What Should You Consider When Buying a New Home?

Oct 27, 2025

Rob Williams, managing director and head of wealth management research at the Schwab Center for Financial Research, brings expertise in financial and income planning. He walks through the home-buying steps and key players. He explains mortgage pre-approval, down payment trade-offs, closing costs, and protecting emergency savings. He covers timing, behavioral traps, and a final checklist for practical decision-making.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

ADVICE

Plan Carefully When Buying And Selling

If buying and selling simultaneously, plan carefully and be realistic about timing.
Consider selling first or staging and pricing your sale to move quickly if you must overlap transactions.

INSIGHT

Demographics Shape Long-Term Prices

Demographics like birth and death rates affect housing supply and prices over long periods.
Aging populations can reduce turnover and constrain supply, while higher birth rates raise demand.

ADVICE

Balance Emotion With Realistic Expectations

Expect competition and be prepared to compromise when house hunting.
Combine emotional desires with financial constraints to make sustainable choices.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

After you listen:

Read more of Rob's insights in his article "How Fed Rate Cuts Can Impact Mortgage Rates."
Explore Schwab's education and resources around real estate.

In this episode of Financial Decoder, Mark Riepe is joined by Rob Williams, managing director and head of wealth management at the Schwab Center for Financial Research, to discuss the complexities of buying a home, covering the essential steps, financial considerations, key players, and even the emotional factors that tend to affect our decision-making around the home-buying process.

Learn more about the important elements like mortgage pre-approval, down payments, and closing costs, as Mark and Rob aim to address common misconceptions and mistakes. Their conversation concludes with practical advice and a checklist for potential home buyers to ensure they make informed decisions.

Financial Decoder is an original podcast from Charles Schwab. For more on the series, visit schwab.com/FinancialDecoder.

If you enjoy the show, please leave us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts.

Reach out to Mark on X @MarkRiepe with your thoughts on the show.

Important Disclosures

This material is intended for general informational and educational purposes only. This should not be considered an individualized recommendation or personalized investment advice. The investment strategies mentioned are not suitable for everyone. Each investor needs to review an investment strategy for his or her own particular situation before making any investment decisions.

All expressions of opinion are subject to change without notice in reaction to shifting market, economic or political conditions.

Data contained herein from third party providers is obtained from what are considered reliable sources. However, its accuracy, completeness or reliability cannot be guaranteed.

Investing involves risk, including loss of principal.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Diversification strategies do not ensure a profit and do not protect against losses in declining markets.

Indexes are unmanaged, do not incur management fees, costs, and expenses and cannot be invested in directly.

S&P 500® Index- Measures the performance of 500 leading publicly traded U.S. companies from a broad range of industries. It is a float-adjusted market-capitalization weighted index.

This information is not a specific recommendation, individualized tax, legal, or investment advice. Tax laws are subject to change, either prospectively or retroactively. Where specific advice is necessary or appropriate, individuals should contact their own professional tax and investment advisors or other professionals (CPA, Financial Planner, Investment Manager, Estate Attorney) to help answer questions about specific situations or needs prior to taking any action based upon this information.

The Schwab Center for Financial Research is a division of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.

1025-1CJ6

Follow Financial Decoder on Spotify to comment on episodes.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.