There are a number of factors to consider when buying a home. Here are just a few:
1. Location, Location, Location: Even if you don’t have kids, homes in good school zones tend to have higher value than homes with average or poor schools nearby. Homes on Cul-de-sacs, where there’s not a lot, if any, pass through traffic, tend to be more desirable.
2. Try not to buy the nicest home on the block. This one can be tricky, and there‘s two parts here. Of course, we all want the nicest home money can buy, right? Here’s the thing. If you buy a home in a neighborhood where all the homes are run down, and yours is completely redone, while you are adding to their property value by having a great, redone home, they aren’t adding t your value. In fact, they may be negatively affecting your value. Additionally, when they do projects on their home, their value will increase at a greater rate than yours will when you do any renovations on your home.
3. Get Pre-approved. BEFORE you put in an offer. Put yourself in the position of the seller. You have a great home, and you have listed for sale. Say you listed it, for this example, at $250k. You get two offers, at $247k. GREAT! Those are two reasonable offers. Lets say one offer, offer A, went through the process of getting pre-approved by a licensed mortgage broker. Offer B has not gone through the process, so you may be taking a risk by going with this offer, only to find out that they aren’t able to get approved. Which one would you pick?
4. Get yourself a Real Estate Agent. It is an agent’s job to make sure you are fully protected throughout every step of this process. It is their job to represent your interest, and get you what you want, when you want it, and for the amount you want. Buyers without agents are more likely to end up regretting their purchase because of the unfavorable terms they got.
5. Credit. Check it before you start the home buying process. Any issues that need resolved, resolve them then. When you start the mortgage approval process, and then you start paying things off, closing accounts, disputing issues on your credit, that can delay the process. You want to be able to show your lender a good, clean credit report, then show them that you can carry on with business as usual, as far as your regular monthly payments go; that also means this is not the time to start buying all new furniture, or that shiny flat screen you been eyeing. Keep it clean and normal.
As I previously stated, there are a number of guidelines that you should follow, but these will get you started in the right direction. Follow these, and your process of buying will end up being a much smoother, fulfilling process.