Costly Home Buying Mistakes
In all of America, over 5.3 million pre-existing homes were sold in 2018 alone.
While purchasing a home is incredibly rewarding, it also has the power to be one of the most stressful and emotionally charged moments of your life. After all, this purchase involves multiple parties from mortgage agents and real estate representatives to lawyers and individual sellers.
The best way to make your home purchase as stress-free as possible is to acquaint yourself with common home buying mistakes beforehand. Upon reading these mistakes, you're far less likely to make the same mistakes that those before you have made.
Are you considering buying a home?
If so, congratulations! It's safe to say that buying a home is likely one of the largest and most significant investments you'll ever make. That being said, it's crucial to ensure that you understand the process and avoid common home buying mistakes.
Let's face it, buying a home can be an incredibly stressful and emotional journey. When our mind is overcome with stress, we're all the more likely to make thoughtless mistakes. In the real estate world, one thoughtless mistake can lead to a handful of significant issues. If you're in the market for a home, it's essential that you read this. I am uncovering some home buying mistakes that that are common among buyers.
If you acquaint yourself with these mistakes before you begin your home search, it's all the more likely that your home buying process will be enjoyable & successful.
Let's get started!
Buying Without a Realtor
Too often, homebuyers believe that they can conduct their home search without a realtor. After all, visiting a few open houses and determining your likes and dislikes is simple. Right?
Wrong!
Only during your home buying process will you realize the extent to how much your agent does for you. Between booking appointments and providing sound advice to completing paperwork and negotiating price, there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes.
Do yourself a favor and work with an agent. After all, there's a reason that 92 percent of home buyers choose to work with an agent.
Shopping Before Qualifying
First and foremost, refrain from seeing any houses physically until you have been pre-approved for a mortgage.
Without understanding how much you can afford, you're setting yourself up for extreme disappointment. While you're attending million dollar open houses, it may turn out that you can only qualify for a home three-quarters of that price. Do yourself a favor and book an appointment to speak with a mortgage agent today.
Only Talking to One Lender
Remember the age-old saying "don't put all of your eggs in one basket"?
While this may be a generalized statement, it certainly rings true with mortgages. When discussing mortgage rates, don't be afraid to shop around before entirely committing.
The fact is, different mortgage agents are going to be able to offer you different rates and products. When it comes to the largest purchase of your life, it's worthwhile to find the mortgage that's right for you.
Establishing an Unrealistic Budget
In more expensive housing markets, buyers will often push their boundaries to afford their absolute dream home.
Unfortunately, this is one of the easiest means of setting yourself up for failure. When speaking with your mortgage agent, it's important to be realistic with yourself. Do everything you can to avoid pushing your finances to the extreme. Remember, the last thing you want to experience as a homeowner is being house poor.
Failing to Research Your Neighborhood
In terms of your future home, your neighborhood is surely one of the most important factors.
After all, this is where your children will play, dogs will roam and where you're going to be spending the majority of your time. This is why researching your desired neighborhood from top to bottom is essential. Before buying a house in a particular neighborhood, you should feel comfortable in your overall knowledge of that neighborhood. It's important to consider all aspects of your future neighborhood. For example, local schools, zoning, future builds, demographics, transportation, etc.
Miscalculating Home Ownership Costs
Far too often, buyers push their finances to establish an impressive budget.
While this is sure to land you a great home, it's also sure to put you in financial distress. Remember, owning a home is more than paying a mortgage and some taxes here and there. Be sure to account for other costs such as utilities, insurance, taxes, maintenance, unforeseen incidents, cable, and internet. Do you feel that you need some backup? I am here to serve your home buying needs and answer all of your homeownership questions.
An Overgeneralized Boundary
If you're serious about buying a home, you're going to have to be serious about establishing strict boundaries.
Too often, home buyers provide their agents with an overgeneralized boundary. While the buyers may think this is helpful, it's actually quite the opposite. Instead, you're providing your agent with far too large a physical boundary with which to work for your benefit. When this boundary is too large, quality properties begin to fall through the cracks and some of the best possibilities fade away. Do yourself and your agent and favor and focus on one or two key neighborhoods.
Too Many Low-Ball Offers
There's no denying that submitting a low-ball offer can be incredibly tempting.
After all, when you finally find your dream home, why not at least try to save some dough? What's the worst that could happen? As it turns out, submitting low-ball offers is often a complete waste of time for buyers. In a healthy market, it's very rare for a low-ball offer to result in a successful home purchase. In fact, a low-ball offer can reflect so poorly on the buyers that the sellers become entirely opposed to those buyers. When buyers continue to submit low-ball offers, this has the ability to hamper their overall buying experience. In the end, low-ball buyers will often burn out after so many rejections. This is often when buyers decide to take a serious break from their home search.
Not Accounting for Closing Costs/Settlement Expenses
These are costs outside of the price of your home that will present themselves on closing day. This could be anything from lawyer fees and taxes to utility charges and title insurance. Have your loan/mortgage officer provide you with a Estimated Purchase Costs at loan application, so you can plan for closing day.
Waiting for Perfection
Arguably one of the most common mistakes for home buyers is waiting for the "perfect" home...remember there are no "10's", but some really nice "9's".
You know, the house that matches all of your criteria and more. The house that can become a home from now until eternity. The house that you were somehow able to purchase under budget. The house that doesn't exist. Of course, those that are incredibly fortunate can find a home that matches 95 percent of their criteria. But, do yourself a favor and avoiding aligning your home search with these expectations. Buy it and make it your own!
So I am ready to help you, when you are.
Happy Home Hunting!