Maya Daniels is a 26 year old millennial who is from the great state of New Jersey. During her free time, she enjoys going to see her favorite artists in concert and always has H.E.R., SiR, and Erykah Badu playing in heavy rotation. Upon graduating from the best HBCU, Hampton University, she accepted a job in New Jersey and her parents welcomed her home with open arms. After getting adjusted to the "adulting" life of having a full-time job and managing those expenses, she felt like it was time for a change…homeownership. Dancy With Money had the opportunity to catch-up with Maya to discuss her home and the steps she took to purchase her first home at 24.

DWM: What motivated you to want to purchase a home? 

Maya: After about two and a half years of living at home, I felt like I was literally busting out of my room. Also, I wanted some "thinking" space as I call it to be able to work on some of my entrepreneurial dreams. So, I briefly looked at apartments but was quickly reminded of how expensive renting is in Northern New Jersey, especially without a roommate and quickly switched gears to purchasing a home. I knew it was a better investment of my money, I was able to save a decent amount of money for the down payment (could've been more with less Starbucks and lower FOMO lol), and I would be getting double the space of an apartment for half of the price.

DWM: What steps did you take to purchase your home?

Maya: Ehhh I did things a tad backwards. Initially, I made a connection with a random realtor who agreed to take me to see a few properties to get a feel for what I wanted, locations of interest, and the pricing of each area. After one round of house viewing, I quickly realized that this particular realtor wasn't going to be a good fit. Out of that experience, I also knew that I really needed to go ahead and get pre-approved so that I could truly gauge what my budget would be. This is when the process began to flow and make more logical sense. 

1. Tapped into my family, friends and aligned myself with an awesome mortgage broker and got pre-approved. (Literally had to submit a copy of every important document I've ever possessed in life for this little piece of paper to say what I could afford lol)

2. Was pre-approved for a FHA loan at a pretty solid interest rate (a much better option then what I found with larger financial institutions who required extensive vetting and training courses to qualify for an FHA loan)

3. The mortgage broker connected me with a great realtor who was super patient and understanding. 

4. Then came the severallll rounds of house viewing both virtually and in reality, crossing at least three counties and 10 cities/towns over the course of Summer 2018 and into the Fall until I found something in my price range, that met my requirements and that the seller accepted my offer on!

5. Closing was pretty painless since most of the back-end work had been done, and by October 2018 I was a homeowner.

DWM: What would you say was the most difficult part of the process?  

Maya: The most difficult part was definitely house hunting and trying to find THEE house. It seemed like every property I liked flew off the market before I had chance to submit an offer which at some points became pretty discouraging. My requirements weren't super specific because I knew going into it, this was just only going to be my late 20s, waiting on my ring house and certainly not a forever home. But even with that it still felt like a game of chance. In the end I think I got a solid house, certainly NOT my forever home but good enough for the remainder of my pre-husband years lol.

DWM: One thing you wish you knew before buying your home? 

Maya: I wish I knew that property taxes, especially in New Jersey are TRULY the devil! Also, I wish I was a tad more skeptical of the individuals who were sitting in my closing meeting. With that, to any soon to be homeowners…please inspect your contract with a fine tooth comb, do your own fact checking of information provided by the seller in regards to the timing of tax assessments and other seemingly minor yet important things (i.e. appliance warranties) that might be overlooked by your home inspector or legal team.

DWM: As always, I gotta put on my coaching hat and ask. What is your current budget allocation?

Maya: Currently, my Mortgage + Homeowners Insurance = 38%, Property Taxes (also known as the DEVIL) = 25%, Utilities (i.e. Internet/Cable, Water, Gas and Electric ) = 8%, Transportation = 3%, and Other Mandatory Expenses + Savings = 26%.