It is very likely to be the most significant purchase you ever make. Because of its long term ramifications, you want to take the process seriously. Below, the experts at Crawford Mulholland provide Finance Monthly with a simple guide to buying your first home.

1. Are You Ready?

First, you want to examine whether or not you are actually ready to purchase a home. Buying a home isn't something that you should jump into without proper preparation and knowledge. While owning your own home might sound appealing, it involves a lot of maintenance and ongoing work. When you own a home, you are responsible for paying all of the repairs and you are going to be responsible for paying for the respective taxes, insurance, and everything else. Because of this, you need to figure out if you are financially ready for such a leap.

2. Budget For Other Costs

You want to be sure that you are factoring in the costs that you might not necessarily be looking at initially. There are plenty of costs associated with buying your own home that you have to factor into your buying decision including but not limited to the removal costs, stamp duty, the initial furnishing, the survey costs, the solicitor's fees, and more. Make sure that you are factoring in everything when you are making a buying decision.

3. Shop For A Mortgage

Once you have decided that you want to go ahead and purchase a home, you want to shop around for a mortgage. This way, you will be able to minimise the interest rates that you are forced to pay on the mortgage. You will be able to search for some of the best mortgage rates online in order to find the best deal. You want to find the best deal because it will end up saving you a lot of money in the long run and you will need to look to see which type of mortgage would best suit your family.

4. Find The Right Property

When you are shopping around for your first home, you want to take the necessary steps in order to find the right one. Finding the right home is very important because you don't want to make such a large investment in something that you are going to regret later on. Take your time to figure out where you want to live and find a home that is suitable for you to live. You should be looking at the different properties in the surrounding areas that you would like to live to see whether or not you can find a place that you would love to call home. Don't rush the search process because it is going to dictate where you live for the foreseeable future. You want to factor various things in this process including how long the home has been on the market, why the property is being sold, and what is included in the sale.

5. Prepare To Negotiate

If you are going to be purchasing a home for the first time, you want to be prepared to negotiate. Without proper negotiating, you are not going to minimise the total price you end up having to pay for the property.

Overall, there are plenty of things that you can do to make the process much simpler. By following the tips above, you should be able to maximise your chances of finding a great home to purchase as a first time home buyer.

One of the top things that you need not skip is the "staging" process. This is the phase where your house will be readily available for potential buyers to see. Not only does this help you sell your property faster, but it even helps you add a few more pounds and value to your house for sale. Listed below are some tips on how you can prepare for your house's staging process.

1. Declutter

Go over your entire home and de-clutter your space. Whether it's a one-story home or a three-story house filled with lots of rooms and baths, you may want to go over your things declutter those that you're not using at all. Give it to charity, sell them, give it to a friend. If you've not used it for months, then it's probably best that it goes. While you may not be including furniture pieces at home along with the sale, this is still an important process because we want to make sure that potential buyers won't see the house in a "messy" and "cluttered" state.

2. Re-Paint

A fresh lick of paint will immediately transform an old-looking house and give it a fresh, new look. Make sure that when you're showing your property to potential buyers, given them a nice impression. Show them how beautiful the property is, and they can't appreciate it if the paints are all chipped, old, and dusty. Choose neutral colors for the paint and avoid personalizing the house too much. This way, buyers can see the true beauty of the home and they can do the personalization themselves.

3. Keep It Clean And Minimal Looking

If there are minor repairs that need to be done, do it. Do you have holes in the wall? Fix it? Are the door knobs broken? Replace it! We want to make sure that the house looks clean, refreshing, yet minimal looking. Do not over-decorate. It's hard to appreciate the entire house when it is filled with large furniture and overwhelming with home decor.

You may also want to do a general cleaning this time. If you can't do it, hire someone to professional help you with this. Get rid of the lime streaks if any, clean the windows, make sure that the floors are waxed - until every inch of the house is squeaky clean.

4. Upgrade Your Kitchen!

Did you know that the kitchen is one of the most precious and well-prized of your home? Many people's decisions make or break when it comes to the kitchen. Resurface your kitchen cabinets, replace the tiles or clean them if they're all filthy. You may also want to consider upgrading your kitchen countertop. It may be a little bit expensive, but it definitely adds a lot more value to your home and helps you sell it at the best price.

5. Keep It Light And Airy

Give your guests a welcoming feeling. Make sure that the house doesn't have furniture that is too squished or too close together. Making it look light and airy adds value to your house and can even help you sell it at a higher price.

6. Keep House Smelling Clean!

We don't want potential buyers stepping into your home while the house smells stinky! If there are drainage problems, it may cause odor and we don't want to just patch that with a band aid. Instead, to add value to your home and to make sure that it sells quickly at the best price, fix the source of the problem.

During a house visit, you may also want to bake some cookies or bread, as it helps them feel at home. Or, you can add some diffusers for a nice smelling home with therapeutic effects too!

8. Work With An Estate Agent

Lastly, to make sure that you won't be ripped off by potential buyers, make sure that you work with an experienced real estate agent. Find one that has extensive experience in this field and one that can help you further increase the value of your home. When giving potential buyers a tour to your home, let the agent do the talking. They're the ones trained and they know exactly what to say, to help you get the best price and even sell the home much quicker.

From refrigerators and lamps to door locks and heating, the Internet of Things (IoT) has revolutionised the way we live and work, making a truly robust ecosystem of smart devices a reality. Here Leigh Moody, UK Managing Director at SOTI, walks Finance Monthly through the developments of a ‘connected home’ and how these present opportunities for other sectors.

Indeed, IoT has quickly become one of the hottest technology topics around, expanding into all manner of industries as the rate of innovation shows no signs of slowing down.

Within the home, IoT has turned everyday objects into connected products designed to make our lives easier, more convenient, and more comfortable. The likes of connected electricity meters and doorbells have already been around for some time, giving consumers a taste of the possibilities on offer.

And momentum in the industry is continuing to intensify, with the worldwide connected home market predicted to grow from its $24 billion valuation in 2016, to $53 billion by the year 2022.

Smart devices have certainly made their mark among consumers, but this isn’t the only place where IoT is having a significant impact. Connected devices are also quickly becoming more commonplace in industrial settings such as factories and hospitals, as well as in traditional office environments.

It’s an area that more and more device manufacturers are trying to exploit and one that has endless possibilities – especially for those businesses that can learn from what has already happened within the connected home.

IoT in business

As the Internet of Things has become more mainstream, vendors and businesses alike have taken inspiration from the smart home model and quickly realised that connected devices have plenty to offer a B2B environment.

From increased productivity and more accurate decision-making, to reduced production costs and a better understanding of customer needs, there are countless examples of how IoT is bringing value to enterprises around the world.

For example, manufacturing firms have started to deploy smart sensors in their factories for predictive equipment maintenance. This enables them to save valuable money in labour costs and lost revenue by proactively identifying issues before they become a major problem, rather than waiting for something to break down.

Similar ‘smart’ technology is also transforming vehicle management in logistics companies, with the data collected enabling businesses to become much more cost-efficient by reducing fuel spend and vehicle downtime.

Then there is retail, where IoT is being used at virtually all stages of the product journey. This starts with optimising the supply chain and using analytics to ensure the right products are in the right place at the right time, while also enabling brands to transform the in-store experience and connect with shoppers in a more personal way.

These are all hugely compelling use cases, but just the tip of the iceberg with regards to what the Internet of Things will make possible in the future.

So, it’s clear that IoT is set to gain substantial value within the enterprise over the coming years. But, in order for its potential to be realised, there is one key challenge that will first have to be overcome.

Solving the data dilemma

The main driver for enterprise IoT is that the large volumes of data created by connected devices present a huge opportunity. By leveraging the power of analytics – either on a small scale or across large deployments – businesses can gain additional layers of insight into their operations and make improvements.

This is exactly what the smart home enables. By using connected products to track energy usage, for example, consumers can learn where they are spending the most money and become more cost-efficient.

However, from an enterprise perspective, the challenge comes in being able to efficiently manage and control hundreds or potentially thousands of smart devices. Simply keeping track of the vast swathes of data being generated from devices in a range of different locations and from an assortment of vendors, is already a serious issue and is likely to be the biggest IoT challenge IT departments will face in the future.

What they don’t want is to have several platforms pulling in different data streams. Not only would this be hugely confusing to manage, the lack of coordination would create a fragmented picture of what is going on across the business.

Instead, enterprises need to have one integrated view of everything, through one pane of glass, to manage their IoT ecosystem as simply as possible.

Incorporating an effective device management strategy such as this would go a long way towards helping enterprises enable all that the connected future has to offer. IT teams would have full visibility into what is going on across every single endpoint, enabling them to maximise the value of the data being collected.

There may be challenges along the way, but developments in the consumer world have already shown the impact IoT can have on our everyday lives. By taking the concept of the smart home to the next level and putting systems in place to efficiently manage the data that is collected from a growing number of devices, enterprises will be able to innovate and take advantage of the tremendous potential the Internet of Things has to offer.

To hear about mortgage misconceptions and the challenges that potential homeowners face in California, Finance Monthly talks to broker and owner of Mortgage Express – Carole Ryan.

What are the key misconceptions among buyers in relation to mortgages?

Buying your first home should be an exciting and fun endeavour, but I think a lot of potential first-time homebuyers are held back by misconceptions of the loan approval process and the fear they may not qualify. Two of the biggest misconceptions are that they need 20% down and perfect credit. But not anymore - Fannie Mae’s, HomeReady mortgages, and Freddie Mac’s

Home Possible® and Home Possible Advantage® mortgages are new and innovative conventional programs that bring a whole new set of underwriting guidelines to help more low to moderate-income borrowers realize their dream of home ownership. Down payments of 3%, FICOs starting at 620 with most lenders, and higher debt-to-income ratio’s in some circumstances.

Another change by Fannie and Freddie that took effect on 1 January 2018 will also help buyers buy more with less down. The conforming and high-balance loan limits were increased. Now buyers can put 3% down on loans of up to $453,100, whilst in high-balance areas, from $453,101 to $679,650, the minimum down is 5%. The bottom line here is that if you are seriously interested in buying a home, there are options out there to help your achieve your dream of homeownership. The only thing that you have to do is to take the first step - find a good lender and get preapproved.

What are the key challenges that your clients face before applying for a mortgage and how do you help them overcome them?

As a broker with over 25 years of experience in mortgage lending, I work with all types of buyers. I find that almost all of the clients that I advise face challenges revolving around what I call the BIG 3 - income, credit and funds to close. If we have a debt to income issue, we look at adding a co-signor, and/or paying off debt, or as a last resort - buying less. I help borrowers resolve minor credit issues that don’t keep them from getting a loan, those with major issues, I refer to a great credit restoration company I work with.

There are several solutions for funds to close. The easiest one being a “gift” from a family member, a lender credit, based on the interest rate chosen, a seller credit, a loan against or liquidation of a 401K, and of course a variety of down payment assistance programs.

What makes your company unique when compared to your competitors?

What makes me and my company unique is very simple - I’m able to provide incredible hands on service to my clients, built around their schedules and needs. Mortgage Express is my company and I handle all of the loans that I work on personally - from pre-approval to close of escrow. This allows me to oversee my files, keeping everyone involved in the transaction updated and being sure we’re always on track to meet the closing date. I meet with borrowers on-line in a unique screen share, based on the time of day, night or weekend that is convenient for them, whilst they can attend from the comfort of home. This allows me to show them, in real time, how their income, debt and assets affect the loan they can qualify for, as well as ways to restructure the loan in different ways, based on their needs. All of this as they watch, ask questions and request changes. It’s also a great opportunity for me to educate them about the processes we will be going through so they know exactly what to expect, including our time frame and the items I will need them to take care of. No screen share would be complete without an explanation of how lenders pricing works, showing them the different interest rates, and how pricing adjustments affect the options they will choose from. We wrap up with me preparing an estimate of funds needed for closing. The real magic starts when they get an accepted contract and escrow is opened. In a matter of a few days, I have the loan submitted, appraisal ordered and our initial loan approval. My average closing time is 21 days.

According to ATTOM Data Solutions’ Q1 2017 US Home Sales Report, which shows that homeowners who sold in the first quarter realized an average price gain of $44,000 since purchase, representing an average 24% return on the purchase price — the highest average price gain for home sellers in terms of both dollars and percentage returns since Q3 2007.

Meanwhile, the report also shows that homeowners who sold in the first quarter had owned an average of 7.97 years, down slightly from a record-high average homeownership tenure of 8.00 years in Q4 2016 but still up from 7.68 years in Q1 2016. Homeownership tenure averaged 4.26 years nationwide between Q1 2000 and Q3 2007, prior to the Great Recession.

"The first quarter of 2017 was the most profitable time to be a home seller in nearly a decade, and yet homeowners are continuing to stay put in their homes longer before selling," said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president with ATTOM Data Solutions. "This counterintuitive combination is in part the result of the low inventory of move-up homes available for current homeowners, while also perpetuating the scarcity of starter homes available for first-time homebuyers.

"The average homeownership tenure was down from a year ago in nine of the 66 markets we analyzed, including Memphis, Dallas, Boston, Portland and Tampa," Blomquist added.

Markets with biggest home seller price gains
Among 97 metropolitan statistical areas with at least 1,000 home sales in Q1 2017 (and with previous sales price information available), those with the highest average price gain since purchase realized by home sellers during the quarter were San Jose, California ($356,500 average price gain); San Francisco, California ($276,750 average price gain) and Los Angeles, California ($187,000 average price gain).

"Across our Southern California markets, low listing inventory has continued to drive multiple-offer scenarios," said Michael Mahon, president at First Team Real Estate covering the Southern California market. "We have noticed many buyers now leveraging investment accounts, as well as some leverage of reverse mortgages, to enable their ability to negotiate in competitive multiple-offer scenarios. This level of competition, as well as continued signals of a growth economy, has created momentum particularly in the luxury market of over $1 million in sales price."

Metro areas with the highest% return on the previous purchase price were San Jose, California (71% average ROI); San Francisco, California (65%); and Seattle, Washington (56%);

"Thanks to Seattle's robust economic and job growth, home prices continue to rise at well above average rates and have now surpassed their pre-housing bubble peak. Because of this, it's no surprise that distressed sales continue to fall," said Matthew Gardner, chief economist at Windermere Real Estate, covering the Seattle market. "The increase in all-cash home sales in Seattle is likely not a result of investors, but rather all-cash buyers who are using this tactic to win homes in what it is a hyper-competitive housing market."

Cash sales share down from a year ago, still above pre-recession levels
All-cash sales represented 30.0% of all single family and condo sales in Q1 2017, up from 29.1% in the previous quarter but down from 32.1% in Q1 2016. The 30.0% share in the first quarter was well below the peak of 44.7% in Q1 2011 but was still above the pre-recession average of 20.4% from Q1 2000 to Q3 2007.

"With a stronger market and overall sales increasing, we are seeing a decrease in foreclosure sales across the markets we serve, as well as seeing a decrease in institutional investors purchasing homes," said Matthew Watercutter, senior regional vice president and broker of record for HER Realtors, covering the Dayton, Columbus and Cincinnati markets in Ohio. "With the stronger market and availability of money from institutional lenders such as mortgage companies and credit unions, we are seeing a decrease in cash purchases, as more properties are being sold to owner occupants and fewer to investors."

(Source: ATTOM Data Solutions)

JP Donnelly, founder, www.5starvillasales.com

 Buying a holiday home is one of the biggest decisions you will ever make; make it right and you will have a long term investment for you and your family to enjoy for years to come. However, the process of buying a vacation home can be overwhelming, negotiating potential language barriers, dealing with the legal aspects, even finding the right home in the first place. As experts in luxury villa sales, here are our tips to help you on your way.

1. A home, a rental or a bit of both

 I acquired my first holiday home aged 24 when I bought three apartments in Alanya and for me it was always an investment rather than a home and I feel this distinction is important. If you’re looking for a property as an investment your criteria would be different to a second home. The key to a good investment property is often timing; buying at the right price in the right conditions. And if your motivation is purely for a holiday home, then look at factors like flying time and flight availability from local airports to make even long weekends at your home in the sun feasible. But the reason that most people buy a vacation home is to be able to use it as a base for family holidays for a number of weeks, renting it out the rest of the time. The main issue to consider here is the demand year round, alongside issues like maintenance and durability of fixtures and fittings and facilities- a private south facing pool is something almost all renters will ask for!

2. Location, location, location.

Emotion undoubtedly drove the purchase of my first holiday home. Alanya in Turkey was an area that I knew and loved and it is extremely likely that when it comes to buying your holiday home, you too will be drawn to locations that perhaps you have holidayed in in the past. But don’t let emotion completely drive the purchase. When thinking about location, consider your main reason for buying. For pure investment then locations like New Zealand and Florida are good bets; Florida came fifth in an investment review of American property hotspots in 2015. Again, timing is everything here; look at prices over the years and only buy when the conditions are right.

For a pure holiday home, look at European destinations like Spain, Cyprus and Turkey to maximise your time out there, and if you do consider further afield bear in mind that this will usually mean less holidays but of longer duration- your schedule and lifestyle will often make this decision for you. For a holiday home that you also rent out, the demand for short term rental is key with Florida having one of the best rental markets. 5 Star Villa Sales has 4 to 9 bedroomed vacation homes at the exclusive Champion’s Gate gated community, offering strong rental potential and yield. Expect to pay around £341, 993 ($512,990) for a 3812 ft², 8 bedroom, 5 bathroom, 2 garage ‘Maui’ home. The rental income on a property like this can cover ongoing costs, including mortgage, management and maintenance fees whilst allowing owners to enjoy 3-4 weeks in the property each year. At current rates the 8 bedroom Maui will rent at £2629 for 7 nights.

3. Look after the legal aspects

 Before you set out on a trip to research properties, it is always best to work out the figures and if you require a mortgage, then look to obtain a decision in principle beforehand. This puts you in a stronger negotiating position. I have come across many, many people who have purchased their holiday home without the assistance of a lawyer, but in my opinion, their assistance can be invaluable- especially if you are a cash purchaser. A lawyer will look at aspects such as outstanding debts (like maintenance fees for example) that are owing on a property so that you don’t get lumbered with them post purchase, and ensure that any taxes due are paid. An English speaking lawyer can also assist with overcoming any language barriers. Research potential lawyers beforehand and find out if they specialise in property law, you may even be able to speak to previous clients.

5 Star Villa Holidays offers holiday homes for sale in Florida, Turkey, Spain and Cyprus at www.5starvillasales.com or on 0151 494 9145, and rental properties with sister company www.5starvillaholiday.com