Shopping for a new property can easily be a challenging process, even for an individual who has owned several houses. Many people find that finding good information about purchasing a home is difficult to find. At the end of the day, you had to sort through all the conflicting information and determine the best course of action for yourself.
I recently purchased a new home. Here are some useful suggestions we picked up on the way:
1. Consider using the many internet sites available for finding home buying data. Almost every state and local government has a web site where you can study real estate information. These internet sites will often have information about average home rates, neighbourhoods and school districts in the location you are thinking about. By finding out the recent real estate prices on these sites, we were not at the mercy of the data given to us by the real estate agent. You will become much more knowledgeable about the area you are looking at, if you do the research yourself. This knowledge will give you the edge.
2. Be realistic about how much you can spend. Target a house price that will allow you to put at least a 20% down payment. If you put down less than this, you will have to pay PMI (private mortgage insurance) to protect the lender in case you default on the loan. I know that 20% is a lot, but it’s not unrealistic. You may well not be capable to do it on your first home, but with any luck , you can on your second house. The profits from the sale of my condominium allowed my husband and me to have more than enough for the 20% down payment on our home. You may, nevertheless, wish to put some of the proceeds from your home sale away to cover unforeseen moving expenses. We suggest that you do the same.
3. Go shopping for a house in the winter, preferably around the holidays. Since most individuals just aren’t interested in buying a home when they are trying to deal with the holiday seasons, you can just about be one of the handful of customers out there. We purchased our home right before Christmas time, and it was definitely a buyers market. We had our pick of homes and were able to underbid on the asking price, even though we live in one of the hottest real estate markets in the country.
4. Use a smaller mortgage loan firm that can offer personal service. The large, well known national firms are typically the first types people call because the names are well known. But the smaller, regional companies provide excellent client service, and can often give you better rates than the big companies. Since they don’t publicize and rather rely on word-of-mouth, they have to be very good in order to get your service. We’ve tried out both, but we selected the smaller company in the end because of their service and their rates.
5. Always have a house inspection. I think most people know this fact by now, but it is extremely important in areas with a hot real estate market. It can be easy to buy your dream house at a fire-sale price and ignore the inspection. Some friends of ours wanted a home so badly that not only did they overbid, but they also waived the house inspection. You expose yourself to many problems that could cost you thousands of dollars if you neglect the inspection. As a final note, try to remember that buying a home doesn’t have to be scary. The negative are far out weighed by the benefits of owning your own home. If you follow the advice above, then you should be well-equipped to make it through unscathed.
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