Tips For Finding The Home Of Your Dreams
Purchasing a new home can be a bit overwhelming as it is a far more detailed process than buying a car that costs 100k. It can make a person very impatient at at times want to walk away from their dream. This article will help you by offering some suggestions that will make the whole process as easy as can be expected and eliminate much of the pressure that one may feel when looking to purchase a new home. If you are in a position to start your home buying journey it is recommended to continue reading to learn more.
The first thing you need to do when looking to purchase a new home is to find a good realtor. With all due respect to friends and family that may be in the field, it is often better to find a realtor that you do not know yet has a great track record. This does not mean a person who has a ton of signs all over town or one that sends solicitation through the mail every week. You can generally look at realty company websites for realtors who are ranked by sales and listings. You do not want to use the same realtor as a person selling the home but you need one who is experienced and has a high success rate in getting the best deal for the purchaser.
The biggest thing you can do before looking for a new home is to get pre-approved for a mortgage. Pre-approval is not the same as a pre-qualification so do not confuse the two. A pre-qualification can be issued in a few hours and simply sates that you have an interested lender. It does not tell the seller you have been approved for a certain period of time by the lender for a mortgage. Pre-approvals can take a few days to complete and will save a ton of time in the purchasing process. The seller is more than likely going to take an offer from someone with a pre-approval more serious than a higher offer from someone else that is contingent of finding financing. It strictly benefits you in every way to get pre-approved before you begin your home search.
One area that hurts a home buyer is their failure to learn about additional costs for the home, like taxes and insurance. You may have a great buy for a home only to find out the taxes are outrageous. You could buy a home and when you get your insurance you find out you are in a flood zone, tornado alley or some other bit of info that can make insurance too costly to afford. These are factors you need to consider as the costs may exceed your income when you consider the mortgage, auto loans, credit cards, daily expenses and now high insurance and taxes added to the mix.
Finally, you need to choose the professional that inspects your home. Do not allow your realtor to recommend one as this is a business and while they will do their job, they may not be as thorough as they will want the realtor to get the sale so more work gets pushed their way. If you hire your own inspector, he is looking out for you as you hired him. He will look beyond the basic inspection and point out any items that may be of concern today and down the road.
The key is to try and make the purchasing process as simple as it can be while protecting your interests. Find a reputable realtor and get pre-approved to let the seller know it's a done deal if they accept the offer. Hire your own inspector who works for you and looks out for your interests before their own and consider additional costs. Once you have accounted for these suggestions, you will most assuredly have a positive home buying experience.
