Home Buyers: 10 Tips To Avoid The Most Common Mistakes
Buying your home is a daunting experience, and you’d be better off informed in investing your nest egg, especially if you’re a first-time home buyer. Here are 10 tips that will allow you to avoid some very common mistakes.
1. Inspect Everything: Get a inspection report on the house you’re interested in and go through it. Make sure its done by a professional.
2. Picture the House Empty: Don’t be influenced by beautiful furniture, since that is not part of the sale.
3. Plan your Mortgage Payment: Look at your income level and living expenses. Mix in the future events such as kids, bonuses to determine how much you can pay for a mortgage.
4. Compare Homes: Get a good market perspective by viewing 5-7 homes.
5. Work with a Team: The right real estate professional will provide with you a good team (lender, title agent, etc.) to help you with the home buying process.
6. Ask a Lot of Questions: Make sure you understand all the expenses including: utilities, insurance, taxes, maintenance and home-owner dues if applicable.
7. A Last Walk-Through: To prevent surprises, do a final walk-through after all the furniture has been removed. Make sure the property is left as agreed in your contract.
8. Be Flexible: Closing delays are common in real estate, so always prepare for contingencies.
9. Document It: All agreements should be written down to avoid confusion, and for future reference. Even the most well-intentioned discussions can be misunderstood.
10. Be Open & Honest: Create a good working environment without headaches and delays by having an open and honest dialog with your real estate team.
Good article, but what’s a good way of forming the right team? I can use online services for referrals, but how do I know if that person is right? What do you think of getting referrals from friends?