Owning Your First Home | The Summit FCU

You’re ready to purchase a home (or are least thinking about it) — congratulations! Buying your first home is a huge milestone and is an exciting time in your life. It can also be confusing and overwhelming. Having people and resources you trust can make a big difference. That’s why The Summit’s team created “Destination Summit,” a new resource designed to answer your home-buying questions and help you navigate the journey.

Whether you’re a first-time homebuyer or just need a refresher, this is the place for you. We’ll give you the ins and outs of each step, provide helpful tips, and connect you with the information you need to make your home dreams come true. And when you’re ready to buy, The Summit’s experts will be there to guide you through the whole process, from choosing the best mortgage option all the way to closing.

Credit Ratings, Pre-Approvals and Offer Letters: Three Pieces of Your Home buying Puzzle

In your new homebuying journey, when you have found “the one,” there’s a three-piece puzzle to put together. The pieces are: a solid credit rating, preapproval for a mortgage loan, and an offer letter to officially bid on the home. Credit Report When considering you for a home mortgage loan, financial institutions will run a […]

Learn Common Home Buying Terminology

Reduce confusion when buying a home with some common terminology Buying a home involves many people working toward the same goal: to get you into your new home. These people will use lingo that you may not be familiar with, so take a look at this quick guide to homebuying lingo that can help you […]

5 Mistakes All First-Time Homebuyers Should Avoid

Every new homebuyer runs into questions and challenges that are hard to predict as they move through this first experience. Check out some of the most common mistakes that first-time homebuyers run into, and how to avoid the same situations in your homebuying journey. Buying more house than you can afford This one may seem […]

The Best Things About Buying a House in the Fall

Spring and summer are often hot times to buy and sell a home with a flurry of listings on the market and lots of action, offers and negotiations. However, the fall season brings a special set of homebuying perks to complement the pumpkin spice lattes and back-to-school sales. More attention from the homebuying team In […]

Understanding the House Down Payment

Calculating your down payment is an important step in the homebuying process. Put simply, a down payment is a portion of the purchase price that you agree to pay out-of-pocket as the first payment on the home. Most of the time, your principal mortgage loan is less the amount of your down payment. The down […]

House Square Footage vs. Useable Square Footage: A Helpful Guide

What is Included in Square Footage of a House? There are times when the listed square footage of a home does not necessarily equal the same amount of usable space as another home with the same amount of space listed. When looking at houses, you may see and feel that a home that is listed […]

How to Decide Between a Move-In-Ready or Fixer Upper Home

In every real estate market, there are move-in-ready homes for those who want to get right to enjoying their new space and aren’t looking to do major renovations and fixer-uppers for those who want to take on a big project and customize the home to their own taste. There are pros and cons of each […]

I LOVE this House—but I HATE the Color!

New Home Painting Advice Buying your first home comes with a mix of emotions, the strongest of which is often the emotion felt when you see the color of the exterior and the paint colors inside of the home. Paint choices can be controversial—the shutters may not match the siding, the previous owners may have […]

Love It or Leave It: What to Keep, Sell, Donate or Throw Out Before Your Big Move

How to Decide What to Get Rid of When Moving As you get ready to move, you may be asking yourself: “What do I do with all of this stuff?” Old or new, well-loved or never used, need-to-have or nice-to-have—it all has to go somewhere as you coordinate your move. Consider these options to help […]

Curb Appeal 101

When you buy a new home, you are also buying the property that the home sits on. Whether you’re in the market for a sprawling multi-acre property, or a home in a close-knit neighborhood, don’t overlook the land and surroundings of the house. Your new home’s curb appeal takes many factors into account, including what […]