Buying your first home in South Florida

Before you look at anything

Talk to a lender first. Not to get a loan, but to find out what you qualify for and what your real monthly cost would be, because that determines which listings are worth your time.

Check your credit and correct anything wrong on it, since errors take time to resolve and affect pricing.

Work out what you have available, distinguishing between the deposit and cash to close, which are different and frequently confused.

Decide what you are comfortable paying monthly, which is a smaller number than what you qualify for and is the one that matters.

Do not take on new credit. A car financed during this period can cost you the house.

The three local surprises

Insurance. Get real quotes on specific properties rather than assuming a percentage. Roof age matters enormously, and a coastal property with an older roof can cost far more to insure than a comparable inland one with a new one.

Property taxes. The seller's bill reflects their exemptions and, for a long-term owner, years of capped increases. The assessment generally resets on sale, so ask what the taxes will be at your purchase price rather than reading the current bill.

Association dues. They reduce what you can borrow as well as adding to what you pay, and a special assessment can arrive outside them entirely. Read the association documents rather than skimming them.

Getting properly pre-approved

A pre-qualification is an opinion based on what you told someone. A pre-approval means a lender has reviewed your actual documents.

Sellers can tell the difference, and in a competitive situation it decides offers.

Ask for the full picture, meaning the payment including taxes, insurance and dues, rather than only the loan amount, because that is what you will actually pay.

Ask your lender to compare the programs you are eligible for rather than presenting one. Conventional, FHA, VA and USDA all serve different buyers and the comparison is arithmetic.

Programs worth asking about

Florida operates down payment assistance at state and local level, with eligibility rules and conditions including, in some cases, repayment on sale.

Some are aimed at particular professions, and some at particular counties or cities, so the answer depends on where you are buying as well as who you are.

A lender who works with these regularly is the right person to ask, since the programs change and the eligibility details are specific.

Where you are eligible for VA, it is generally the strongest financing available and worth using even if another program also fits.

The order the process runs in

Lender conversation, then pre-approval, then shopping. Doing it in the other order wastes time and occasionally loses a house.

Offer, then acceptance, then the deposit delivered within the contract's period.

Inspection immediately, not at the end of the period, so there is time to react.

Financing running in parallel throughout, with documents supplied the day they are requested.

Insurance quoted during the inspection period, while you still have options if the number is wrong.

Closing disclosure, funds arranged, walkthrough, closing.

What people wish they had known

That cash to close is larger than the deposit, and that discovering it late is stressful and avoidable.

That the payment rises after the first year when taxes reset and the escrow account is adjusted.

That maintenance is a real ongoing cost rather than an occasional event, particularly in this climate.

That buying at the top of the approval leaves nothing for the insurance renewal, the assessment or the air conditioning, all of which arrive eventually.

That the inspection is worth attending, because what you learn in that hour is knowledge you use for as long as you own the house.

Choosing where, not just what

First-time buyers concentrate on the house and frequently under-think the location, which is the part that cannot be changed afterwards.

Drive the commute at the time you would actually make it, not at midday. South Florida traffic makes a fifteen-minute distance a forty-minute journey twice a day.

Visit at different times. A street that is quiet on a Sunday afternoon can be very different on a weekday morning or a Friday night.

Look at the flood zone and the elevation, and ask what the property's history is in storms rather than only what the map says.

Consider what the area is doing rather than only what it is. Construction, changing commercial use and school boundary changes all affect what the home is worth later.

The house can be renovated. The location, the commute, the flood zone and the neighbours cannot.

The mistakes that recur

Shopping before talking to a lender, which wastes weeks and occasionally loses a house to someone who was ready.

Budgeting from the mortgage payment alone and being surprised by insurance, taxes and dues.

Spending every available dollar on the deposit and closing with no reserve, which is fine until the first thing breaks.

Taking on new credit between approval and closing, which is the most avoidable way to lose a purchase entirely.

Skipping the association documents, which contain the rules you will live under and the assessments you may inherit.

Buying at the very top of the approval, which is the decision that makes every other item on this list worse.

The first month after closing

Change the locks and any garage or gate codes. You have no idea how many keys exist.

File for your homestead exemption if the property is your permanent residence, and note the deadline, because a missed filing costs a full year.

Locate and label the water shutoff, the electrical panel and the air conditioning drain line, and learn how each works before you need it.

Set up a maintenance schedule, particularly for the air conditioning, which in this climate needs servicing rather than only attention when it fails.

Check that the property appraiser's record of the home is accurate, since errors in square footage or bedroom count affect the assessment and persist until someone notices.

Start rebuilding the reserve you spent at closing. It is the difference between the next unexpected cost being an inconvenience and being a crisis.