Real Estate Home Buying Simulation

I. Home Buying Simulation (HBS): Your syllabus states the following course objective as its first priority: “To provide you with a broad background in real estate principles that will make you more effective in making home purchase decisions. Particular attention will be placed on personal finance and other consumer decisions.” To meet this objective the HBS should contain the following elements. You may use any source to complete this assignment including your textbook and the Internet. The more comprehensively you address this assignment, the better will be your score. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail your instructor.
A. Develop a hypothetical personal budget as a starting point. To accomplish this objective assume you graduated from the Shidler College and have been working for at least 5 years in your chosen profession. Make reasonable assumptions. You need to include such information as annual household income, expenses (including your rental housing costs), savings, etc. Make an assumption about your marital status (married, single or other and income contributions from household members) and number of dependents (children, elderly parents, etc.)
B. Give consideration to how you will be able to make a down payment (savings, gift from relatives, etc.). What is likely to be your credit score and why, i.e., what did you do to create a good FICO score? (Remember this is a hypothetical so use reasonable assumptions).
C. Describe the type of housing you plan to acquire (single-family house, condominium, etc.) and what your housing needs are likely to be. Will your home be in Hawaii or out-of-state.
D. How do you plan to search for your home (Internet, real estate agent, etc.) and why? Consider advantage and disadvantages of your search method.
E. What kind of home mortgage do you plan to seek (conventional, FHA, VA etc.; level payments, graduated payment, variable, etc.) Create realistic numbers that consider the down payment, monthly payments, closing costs etc. (See Part 4 of your textbook).
F. What kind of documents will be nee to examine before the closing to make an informed consumer decision? (See Chapter 13 of your textbook.
G. Create another hypothetical budget which considers the implications you’re anew expenses of owning a home as compared to renting a home.
H. Include a concluding section that considers whether you are better or worse off ten years after buying a home compared to what your situation would have been if you had continued to rent.