As a first-time home buyer, you may be struggling to make a move. And who can blame you? In 2023, with high mortgage rates and stiff competition, more and more would-be home buyers are staying put as renters—but this could be a big mistake. Even Jay Papasan, executive at Keller Williams and bestselling author, wishes he made his first home purchase faster.

It wasn’t until Jay was thirty that he finally pulled the trigger on purchasing a property. He had just moved to Austin, Texas, and bought the worst property in the best neighborhood he could find. Now, a good twenty years later, this property alone has made Jay close to a million dollars, and he thinks today’s homebuyers could be in the same position. So, how do you build wealth when buying your first property?

In this episode, Jay walks through what first-time home buyers should be looking for when scouting out houses, the telltale signs of a great (and not-so-great) real estate agent, simple improvements you can make to increase property value dramatically, and what to do with today’s high mortgage rates. Jay also includes a little-known way to lower your mortgage rate on your next home, so you can pay less and profit more when you move out!

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In This Episode We Cover

  • Why you should NEVER sell your first home (and what you should do instead)
  • How to lower your mortgage rate WITHOUT increasing your cost to close
  • Signs of a great agent and the MOST important trait they must have
  • Easy improvements that will shoot up your home’s value 
  • Tracking your net worth and why you MUST know your personal profit and loss
  • Housing horror stories and whether or not your agent needs to tell you about the ghost haunting your kitchen 
  • And So Much More!

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Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.