Ten Tips When Buying a Home
- Location, Location and Location. Many of you have heard this before and there is a reason for it. Your house value is mainly based on where it is located. Your re-sale value is definitely based on your homes location. Whether traffic or pollution, the distance to your local dump, availability of schools or access to major transportation facilities, these all play a major role in choosing or selling your home. What you are willing to endure for a price saving is not always the same as other potential buyers or sellers.
- Price – Buyers should always ensure that the real estate they are contemplating purchasing is within their budget. With the current mortgage fiasco that is unfolding in the
- Length of Stay – Many people already have plans of reaping the rewards of investing before they even take possession of their home. Plan to stay in a home long enough to cover your immediate expenses which include, Real Estate Fees, Home Inspection, Lawyer and Land Transfer Tax, Moving Costs and Other incidentals such as phones and cable etc.
- Home Inspector – Always hire a Qualified Home Inspector. This is one area where it does pay to ask questions. Typical questions should include; How long have you been inspecting homes, What training do you have (don’t accept anyone who just finished a college course and has no other credentials), Ask for referrals or recommendations from previous clients, What Professional Organizations do you belong to? Ask him to verbally go over what his inspection entails? These questions should screen out the Johnny Come Lately’s, who are just looking for a quick buck.
- Sidewalk – Check your home to see if the sidewalk is in front of your house. In
- Real Estate Agent – Find a reputable real estate agent who is willing to sit down with you and find the type of home you want and the approximate location before deluging you with endless downloads of MLS listings that don’t reflect the type of home or price range you are looking for.
- Pre-Approve Your Mortgage – This allows you to go out looking for homes that are in your price range without having to worry about finding a mortgage lender who will lend you money. This by no means ties you to any institution but just gives you a level of comfort when shopping.
- Value – Have your real estate agent check the selling value of similar homes before putting in an offer on a property. You can also check newspaper listings to get an idea what a certain size of home with the same upgrades is roughly selling for. This is a much safer way than just making an offer based on their selling price.
- Lawyer – This is an area where price shopping can really save you some serious money. With the advent of title insurance (which you pay for) the responsibility of the lawyers has dropped and so it is much easier to find competitive rates.
- Final Walk Through – This is your last opportunity to discover anything wrong with your home. I personally would make this as close to closing as possible and if your really lucky, after the sellers have moved out. Take your time and make a note of every detail of damage or items missing. Give a copy of this to your real estate agent and another to your lawyer. It is recommended that if you have a digital camera that you also take pictures of the items. Your lawyer can then do a hold back to ensure these items are repaired or replaced.
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