Top 5 Things To Know Before Buying A House

By Bronwyn Kelley

Everyone knows that buying a house is a big commitment, and that commitment only seems bigger when it’s your first time. People don’t want to make mistakes! A house is something you’re going to sleep, eat, and live in for many years, it is only naturally people would want to be sure they are making the right choice. However, sometimes the fear of making a bad choice leads people to making no choice at all. To help those who feel “frozen with fear” we have compiled some of our best tips and advice for potential homebuyers into this easy to reference list.

1. Buy What You Can Afford Now, But Will Need Later

One of the biggest concerns for first time home buyers is the commitment to the house. While some people may move many times in their life, and own and sell many houses, most homebuyers generally try to imagine that this home will last them many many years. However, many things can change over many years! 2020 has taught us all a valuable lesson about the unpredictability of life---don’t waste it! While we all hope to one day make more money than we currently make, our life trajectories don’t always match our paper finances. Mortgage companies are an invaluable asset for any homebuyer, but they aren’t genies. Those of us with plans or aspirations for children or establishing their own businesses might want to lowball a mortgage company’s expectations. These things don’t mean one can’t invest in a house, or have to make sacrifices on the home of their dreams, rather that it is normal for some people to have financial priorities other than their home. For this reason, it is generally recommended that a person’s mortgage not exceed ⅓ of their income, leaving a solid ⅔’s for whatever else they may like or need during the year. Someone making 40k a year than should aim to not spend more on a house than about $1,100 a month. 

However, our lives can change in ways that don’t just change our budgets---but change the way we use our homes. While a studio apartment might make sense for an unmarried professional, or for a young couple, ‘studio houses’ are generally hard to come by for a reason. As I have discussed in my previous article, more and more Americans are choosing to live with other family members, and more and more Americans are now working from home. As excited as many of us are about returning to the office sometime in either 2021 or 2022, not everyone is or will be. An extra bedroom can be a great investment either to eventually move an additional family member into, or to renovate into a home office. Children are one of the prime motivators for people to move into a house that seems larger than they currently need. Growing up I watched my parents renovate a dining room into a den, into a bedroom, back into a den, into a home office! 

2. Don’t Stress the Details

In addition to that last point, when one is trying to maximize the usage of their house, while keeping a lower budget, often something has to give. Typically, the best way to buy a larger house in the area you want for a lower mortgage is to invest in a fixer-upper. How much of a fixer-upper however is up to the buyer. While an addition on a house can be quite expensive and time consuming, a new paint job or flooring is incredibly cheap in comparison. While it might be ideal for us all to buy the home of our dreams, already complete to our liking and within our budget---that isn’t always an option. For some unwilling to compromise (not a bad quality at all) custom order home designs might be the best option. For the rest of us however, it can be wise to organize a list of house must-haves. While not everyone might be comfortable trying to upgrade a bathroom by themselves, some may be comfortable living with a less-than-ideal shower that could be replaced later by a professional, if it means living with an extra room at move in, or with a nicer kitchen, or a finished basement. Just as nobody’s idea of the perfect home, must-have, or a deal breaker are exactly the same, neither are houses. This is why it is important to browse for houses you’d be interested in.

3. Don’t Dismiss the Details

Just as some details can be overlooked and changed later, others can’t. Weird smell? Poor cell phone reception? Strange shower pressure? Some problems might seem ignorable or minor, but can either prove much worse in the future or are signs of larger problems that aren’t immediately visible. Always have any home inspected before you move in, and always ask your real estate agent about any signs or oddities you notice on a tour. There’s no point in taking on a fixer-upper to save money, if the necessary repairs just to keep the house safe or livable exceed what you would have saved to move into an updated house. With that said, age is not always a prerequisite for potential house issues. Make sure to ask about a house’s history and prior owners. Is every room in the house original? What renovations have been made? What animals have lived in the house? 

While some issues can be expensive to fix, others can’t be fixed at all. Street traffic too loud? Overly restrictive HOA? Basement floods?  These are just a few of the variables that can negatively affect a homeowner’s time living in their house. While these issues may not be deal-breakers for everyone, they are still details of the house that a buyer deserves to know before making their final decision.

4. Let Your Loan Work For You

Just as houses differ, so do mortgage companies. While all lenders will be affected by changes in the market or economy, not all lenders may be affected in the same way. In this way, buying a house can become a little more like buying a car (an experience more people may be familiar or comfortable with). If you are unhappy with the deals or contracts a lender is offering, consider shopping around before you sign with anyone. 

5. Only Buy With an Agent That You Trust

Finally, the process of buying a home is a very personal one. No two peoples’ experience will be exactly the same. As such, it is important that a prospective homebuyer navigates this experience with someone they can trust. Just as no two houses are exactly the same, neither will the needs of a homebuyer, and neither are two real estate agents the same. If we think of the home as a reflection of ourselves and our lifestyles it is only natural than that the process of finding and buying one would carry on an aspect of this self expression. Buying a home can be very stressful, so it is important that one does so with someone they feel comfortable with. The right agent will not just help you feel more comfortable, but also more confident. Not everyone can be a real estate expert---and that’s ok! That is why it is important to make sure you trust your real estate agent and feel like the two of you can build a strong working relationship. Just as it is important to browse all your options when it comes to homes, neighborhoods, and mortgage lenders, it is equally important to consider all your options when hiring an agent. For example, CRE Mainline provides a full concierge service for all of it’s clients. This means that while a buyer may prefer to work with one agent over another, all of our agents are backed and supported by CRE Mainline equally. Rather than having to choose between personality or professionalism, when a client is paired with CRE Mainline, their agent will come with a full toolbelt of knowledge and expertise, as well as the CRE mainline team to fall back on for support. Thus, CRE Mainline makes not just the home-finding process easier, it makes the agent-finding process easier.