Purchase Mistakes
When going into buying a home, there are a lot of mistakes that can be made by all parties involved. I want to make sure that you, the buyers, are aware of some of the largest ones in order to best serve you and streamline the buying process. While this list could go on for quite some time — we’ve decided to focus on five of the most common/easily avoidable mistakes that can make buying a home as painless as possible.
Your real estate agent and loan officer should walk you through all of your options and have your best interests at heart when it comes to making such a large purchase — and in almost all cases — they will. But, it doesn’t hurt to have your own education going into the process, or maybe you just need a refresher!
Just Getting Started
First and foremost, it’s vital to really try to not get too attached to a specific home or neighborhood before you’ve figured out how much house you can afford, applied for at least a pre-qualification, and begun to really look for homes with an agent. The reason being, besides the obvious of protecting your feelings, is that the market moves so fast these days and one can get easily frustrated and discouraged if they aren’t able to be flexible and open-minded during this process.
Working on not getting too attached goes hand in hand with remaining realistic when it comes to your home searches and expectations for the process. There’s no need to sour the experience before you even really get started! A lot goes into being realistic and it starts with expectations. Don’t expect the process to be a one-stop shop, don’t expect all your favorite homes on various sites like Redfin or Zillow to be in your price range, and speaking of price range — it’s incredibly important to be realistic about that. Nobody wants to be house-rich and cash-poor and while it’s more common than not, there’s not much worse than living in a home you can barely afford and reminiscing on your old lifestyle.
In the Middle
I will work with you to make sure you aren’t putting too much or too little money into a down payment. This is imperative because again, you need to have reserves in your savings and be realistic about your finances. You also don’t want to not put enough down and either a) get continuously out bid by other offers or b) have an astronomical mortgage payment. A one time “ouch” payment is a lot easier to recover from than a monthly payment that cleans out your accounts.
While you’re in the process of making offers on the homes you’re looking to buy, it’s important to work with a dedicated mortgage professional like myself, to look into any and all loan types and programs that may be available to you. There’s loan programs for first-time home buyers , some professions, and several other variants out there. I will help you figure out what’s best for you and what will give you the most bang for your buck which is so important in large transactions that have lasting repercussions (30 year mortgage payments, anyone?).
Wrapping Things Up
While we already mentioned being cognizant of how much money you’re putting into a down payment, it’s worth mentioning again that the vast majority of the time it’s incredibly important to not spend every last drop of your savings. Emergencies happen, both home related and not and there’s always vacations to take and life to enjoy — your home buying process shouldn’t rob you of your life (at least not for very long).
Something that we all wish we could sometimes forget about but need not to is preparing for closing costs, renovations, and repair costs. Not preparing for renovations and repair costs is a giant mistake when buying a home. Things will break and need fixed, you may want to repaint, or appliances may need to be replaced — and that list really doesn’t ever end. It’s important to factor these costs into your budget before closing on a home so that you don’t have a bad case of buyer’s remorse.
While every mistake is a learning opportunity and buying a home is almost always a great idea, keep these five mistakes top of mind as you enter into this next phase of your life. Buying a home can be incredibly stressful and the more we can lessen that, the better the experience is for everyone involved.