The home buying process is a delicate one. You shouldn’t make emotional decisions, and neither should you feel pressured to make financial decisions based on “market activity.” Because buying a house has a lot of responsibilities, you must make decisions with a sound mind and try to get to a rational conclusion as much as possible.
Of course, you want to buy a home that you’ll love living in at a price that’s manageable and affordable for you. The sad truth is, there are many mistakes that a homebuyer can make that prevent this from happening. In this article, we’re going to take a look at the most common home buying or house hunting mistakes that people tend to make.
Not Sticking to Their Budget
Of course, it makes sense to buy a home with the best value for your money, and you can save a lot on the mortgage by buying wisely. Still, if you go into debt just because the house looks so pretty or perfect for your family, this can be terrible news for you and your family in the long run. There are many other factors to consider before buying a property, and it’s important to always keep both that and your budget in mind.
A lot of people fall for this one. They believe that as soon as they have money in their pocket, they should get on and buy something big and fancy like a townhouse or villa instead of an apartment in a large city or a small one-bedroom flat with no yard in the suburbs. Even if that is possible at all at your current income level (which you should check first), it’s wiser to always stick to your budget. So the thing is: while you can be fooled by appearances and believe that a specific home is “the one” because it looks good, there’s always a reason why it costs so much, and you should always factor that in.
Not Securing Their Funding
Here’s another one that surprisingly happens often. Along with not sticking to their budget, a typical homebuyer’s mistake is not securing their funds when buying a home. Any mortgage or USDA loan applications must be cleared before you go ahead and start looking for properties.
The last thing you want is to go through all the hassles of choosing a home, only for your applications not to push through. At the same time, waiting until you get your loan approved can be stressful as well if you do not know what to expect or are unsure about how it will work in your favor, and it may take weeks to actually receive approval from the bank. Sort this one out first, and you’ll find it easier to press forward.
Hiring the Wrong Real Estate Agent
You see, just like in any other profession, there are good and bad agents. So if you get a bad one, you might not find what you need, or worse, your problems could get bigger than they should have been when you started looking for an agent to represent you! A common problem is when an agent doesn’t do their homework before jumping into a listing and deciding they know what they are doing when they don’t.
You ideally want to hire a real estate agent who knows the area well. They’ll be able to give you objective and rational advice versus someone who’s just after a quick sale. Talk to a couple of real estate agents to get a feel for them, and only go for the ones for who you develop a trust.
Short-term Planning
You need to make sure the property you’re going for meets your long-term needs. That means that you have to determine whether the house will fit your family for at least five years down the road, as well as its upkeep and other costs (or potential costs). People rush into buying a home without considering what it will cost them in the future (or will it even be useful to them in the future) or how much maintenance they’ll be doing on it every year or two. This is where they wind up with a massive financial burden down the line.
Is this house big enough for your future family? Do you have kids yet? If yes, how many bedrooms and bathrooms will you need? Do you plan on having more than one child? If so, do you prefer larger homes to better accommodate their growth? These are the types of questions you have to ask when looking for a house you want your family (a potentially growing one) to live in.
