13 Best Tips How to Save for a House in Florida

Since housing prices have been on a tear over the last decade, that down payment is significant.

You need a 20 per cent down payment when you buy a home.

Saving for a house doesn’t have to be a tiring and lengthy ordeal.

However, it is not something that is easily achieved and does take a large amount of discipline and a well executed strategy.

The smartest move you can make is to take a concerted effort to save.

That means setting up automatic transfers from your main chequing account to another account or fund.

Make sure you can’t lose your money: if the market drops right before you buy, your real estate deal could be at risk.

Also, be careful about locking in all your money.

Many financial services products are not that flexible and you might not be able to get your money when you need it

Getting in the habit of saving, curbing your spending and preparing yourself financially and mentally for home ownership is a gradual process.

The more disciplined you are, and the more patient, the more likely you’ll be to save enough and be truly ready for the challenges ahead.

How To Save More Money For A House in Florida

Be Smart With Your Money

Don’t force yourself to live just above the poverty line, but don’t be silly with your spending either.

Cut down on the things you don’t need to buy, and where you don’t care about brands buy the cheaper version.

Eating crappy cereal would make us miserable and wouldn’t make us happy to save towards our investments.

Emotions play a huge role in saving money, if you are miserable you will splurge, if you are happy then you will continue saving.

Take It Straight Out Of Your Pay

Don’t try to live for the entire month (or pay period) and then save what is left, save your money as soon as you get paid and then live off the rest, stretching it as far as you can.

If you try to live first and save second you will find you run out of money before you get a chance to save, but if you save first then you will find that you can stretch to live (and enjoy life) off the remainder.

FIRST AND FOREMOST…GET RID OF DEBT!

One thing that can REALLY hold you back from saving up for a house is if you already have a large amount of debt (either from student loans, credit cards, car loans, etc.). Now this is not a post about ways to get rid of debt, but before we move onto the other frugal living tips I wanted to start with this. When you are starting saving up a house, you really want to find ways to get rid of or pay down your existing debt. This will make a HUGE difference if you are saving for a house deposit. Every time you are able to get rid of debt, get in the habit of putting that money directly into your savings for the down payment!

SAVE UP FOR ALL CASH PURCHASES.

All of those credit card offers or financing opportunities can definitely be tempting, but one of the best ways to save money is to save up so you can afford all cash purchases for larger items like appliances or furniture. That way, you can avoid the interest payments altogether.

For the largest items like cars or home purchases that require you to get a loan, save up for the largest down payment possible to lower the amount of interest paid.

LIVE IN SMALL TOWN.

I get it, this is a little bit of a weird way to save more money! But, we noticed a big difference in the cost of living when we moved to a smaller town from the big city. Rent and home prices are cheaper in smaller towns. Even things like restaurant prices and grocery store prices are slightly better. Even if you’re tied to a large city, you can save typically save more money by moving out to the suburbs.

KEEP MONTHLY BILLS AS LOW AS POSSIBLE.

Our frame of mind has always been to try to keep monthly bills as low as possible. This helps give us peace of mind if something unexpected comes up. To keep our monthly obligations low, we:

  • Don’t sign up for monthly subscriptions (like newspapers, magazines and subscription boxes).
  • Save up and pay up front when we can, rather than taking financing options.

LIVE BELOW YOUR MEANS.

While you’re saving for a house deposit, you’ll probably have to live below your means for a while. Just because you can rent a 3 bedroom apartment, do you really need it or could you make a 2 bedroom work? Just because you can afford the new truck, do you really it or could you buy something used? Always keeping your big WHY in mind helps as you “suffer” a bit and live below your means to save more money.

DIY WHENEVER POSSIBLE.

The DIY movement has shown up in full force in recent years…but DIY isn’t all about home improvements or those cute crafts you see on Pinterest. You can save more money by DIYing more things around your house like….making your own DIY household cleaners, cooking your own meals, even distressing your own jeans.

Tap into your IRA.

If you have a Roth IRA or a traditional IRA, you can withdraw up to $10,000 for your first home purchase without the standard fees and early withdrawal penalty.

Invest it.

Aspiring homeowners who don’t plan to buy for at least five years might help their savings grow if they invest a part of it, Halliwell says. But only a portion of savings should be put into market-based investments, like an S&P 500 index fund. You have to understand the risk associated with that. There is no guarantee you’re going to make money, especially in shorter time frames.

KNOW YOUR LIMITS

You need at least an idea of how much house you’ll be able to afford. Like, you don’t need to save $100,000 as the down payment on a $500,000 house if you won’t be able to afford the monthly payments on that $500,000 house anyway, right?

But what is the monthly payment on a $500,000 house? That’s a hard question to answer, because it depends on a few different factors.

Spend Money On Non-Depreciating Assets

Most of us spend all of our money on things where their value either disappears (foods value disappears once you eat it) or depreciates in value.

The goal here is to still have fun spending things, but buy things that hold their value that you can resell when it’s time to buy a house. 

Encourage Your Spouse To Be A Part Of The Saving Process

Often couples have one person who takes care of the money. That person is the “budgeter” in the relationship.

Usually the budgeter will organize the money, but the other person is the one who spends the money on a day to day level. The budgeter is the person who says “we a going to save this”, but they have no control over how the spouse can save money.

If you can get your spouse a part of the saving process then you can save your deposit so much quicker. It might be worth getting them to track how much they are saving on the shopping so they can see their contribution to the deposit.

Find out what works for you, but get them involved and make your life easier.

Best Way How to save for a house in Florida

It takes a lot of small expenses to add up to a big expense.

If you really want to get anywhere, you need to cut back on big expenses, like housing, like health care. Because otherwise what happens is you tend to get swamped.

So what to do if you’re trying to save for a home or any other big purchase?

Make saving automatic. Take the money out of your paycheck before it hits your account

Strive to save between 10 to 20 percent of your

Use cash, not plastic

Engage with your money — the more you do, the more empowered you’ll feel.

The Best Advice in How to save for a house in Florida

One last thing.

Don’t buy a house before you’re ready!

You’re not ready if you:

  • Don’t have an emergency fund
  • Aren’t contributing to a retirement account
  • Struggle to pay all your bills
  • Have high-interest debt (like credit cards!)
  • Don’t have at least semi-stable income

Take care of those basic before you jump into such a big investment!

Mintco Financial Financial Planning in Florida

A house is very often the biggest financial investment you’ll ever make—so, it makes sense to consult your financial advisor.

A good financial advisor will help you ask the right questions before buying a home. 

We are here to help you in this big decision!

Call us at 813-964-7100

www.MintcoFinancial.com

Email us info@mintcofinancial.com