When interest rates are low, parents, guardians, students, and other interested buyers may buy a home with little or no down payment. Increasingly, parents are investing in homes for their college-bound students to be sold after the property value appreciates. Before investigating a home, consider your long-term living situation. To fully benefit from market appreciation, plan on owning the property for 2 to 3 years or even longer. Locating, financing, and then reselling a home can be time-consuming and costly, and it will not be worth the hassle if you plan on selling and moving a short time later.

Buying real estate in Baton Rouge may be a good investment. For some, the process of buying a home can take up to six months. If you are moving to Baton Rouge from out-of-town and you and your parents are planning to purchase a home, begin making real estate contacts as soon as possible. Discuss the future value of the investment with your real estate contact paying special consideration to the location of the property, current demand for housing, and competition from the neighboring market and rental properties. For example, you may find property within a close proximity to campus very attractive, yet these are generally single-family neighborhoods. For these reasons, the attractiveness of the location needs to be weighed against your own desires to socialize, have guests, and maintain the property appropriately.

Owning your own home comes with many additional costs and responsibilities of which new homebuyers may not be aware and most renters do not have. Property taxes, insurance, commuting, neighborhood association dues, water, sewer, electricity, garbage collection and expenditures for maintenance and repairs on your home can easily add hundreds of dollars to what would otherwise be a reasonable mortgage payment. Establish a realistic budget including anticipated additional costs. A simplistic way to estimate if you can afford to purchase a home is to take your current monthly rent payment and multiply by 200. For example, if you are paying $750 a monthly in rent, you would pay approximately the same in mortgage payments to own a home valued at $150,000 with a 20% down payment. For a more personal estimate, consult a mortgage broker or financial institution. If renting, the landlord would likely replace a burned out AC unit or hot water heater, but these expenses would become the responsibility of the homeowner. Consider a home warranty policy to control repair costs.

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