Thinking of Growing Your Own Homestead in Retirement? Read These Tips First

If you’re moving to your retirement home in the future, you’re going to need a few tips. If you’re moving there to start a homestead and maybe upgrade your home life in retirement, you may need more specific information. For example, you need to know whether buying a larger home is a smart financial move. You might also ask yourself if you should attempt a DIY move or hire professionals to help. For answers to these homesteading and home buying questions, and so much more, be sure to check out these helpful tips and bits of information.

Figuring Out How Much Extra Home You Can Afford

Moving to a home that’s big enough to start a small farm and welcome family can be a dream scenario for many retirees. Prior to making such a big upgrade, you should think about what sort of financial steps you need to take to afford that home and still live comfortably in retirement. That way your homesteading dream doesn’t end up turning into a financial nightmare.

Start by taking a look at your current and expected income, which can include Social Security payments, workplace benefits, savings and passive sources of income. Then you will want to calculate the average costs of maintaining a larger home and weigh your income against these expenses. Speaking of passive income, you could always turn your current home into a rental property, in order to have a supplemental source of cash to help out with your new mortgage.

Finding a Lending Source for Your Homestead

Once you have your income and home buying expenses balanced out, you can begin looking for a home loan to help finance your homestead. A PennyMac mortgage, for example, can be a great option because PennyMac offers a variety of home loans that can fit any budget or lifestyle. From VA and FHA loans that require little or no down payment to conventional loans that offer low interest rates, you should be able to find a solution that will keep extra expenses to a minimum.

If you’re building a home, your loan options may be a little different but you should still be able to find the financing needed to start building your dream homestead. The only catch is that you may need a higher credit score and a larger down payment in order to secure a new mortgage.

Finding or Building Your Dream Homestead

After you have your financing figured out, you can begin searching for your new home. If you want to keep things simple, you should have the right professional by your side during this search. If you plan on buying an existing home, a licensed realtor will be the right professional to help with your search. An experienced local realtor can guide you through this search and will even have access to listings that aren’t available online yet. A realtor can also help you find the perfect piece of land to build a new home.

Planning Your Pain- And Stress-Free Move

With your home bought or built, there’s only one thing left to do: get started on your move! Actually, you should begin planning your move well ahead of time if you want to avoid potential problems and stress. This will allow you to call around to compare services and rates for professional movers, or to decide whether you want to tackle your move solo. For that last option, a word of caution: DIY moves can be majorly stressful and even downright dangerous, especially for retirees. The risk for a move-related injury, including a fall or muscle pull, could be a setback for your homesteading efforts. So seriously, think about hiring movers to help instead.

Buying a homestead can buy you so much freedom and pleasure during your retirement. You just need to take the right steps to decide if upgrading your current home is the right move, and then you can start looking for that perfect new home. Happy house hunting and homesteading!

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