After years of scrimping, saving, and daydreaming, you are finally ready to buy your first home. Congratulations! Before you head off with you real estate agent in naive wonder, there are three key points to remember when you are shopping for your dream home.
Don't Expect It to be Perfect
You may want a four-bedroom house with a first-floor master and three full bathrooms that faces south with a walkout basement and a corner lot, but actually finding that exact house in your chosen area and desired price range is a completely different thing. Instead of looking at endless houses and driving your agent crazy in the search for your dream house, try to come to terms with the fact that the house in your head may not necessarily exist in real life. Prioritize your needs and come up with a list of three 'must haves' and three 'would likes'. It will make your search much more enjoyable – and realistic.
Your Inspection Report Is Not a Shopping List
Once you find the right house and agree to a price, you will schedule a home inspection. This is a detailed inspection of the home's exterior, interior, and mechanical systems. Your inspector will give you a detailed report of everything wrong with the house. It could include details on the roof and anticipated life expectancy, the lack of a GFCI outlet in an upstairs bathroom, or even the fact that there is a wasp's nest in the northwest corner's gutter.
The important thing to remember is that this report is not a shopping list of what the seller needs to fix for you. No house is perfect. Key safety features (such as smoke detectors and GFCI outlets) as well as major damage (foundation issues or a leak in the roof) are fair game to discuss with your Realtor. Everything else is simply to make you aware of your responsibilities and what preventative maintenance to perform once you become the homeowner.
Don't Buy Anything Else Until the Day After Closing
No matter how much you want that new sofa, don't buy it. Lenders always say not to make any purchases or open any new lines of credit until after the loan closes, and they mean it. Depending on your lender, your credit report could be pulled again as little as a few hours before closing. Charging a deposit on that once-in-a-lifetime European vacation could alter your utilization on your credit card, and buying a new car, even if your old one is falling apart, could increase your DTI (debt to income ratio), and you could lose the loan – and the house! Exercise extreme patience and wait until after you have keys in your hand before buying anything else.
For more information and tips, work with a local real estate company like RE/MAX Associates San Antonio.
Share23 June 2018
I have never been one of those people who loves to shop, which is probably one of the reasons I had such a difficult time choosing a house. I wanted to find the perfect little place for my family to grow up, but that was easier said than done. I knew that I wanted to work with a professional who could really grasp my vision and put me in a place that I would love, so I started focusing on finding the right professional. After a brief search, I was able to find a team of real estate brokers that I knew would do a great job. This blog is all about choosing the best real estate agent for your personality.
