When you own your home you will have a sense of stability, pride and security. Owning a home gives you the satisfaction of having achieved something in your lifetime and it becomes a means of expressing yourself.  Most people dream of owning their home and look for ways to finance it.  There are a lot of responsibilities you should shoulder if you decide to own your home.  

There are many steps to own your home such as

1. Making the decision to buy a home
2. Determine the price that you can afford
3. Decide what type of home your would like to buy
4. Weigh your ability to finance
5. Search for a suitable house
6. Research and apply for the right mortgage
7. Select a house in accordance  with your check list
8. Make an offer and negotiate
9. Have the professional inspection of the house done
10. Avail the home loan
11. Occupy your own home

To arrive at a decision to own your home, your decision should be made after considering same important factors. You should have a stable employment and a steady income to take upon the big responsibility of repaying the home loan regularly and in time. You should be employed for at least 2 years continuously.  You should have built a god credit history by making your payments to credit cards and other debts promptly and regularly.  Your present financial situation is manageable.  Your credit situation is under control and allows you to take up the home loan. You have enough savings to meet the down payment and other expenses associated with acquiring a home loan.  Make sure that you have additional financial support through other savings, help from family and tax refunds and so on. Apart from the above you should also consider if you will need to make expensive purchases like a car in the future, or get married or go for higher education for self or children costing huge amounts of money, or growing needs in the family. Owning a home comes with more responsibilities like maintenance and repairs and tax payments.

Tax benefits you can avail if you own your home:

1. You can deduct the interest payments on your home loan from your taxable income.
2. The points charged by your home mortgage lender which can be between one and three points, can also be included in tax deductions
3. If you have availed a line of credit or home equity loan, this interest can be included for tax deduction
4. Home improvement loan interest can also be included in tax deductions
5. The amount paid towards property tax can also be deducted from your taxable income
6. If you are using a part of your house for business, you can deduct the costs of repair, depreciation and insurance payments
7. When you sell your house, the costs associated with its sale such as painting, repairs, closing costs etc. can also be considered for reducing the capital gain.

To sum up, it is wise to take the decision to own your home as there are several financial, social and emotional benefits that come with home ownership.