in this video I'm going to answer some of my favorite first-time homebuyer questions and definitely questions that I think every first time home buyer needs to know we're going to get right into it I'm shahida Hill getting you over the hill to home ownership and helping you confidently buy your first home question number one can you add someone to your deed without them being on the mortgage and in Most states this answer is yes this often happens when you have one spouse that is going ahead and getting the mortgage completely in their name and they're not using their other spouse on the loan but you can definitely add them to the deed usually right after closing or write during closing so you need to ask your closing attorney or your title company if you can add your spouse to the deed and most people that gives them ownership of the house um they're not on the mortgage so just be mindful of that when you give someone ownership of your proper then they get some saying what happens with that property so being on the deed gives them ownership but they have none of the responsibility of the mortgage so be very mindful of that if I'm married I want to be on the deed definitely even if I'm not on the mortgage number two can you buy a house in any state the answer to this is yes definitely you can buy a house in any state but you may lose the advantage of owner occupancy so owner occupancy means that you're going to be living in the house that you are buying so if you are just going to be buying a house that most lenders consider that an investment property if you're going to buy a house but you're not going to live in it so they feel that that's a higher risk okay you're more of a higher risk borrower because you have to live somewhere so you're going to pay your rent or your mortgage in the place that you are living before you you pay your rent or your mortgage in the place that you're not living so you're more of a higher risk to default on your mortgage so they give the the benefit lower interest rates lower down payments to people that are going to be owner occupants versus people that are going to buy and not live in that house now how do they know you're going to live in that house typically just by your employment if you work in the area you work in that state then they're assuming that you will be living in that house so you have to be able to prove that you're going to get get or have employment in that house by the time you close on that house so a lot of you that are moving out of state moving to another area you're going to have to make sure that you can prove be you know a job offer or something like that that you're going to be living in that state if you want to take advantage of lower interest rates and lower down payments because it's going to be you know a lot more to for you to buy it as an investment property or as a second property number three can you buy a house right out of college the answer to this is yes as well one of the benefits of buying a house right out of college is that you don't have to wait the two years typically required like two years of work history that most lenders want you to have before you buy your first home so if you are going to have a job you do have to have a job if you're going to have a job right out of college then you can you know get a house or qualify for a house without two years of work history as long as you have income you have that job you'll be able to typically I'm creating all of that stuff matters as well but typically you'll be able to buy a house right out of college number four how do you know if you're getting a good interest rate there are two things I'm gonna give you for this one number one is I love this website this website is something that the Consumer Finance commission they come out with and they're using real data to tell you what people are getting in your state by interest rate so in your state buy interest rate you can look at this um this website and they'll tell you the average that people are getting in your area and then also of course if you watch this channel for a while you know you need to get three quotes you're not just gonna go with one lender you're going to get three quotes and see what rates they're all quoting you so you make sure you're getting the the best rate that way as well number five how much money do I have to have in the bank to get a pre-approval I love this question because you don't have to have any money in the bank to get a pre-approval I'm not saying you have don't have to have any money in the bank clothes but to get a pre-approval is just saying hey you'll be able to afford or you'll be able to borrow this amount to buy a house and I like for first-time home buyers to know this as early as possible so even if you don't have a lot of money saved or no any money saved you can get a pre-approval if you have a good credit score if you have you know employment if you have that typically you can go ahead and get pre-approved so you know exactly where you stand and I like again I like for first time home buyers to get this as early as possible so don't worry about how much money you have to have in the bank to get a pre-approval now to close you will have to have your down payment you will have to have your closing costs but you'll be able to figure out what that is either ahead of time or after the fact because you don't have to pay anything for a pre-approval so I like that knowledge for people to know you know as they're planning where they stand all right we're halfway through our list so number six what is considered a first time home buyer and a lot of people need to know this if they're planning on using a first-time homebuyer program and it really depends on the program but for the most part they consider a first-time homebuyer somebody that has not owned a home in the last three years so it's not that you've never owned a home but you cannot have owned a home in a lot of cases in the last three years but if you have it on one in the last three years they will in most cases consider you a first-time homebuyer and then some you know programs that only require that you don't currently own a home so you really want to make sure that you understand how they what they consider a first-time homebuyer number seven can I use multiple down payment assistance or Grant programs at once and this really depends on the programs I've seen some State programs where you can you know stack them with a city program but you have to ask the administrator of that program are there any other you know Assistance or grants that I can use with your program because they will know things that people have used in the past and been successful in using but for the most part some of our larger programs like Bank of America and trying to put NACA with you know that program a lot of those things don't go together but if you just ask the program administrator can you use another grant program another down payment assistance program with their program they typically have that answer for you number eight am I too old to buy a house there is no age requirement other than being 18 because that's when you can enter into a contract but after 18 there's no age limit to buy a house you can buy a house at any age they can't discriminate against you because of your age as well so if you're 90 and you can afford it you have the credit and you want to buy a house you could but I would say you want to make sure when you're buying in retirement because you're probably not going to work in those later years of your life that you're going to be able to afford the house that you're buying so you want to be very cautious and that you can afford that payment I also want you to move to a place that doesn't increase your taxes as you age because you're likely going to be on a fixed income in retirement so you want to make sure that and there are several cities and states that don't charge you know senior property taxes so you want to see what those states or cities are before you buy and you know you'll be able to have a stable payment over time versus you renting and that payment going up year after year so I really like buying a house in retirement because at least you can stabilize your um your largest payment but you want to be mindful about taxes and that sort of thing and get into those cities like for example where I live they stop charging seniors over 62 the school tax and that's a big part of our property taxes so you want to make sure that you're in one of those areas so you're not going to be hit over time by these high property tax bills and in a lot of cities they also freeze so once you reach a certain age they don't increase your taxes anymore all right number nine can I use child support as income I love this question as well because I know we have a lot of single parents you know that are trying to buy a house for their children their families and they maybe they divorce and they had a house now they want to get a house again so this answer is yes you can use your child support as income it's better if it's kind of court ordered or it's you know there's a written document that everybody's agreed to and they're paying you have proof you know that is consistent but you can definitely use your child support as income the only caution that I would give you is that if you're not going to receive it for three years or more they may not count it so if you have older children you know 15 16 teenagers they may not count it as income so you want to make sure if you're thinking about buying a house and you have older children um you may want to like they're 12 or you know that age and they're creeping on up there you may want to make buying a house a priority because you know they're not going to count it if they don't feel like you're going to be getting that child support after three years and even if this is another thing I want you to be mindful of even if in your like divorce decree it says that your spouse will pay through college they may not count that either because they'll say well what if your child stops going to college then they don't have to pay anymore so you can't use that you know to say well they'll always be paying you know four years after they're 18 because if they drop out of college they stop going to college you're not going to get that payment anymore so you want to make sure you're getting it as early as possible because in your mind if you know hey you know my child is 15 I'm gonna get it for the next three years or maybe in the next seven years then that's something that you know but the lender they're not too sure so they're not going to out that income so I just want you to prioritize that number 10 I have my pre-approval how do I know what my mortgage payment will be now this is a very very important question for you to ask your lender because oftentimes they're quick to give you a pre-approval you're pre-approved for 500 000 but you have no idea what your mortgage payment is going to be unless you ask them for a loan estimate you want a loan estimate that's going to have your principal your interest your estimated Insurance your estimated taxes any mortgage insurance you want a very detailed estimate as to what will your monthly payment be do not stop at the pre-approval after you get your pre-approval the next thing you should ask your lender is what will my mortgage payment be I need a loan estimate and if they're asking you you know they need an address just give them an address at in an area that you're thinking about moving to so they can estimate those taxes accurately but I hope this was helpful these are my 10 questions put any other questions you want answered into the comments and maybe I'll make another video with another 10 questions but definitely check out my playlist because I go in detail about a lot of these things on my channel thank you 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