3 Common First Time Home Buying Mistakes To Avoid

First-time home-buying often involves various mistakes, of both emotional and financial nature. We’ve listed the three biggest mistakes you wouldn’t like to make when buying your first home.

Finding the right real estate agent may be as important as finding a home that matches your needs and requirements exactly. An agent should be able to answer all and any questions you have, be friendly and accommodating to your needs. You need to find someone who won’t pressure you into buying something you don’t need or purchasing a home that doesn’t fulfill your expectations.

The real estate agent you work with should be both an experienced professional and a person you feel comfortable working with. He/she should know the local market and understand what you’re looking for.

Before buying a house, you need to determine many aspects of your new home, like neighborhood, size, proximity of work, school, various facilities, entertainment, repair/improvement budget, utilities and appliances, etc. You have to consider your family’s needs and wishes before making your final decision. If you don’t find a new home that perfectly fits your needs, you may regret it later.

Even though you’re looking to buy a home that is already perfect, you may have to buy a property that needs some repairs if it satisfies most of your requirements. Passing up a dream house just because it needs some painting and landscaping may be unwise, but consider the costs before you decide to buy it – sometimes the repairs simply cost too much. You should take your time and shop around until you find the right home, but some opportunities shouldn’t be missed, even if they require certain small (!) compromises.

If you decide to buy a home that needs repairs, you may wish to hire a home inspector who will make an unbiased assessment of its condition, so that you know the amount you’ll have to spend to make the home a comfortable place for living. If you’re planning to make major improvements and modifications, you need to find out if there are any local restrictions that may keep you from improving your home.

If you get attached to a home that is too expensive for you, you may get into debt you can’t afford. On the other hand, buying a home that has too few bedrooms for your family is the wrong thing to do, because living in it will soon become very difficult.

Consider the home’s location, too. If you have children, you will want your home to be near a nice school. You also need to consider your commuting time – you don’t want to travel for 1 or 2 hours through traffic jams every day just to get to work from your new home.

To ensure affordability, you need to find out the loan amount and terms you can qualify for. Get a copy of your credit report and find out how your personal finance is doing. If your report is far from stellar, you may decide to postpone home buying for a couple of years until you repay debt and improve your spending habits. If you discover errors, outdated information and inaccuracies, you may wish to dispute them, as this will help improve your credit.

You shouldn’t take car loans or other large loans before applying for a mortgage. These loans increase your overall debt and make any new loans more risky for lenders. They may refuse to grant the loan or require you to pay high interest. Changing jobs before buying a home is also unwise – again, because lenders will consider you a higher risk.

Consider the expenses involved in home ownership and compare them to your current expenses and income. Mortgage payments, property taxes, insurance, school loan, car payments, contribution to savings account, yard maintenance equipment, new appliances, repairs, utility bills and other expenses all add up to compile your monthly budget, so find out if home ownership is affordable for you.

If you decide that the time is right to apply for a loan, make sure you get pre-approved, not just pre-qualified for a mortgage. If another buyer put offers on the same home, it may be easier for you to get it if you’ve secured money for the purchase. If you’re buying your home as a “for sale by owner” deal, don’t give any money as a down payment before the transaction is completed, as some owners are known to have walked away with the down payment and broken the deal.