In the last issue I covered how important it was to obtain a loan pre-qualification prior to beginning your new home search. Once you have established your budget you are ready to go shopping.
The most important piece of advice I will offer is to interview and hire a licensed Realtor with whom you feel comfortable. Buying a home is one of the biggest decisions you will make during your lifetime. It can be stressful and overwhelming so you want to choose someone with whom you have a good relationship with. Your Realtor is your pilot and their job is to navigate you thru the transaction.
Once you have hired your Realtor, sit down with them and discuss your dream home in detail. Start with the ONE THING you absolutely MUST have in your dream home. To some it may be a certain amount of bedrooms and to others it may be the view or location. Whatever your MUST HAVE item is, identify it and communicate it to your Realtor. Now what would be the SECOND THING you would like to have in a house? And the THIRD? By now I’m sure you have the idea of where I’m going? Make sure to also communicate your DEAL BREAKING items which include anything you absolutely CANNOT live with.
If your Realtor knows your “MUST HAVE” items from the start, it will save you time by helping to eliminate any properties that do not meet your criteria. Your dream home which falls in your budget may not currently be on the market and because your Realtor knows what you want, will be able to move quickly once it does come on the market.
If you are operating on a tight budget your Realtor may ask you to keep an opened mind when looking at properties. Remember that paint and carpet as well as appliances are easily changed. Expensive items to replace are the roof and HVAC. If the house has a newer roof and HVAC and pink and purple polka-dots on the walls, don’t discount it – Plan to invite some friends over for a pizza and painting party instead. If the appliances are in working order but not to your taste, ask family members to give you gift cards to the local appliance store for birthdays and Christmas. A home with great bones that needs updating might just be the home of your dreams, it will take a little longer to make into your dream home but will be worth it in the end.
House hunting is fun and it is exciting to visit multitudes of houses. It also becomes confusing if you visit too many. At the end of the day you will not remember which house had that drop dead gorgeous kitchen and which one had the leaky roof. Communicate with your Realtor in the beginning and it will save you time and money in the end.
Tracie Maler, PA, CRS, GRI, SRES is a Broker Associate at Keller Williams Realty, Elite Partners in Spring Hill, FL where she heads the Tracie Maler Group, a team of four dynamic individuals who are passionate about real estate and dedicated to their customers. Maler can be contacted at 352.848.5401 or via email at tmalerhomes@gmail.com.