Buying a home is one of
most exciting things you can do, but don’t let excitement overwhelm your common sense. If you’re not an experienced home buyer then it’s easy to fall victim to these Top 10 Mistakes that Homebuyers Make.1. Buying a home before you are ready for home ownership
Lots of people get pressured into buying a home by well meaning friends and family who tell them what a waste of money renting is. While renting does not build equity, it comes with a whole lot less responsibility and expense than home ownership does. Take your time and don’t buy until you are ready to buy.
2. “Falling in love” with house.
This happens when we are overwhelmed by emotional aspects of buying and spurred on by subtle pressures of seller and their agent. Just like we tend to overlook faults of people we love, a buyer who falls in love with a house might end up overlooking flaws that will haunt them later.
Buyers often find out things after sale that might have stopped them from buying if they knew in advance. Although Agents and sellers are obligated to disclose certain defects or circumstances about a property, those requirements may not cover everything that you’d want to know. After reading disclosure list, if any, ask specific questions about anything else that’s important to you. For example, if idea of living at a former crime scenes turns you off, ask if any major crimes or incidents occurred at home.
3. Misunderstanding loyalties of Real Estate Agent.
In most areas Real Estate Agent represents seller and not buyer. That means that you can’t expect agent to keep anything you say from seller. If you’re offering 200k, but you’ll go to 210k if you have to, keep that secret to yourself. If agent knows your top limit then he or she is actually obligated to tell seller if that’s who they represent.
4. Overpaying because of pressure or deceitful sales tactics.
Buyer soften pay more than they have to because they are warned that there are “other offers” being considered so they need to make their highest offer first. That may or may not be true, but never make an offer that’s higher than you would make without any outside pressure. An offer is legally binding if it’s accepted and you’ll have to live with that buying price for a long time to come.
Another reason buyers overpay is because they don’t realize that anything can be negotiated including closing costs, inspection fees and price of repairs. Real magic happens when a motivated seller and an earnest buyer sit down to conduct business.
5. Failing to get mortgage pre-approval before shopping
Buyers who start shopping process without being pre-approved for a mortgage have a harder time getting their offers accepted and they set themselves up for disappointment if their dream home turns out to be more than they can afford.
