What to expect when buying a new Home

What are you looking For?

Consider what you want and go after it.  Buying a home is something that we must all consider at one point in our live times.  The value of your home usually increases with each passing year, unlike that of an automobile, which in turn decreases the moment you drive it off the lot. With this in mind you should still consider some pit falls that could be costly. First lets consider the home in which you are considering purchasing.

Determine what you can afford

 First thing that will come to mind will be the price, can you afford this home? That is something that you and your lender will have to determine. Contact a lender from you local bank or take some advice from your real estate agent, to find which loan option is going to best for you.  Get pre-approved, that way you know what you can afford and most importantly what you are willing to pay. Once you have this information you are ready to start looking for a new home. 

Ways to find a New Home

On Line search engines are great for late night browsing.  Most of them offer a chance for you to indicate your price range, your location, and what you would want to find in a home.  You can also pick up home magazines from any local mall or gas station. These Home magazines are good, but consider the fact they could be a couple of weeks old.  If you are looking to buy a home in a hot market the home could be sold, and closed on before you even see it.  You could also have your real estate agent print you out listings or even e-mail them to you to review, this is my favorite option because I know what is available and what to stay away from. 

Things to consider

After you find a home you are interested in look at all the factors, like community, schools, safety, travel time to work, etc.  When you are ready to make an offer on the house, consult your real estate agent to help come up with a fair market price.

Earnest Money

Your Agent should advise you on how much earnest money you should put down with your offer.  The more the earnest money the more serious the offer is considered. All agents usually require an earnest money check or at least $500.00. After your offer is accepted by the sellers, it is on to the home inspection process.

Home Inspection

I would recommend that you will have a professional home inspection. This will cost usually around $200 to $300 dollars, but it is well worth it, because it could save you from making a bad investment in a home that has numerous flaws.  One example of this is have you ever shingled a roof? Not many of us have, how would we know if the felt was put on correctly or if the shingles were about to be at the end of there life span. A professional home inspector can tell you this and many other factors that will save you thousands. 

Now what?

After the home inspection is done a retailed report will be give to you the buyer, to review.  In your offer you indicated a dollar amount that you want to be allowed in case the home inspection was done, and the home need repairs.  If the sellers agreed to this amount and the repairs are under the specified amount, then everything usually moves forward. However and I do emphasized however, if the home inspection finds major factors that need to be replaced or repaired, you will have to weigh you options on what your next step will be. You could withdraw your offer, stating that the house is not up to your satisfaction. You could counter offer marking the price down to cover the costly repairs, or accept the condition and move on. You real estate agent should be very well advised in this area, this sort of thing happens with every offer and after a few hundred they have seen it all.  After your offer is accepted from the sellers, and the home inspection is done, you will be ready to close on your new home, and move in.

April Hutsell
Realty Executives Associates
Maryville Tennessee
Each office Independently owned and operated