Milking Your Investment in an Arizona Home For All It's Worth

Life doesn’t always go as we plan it, but sometimes reality can be even better than how we envisioned things going. Perhaps you have had a dream for a long time to own a home in Arizona, and now that it has become a reality, you are worried about affording the monthly mortgage payments or the ongoing maintenance costs.

While a home can be a wonderful thing, it is also a very scary investment. In all likelihood, buying a house will be the most expensive purchase of your entire life. Having spent so much money, you want to make sure you take good care of it. Even before you sign the contract, you must know you are getting a good deal on the home.

Buying a home, whether you are in the initial stages of searching or you have already moved in, is an investment and it must be treated as such. Here are a few ways to milk that investment for all it is worth.

Compare it With Other Similar Properties

Making a good investment starts with getting a good deal on the home. The biggest mistake you could make is paying more for the home than it is worth. This could make the process of building equity much slower. Before you buy the home, research other properties in the area you are looking at to compare them. Are other similar houses cheaper than the one you are looking at? Why is that? Sometimes, sellers attach more sentimental value to their homes, driving the price up to an unreasonable level. Comparison shopping should reveal if the home you want is a fair price. Also, make sure you consider the average closing costs in AZ, so you know the true cost of buying the home. 

Pay For a Home Inspection

In the last few years, house prices climbed across the country. To counteract this trend, many buyers offered to purchase homes while waiving the home inspection. It ended up being a horrible idea for many of them. A home inspection can reveal major issues in the property you are buying, issues that the average person would not pick up on during a home viewing. If that problem will cost you thousands of dollars to address after move-in, then your home just became a lot more expensive than the listing price says it is. Always pay for an inspection before buying property so you can either negotiate the price down or have the seller fix certain issues before the transaction is complete.

Look For Energy Efficiency

Once you own the home, you incur the monthly costs that come with it. This includes utilities such as heat, gas, water, electricity, and more. A more efficient home has lower monthly costs, which can make your investment more affordable over time. Search for homes with newer windows, siding, and roofs. Find out how old the HVAC system is. Once you have moved in, consider paying for these upgrades to lower your monthly costs with an initial investment. You could even pay to have solar panels installed to dramatically decrease your electricity needs, and solar panels work well in a sunny state like Arizona. Plus, there are tax benefits to solar panel installation. 

Apply For Home Improvement Grants

Most people know about the grants available for first-time homebuyers, but they may not know about other grants that can improve your investment in a home. Depending on where you live in Arizona, there are often grants made available to homeowners to use on home improvement projects. Free home repair grants let you fix maintenance issues or cover remodeling costs so that your property value increases without having to spend as much money as you normally would. Grants for home improvement are often found at the local level, but you could qualify for some state programs as well. Do your research to improve your home for a very low cost with these grants. 

Turn It Into a Rental

The rental market across the country is very strong. Millennials, in particular, are less likely to buy a home than previous generations because they do not like being locked into a mortgage. If you have a way to turn part of your home or all of it into a rental, then you can make some serious money. If you have lived in the house for several years, you may have enough equity to do a cash-out refinance. With this money, you can renovate part of the home to turn it into a separate living unit. If you can find a tenant, then you can accept rental income while still living in the home yourself. 

Take Advantage of This Investment

A home is a lot of money, so you are either going to spend a lot on it, or you already have. Either way, milking this investment for all its worth can make the most of the money you spend on it. You can do this by comparing it to similar homes for a fair price, using the home inspection to negotiate, investing in energy efficiency, applying for home improvement grants, and turning it into a rental unit for extra income.