Committing to buying a house is a huge responsibility. It could easily be one of the most serious commitments you're going to make in your life. When determining whether you're ready for the responsibility, it's not always about formulas that lenders use to determine your financial readiness. Of course these help but they're not everything there is to the matter. If, for example, your goal is to one day own Rancho Bernardo real estate, before you go out shopping for Rancho Bernardo homes for sale, ask yourself if there are things that you should own up to which could change the way you look at your readiness to buy a house.

As mentioned earlier, readiness is not entirely measured by formulas. It's just a great guide to help you determine if the numbers will match up. At least one aspect of your readiness can be determined by these formulas, but there's another aspect to think about and that's your personal readiness. Here are a few things to look into when determining whether you're already prepared to buy a house:

1. How's your income and career going? - Take a look at your career and make an honest assessment of how you're doing. Are you on a stable career path? Do you need another job just to provide for all of your basic needs? Does your work allow you very little leeway when it comes to being flexible with your budget? Answering these questions may be a bit hard at first because approaching the topic of job security is quite a sensitive thing for a lot of people. There's no formula to determine how safe you feel in your current job and whether you feel there's any professional growth in it, after all.

2. Are you at a point in your life where you're looking for a change? - Many people make the mistake of buying a house when they are still at a point in their life when they're looking for changes. On the other hand, there are people who make the purchase when they know they're at the brink of a change. No matter if it's good or bad change, the fact is that when you buy a house, you'd want as much stability in your life as possible. It's simply not wise to deal with a career change a few months after you bought a new house. If you're in the middle of a divorce, you may want to let the dust settle down first before you make any moves towards making a commitment as serious as buying a house.

3. Are you willing to undergo a lifestyle change? - There are some people who are still at the stage of their life when they can't deal with a significant change in their lifestyle. Such people are not exactly going to adjust well to the reality of having a mortgage to deal with. Unless money is not an issue with you, buying a house will definitely change a lot of things in your life, most specifically your budget and your standard of living. Are you really ready to deal with that?