that encouragement should be geared toward your friend and their personality. Not everyone can handle overly inspiring quotes when they’re struggling at the bottom, but that’s also where some people thrive. It’s likely that the type of encouragement you give will depend on their current situation and feelings.

Support

What to Say to Someone Who’s Sick: This Life – ‘You Look Great’ and Other Lies

The word “support” gets thrown around quite a bit when discussing life-altering illnesses or situations–so much that you begin to wonder what it actually means. You can demonstrate support for your friend in many ways.

Your friend may need someone to check in on them regularly, maybe with a quick text or face-to-face visits. They may need occasional rides to radiation oncology appointments or just want a friend to be there with them.

Remember that giving support is not enforcing rules and routines for your friend; it’s showing them that you will be there as they choose to do those things on their own.

Flexibility

How to Support a Friend Who’s Just Been Diagnosed With a Chronic Illness

As anyone with a long-term illness can tell you, every day is not the same. Some days they can be full of energy, showing no outward signs that they’re sick, and on others, they can barely muster the energy to climb out of bed.

With so much fluctuation, it can be easy for friends and family to get frustrated about how these physical changes affect their own schedules and plans. Remember that it’s okay to cancel a night out and it’s okay to give your friend extra attention or space.

Consistency

This may seem contradictory to the flexibility mentioned above, but when it comes to enduring an experience that could potentially go on into the foreseeable future, you’ll need to pace yourself.

Don’t overdo the amount of attention and time you give your friend early on just to see yourself sputter out. Make sure you give yourself time and space to recuperate, too, so your support can be something to count on.

Variety

The 9 Most Frustrating Things About Being Chronically Ill

Sometimes illnesses like this begin to define the relationship you have with your friend. If all your interactions focus on how they’re feeling, how they’re doing, and what’s happening with the doctor, your friendship can halt its progress.

Part of the reason they want you around is the growing friendship you have. So don’t shy away from discussing yourself, and don’t shy away from happy stories and thoughtful discussions. Your normal relationship can do wonders to offset the somberness of their illness.

The post What to Do for a Friend with a Long-Term Illness appeared first on InstantELLA.