When you are looking into buying your first home it is likely that you will have tons of people bleating on about what you must do in order to ensure that you score your perfect property without too much hassle. The problem is, there are very few people out there who will actually talk to you about what mistakes to avoid when purchasing your first home. On this page I want to discuss a couple of the most common mistakes. Hopefully if you bear these in mind, you will avoid falling into a few of the pitfalls that many people who purchase properties for the first time face.
Firstly, you absolutely need to budget correctly. The number of people who have jumped straight into buying their first home without paying any notice to the amount of money that they have to spend is quite sizable. Sure, you may have secured a mortgage. However, will you be able to afford the property rates? How about the building insurance? Are there any problems with the property that need to be dealt with? My suggestion is to head online and find a list of the various expenses associated with a home as well as daily living. Budget for as many of them that are applicable to you. This will allow you to truly see whether you can afford a property or not. Remember, you always need to look beyond that mortgage!
The second mistake that you need to avoid (and something that many people seem to forget) is that you should not be looking for a property without some type of pre-approval for a home loan in place. There is nothing worse than finding the property of your dreams and then discovering that you can’t afford it. It feels like a crushing defeat. It is also a waste of everybody’s time.
It is also important to take what your real estate agent has to say and compare it to what your requirements are. Don’t simply make a decision on securing a house based on everyone else’s input. You should stay focused on the type of home that you want. Do not let anybody else tell you otherwise (for the most part). Remember, you are going to be the one living there and it is going to be very difficult to do so if you are not completely happy with the home. In saying that, a good real estate agent will not pressure you anyway. They will however, offer suggestions to ensure you are making an informed decision which is great. For this reason you need to work with an agent you trust.
Finally, verbal agreements mean nothing in the world of property. Just because somebody agreed that you could buy their property, there is nothing stopping them disappearing and accepting a higher offer. This has been known to happen. If you are going to make an offer then make sure that you get a contract signed as soon as it is agreed.
Of course, this is just a small example of the various mistakes that you may make when buying your first home. There are plenty more errors that people make, but hopefully this should give you a nice nudge in the right direction and teach you just a tiny bit about the things that need to be avoided.
