Three A's for an Advantage in Home Buying

On the road to home ownership, affordability is usually seen as the driving force enabling you to achieve your goal. Affordability is important, but there are two other drivers, Accessibility and Availability, which influence your journey to home ownership. When all 3 factors are in sync, the "Triple-A" advantage can accelerate your path to ownership.

Here’s why:

1. Accessibility is all about narrowing down the locations that work for you. How close is the home to your job? How close is it to your parents or other people that you’d like to be near? Great schools? Place of worship? Public transportation? Shopping?

You may not feel a need to be in close proximity to all of these things, but there are probably 1 or 2 that are high priority for you. Accessibility is usually the #1 overall factor that many people consider when looking for a home, whether to buy or to rent. So, it’s important for you to start by identifying locations (neighborhoods or cities) where you prefer to live.

2. Availability is about the type (or size) of home that you are looking for and whether it can be found in the locations that you’re considering. For example, you might prefer to be in a certain suburb, and you want to own a two-unit (duplex) home. If the typical home in that suburb is a single-family 3-bedroom home, then your preferred duplex home might not be readily available in that location.

NOTE: Unless you’re already very familiar with the locations that you’re considering, searching for home online will not be sufficient to investigate availability. You'll need to drive around the neighborhoods yourself, if possible, and/or work with a licensed agent who can let you know if what you’re seeking is available in your selected areas.

3. Affordability is how much home price you can comfortably manage based on your down payment and debt-to-income ratio (along with any co-buyers) and the monthly cost of the mortgage, property taxes and homeowners’ insurance for your type of home.

Many people focus on Affordability first, before everything else ... and there’s some wisdom in that. However, the truth is that there are a lot of people who can afford to own a home somewhere. It just depends on their willingness to relocate outside of the areas that they’re familiar with, or to start with a home smaller than their “dream home.”

Everyone’s approach to home ownership is different. You'll build your advantage when you use your Ownerscope QR key to connect with your contacts. Have the "triple-A" conversation with them, and watch how it helps to clarify your vision for home ownership.

Connect more and own sooner. Ask someone today, "What's Your Ownerscope?"