How To Manage Stress When Dealing With Home Financing

One excellent way to improve your financial profile is to buy a home of your own. But we won’t lie: It’s a long and potentially incredibly stressful process, especially when it comes to the dollars and cents of securing a mortgage loan.

So how do you navigate the stress of the journey in order to reach Destination Homeowner? There’s a lot that’s within your control to help ease some of that stress and make the whole thing a little bit easier. If you take a few steps upfront to manage the financial details early, you’ll thank yourself on moving day.

Get pre-approved for a mortgage

Getting your mortgage loan is arguably the most labor-intensive aspect of buying a home. You’ll have to submit documents that show your:

  • income and expenses
  • tax returns
  • bank statements
  • paystubs

A mortgage pre-approval is much more involved than its lighter cousin, the mortgage pre-qualification.
A pre-approval will help you understand exactly how your new home will fit into your finances and whether you can even afford the house you’re currently touring. Some buyers make the mistake of getting pre-qualified for a mortgage, making an offer on a house they love – and then discovering once they submit all their paperwork that they can’t actually get a loan for that amount.

Pick the best mortgage for your situation

All mortgages will help you buy a home, but not all mortgages are created equal when it comes to your own personal financial profile.

  • If you know you’re only going to be in your current city for two or three more years before pursuing a career change elsewhere, for example, then maybe a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is the wrong choice for you.
  • You could build more equity in a shorter period of time with a 15-year mortgage, and an adjustable-rate mortgage might give you a more competitive rate for the time you’ll be in the home.
  • Conversely, if you are planning on digging in and staying for a while, then a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage might be exactly what you need.

Save as much as you can

Even if you’re securing a low-down-payment or no-down-payment mortgage, you should still expect some out-of-pocket costs that you’ll have to shoulder before you can start paying a mortgage instead of rent.
Depending on the sales contract, buyers will likely have to pay for the appraiser and the inspector to look at the house and (respectively) appraise and inspect it. A seller might request earnest money in order to accept an offer, so buyers will have to provide that.

  • Necessary repairs to the house might be taken on by the buyer in order to expedite the sale, so that’s another possible expense to consider.
  • There are closing costs that need to be paid to the title company upon closing, and if a buyer wants to purchase title insurance to protect the sale, that’s an additional expense, too. 
  • And don’t forget about the cost of moving – you’ll need time off work and a truck at minimum, or to hire your own movers. Then once you move in, you might need to pick up some new furniture or other items for your new space.

Research before you bid

If you’ve found a home that could be yours and you’re ready to make a bid, stop and think before you decide on a number.

Offering the seller’s asking price may seem a perfectly safe move to make (and it might be), but how will you feel when you learn that most sellers in the area are negotiating down from their listing price? (Here’s how you’ll feel: Like you left several thousand perfectly good dollars on the table that could have been yours).

Offering less than asking price could also be considered a safe move in some markets, but in others, you might have priced yourself out of consideration from the opening bid.

A good real estate agent can explain your local market trends and help you come up with a bid that works with your budget and will be seen as serious and competitive by the seller. Agents can show you whether houses in the area have been selling for below or above the asking price and can help you find that sweet spot where both you and the seller are happy with the deal.

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Caitlyn Weiman

Caitlyn has been running the operations at Lark + Co since fall of 2022. She has also been licensed in real estate sales since 2013, and enjoys working with first-time homebuyers and investors, alike. Caitlyn enjoys running numbers and helping clients find the right rental mix for their properties.

Caitlyn has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Colorado Denver with an emphasis on Sculpture, but these days art is just for fun when she assists Kristin with furnishing and design. She lives in Brighton with her husband, daughter, cat, and dog. They enjoy going to “the lake” on the weekends in the summer or Sunday movie days in the colder months.

Kim Nicol

Portfolio Manager

Lark is excited to have Kim join our team as our Portfolio Manager. Kim brings her organizational skills and upbeat attitude to help us keep things running smoothly. 

Kim was born in California and moved to Colorado in 2019. She has a background in Early Childhood Education and management.  Kim loves children and has adored her years teaching, nurturing and helping them grow, but was looking for new challenges.

She has always had a passion for Real Estate and is excited to start her path in this career. Kim lives in Brighton with her husband, four kids, two dogs and three lizards. She enjoys being outdoors, spending quality time with her kiddos, and shopping for fun new water tumblers.

Kristin Johnson

(Owner)

Kristin became a licensed Real Estate Agent in 2016 and joined Re/Max Synergy In 2020 in order to help build a property management division. In 2022 in collaboration with her colleagues Kristin decided to open Lark+CO in order to provide an array of Real Estate services to her clients under one roof. These services currently include buying, selling and marketing single family and multi-family homes, property management for single and multi-family furnished and unfurnished rentals as well as design services. In the near future we are excited to add lending and insurance to our portfolio of offerings.

Before getting into Real Estate, Kristin worked in business to business sales where she ran high producing sales teams and developed lasting relationships with vendors, associates and local organizations. Kristin loves meeting and connecting with people – especially potential buyers, business partners, investors and tenants to discuss and understand their specific needs and aspirations. Kristin will find something unique that is tailored to their goals and collaborate on business growth strategies. Kristin successfully sets rents in the Colorado market while helping clients earn their highest potential on their rental properties to achieve financial goals and freedoms.

Kristin adores living in Colorado and enjoys all of the outdoor activities that Colorado has to offer. Her favorite is spending time in the mountains with family and friends, her Bernese Mountain dog Hugo, and Lhasa Poo Lola. Vail holds a special place in her family’s hearts and you can find them relaxing in and fishing by the Gore Creek, riding bikes down the gorgeous bike path to Vail Village, skiing the idyllic snow covered runs or cooking up delicious treats with her children.

Kristin enjoys work to the fullest and is excited for the opportunity to be working with you to find the house of your dreams, managing your rental properties or helping you expand your investment portfolio.