Common Mistakes Home Buyers Make
For most, buying a home is single-handedly the largest purchase they will ever make. With so much at stake, home buyers turn their trust to the professionals to make the home buying process as seamless as possible. Nonetheless, the process doesn’t always go as smoothly as it should. Despite the advice of real estate professionals, the big decisions ultimately come down to the home buyers.
There’s a theme of common mistakes home buyers make, especially first-time home buyers. In your defense, buying a home is a complicated process. There’s paperwork, terminology, and other real estate logistics that are foreign to us. But just like anything in life, the more experience we have in buying real estate, the better we will become.
For anyone starting out on the home buying journey, read these common mistakes home buyers tend to make when buying a home and how to avoid them.
Skipping the Pre-Approval
Without a pre-approval, home buyers waste their time shopping for homes that are outside of their budget. The last thing you would want to happen is to fall in love with a house, make an offer on it, only to find out you can’t afford it. Don’t skip the pre-approval, it’s a good parameter to have in place to determine what type of mortgage payment will fit into your monthly expenses without overextending yourself.
Counting Out the Ugly Duckling
A lot of home buyers get distracted by the wrong items, looking past the features of a home that really matter like location, bones and structure of the home. Try and look past ugly paint colors or outdated fixtures and materials, everything can be changed except the location. If selling the house is in your plans in the future, resale value is important. Never count out the worst house in the best neighborhood.
Focusing on the Superficial
Expanding on looking past a home’s lackluster appearances, on the contrary, focusing too much on the superficial features of a home might make you look past major issues that will become a money pit in the long run. Cosmetic upgrades like an updated kitchen or bathrooms could be hiding quality or construction issues.
Waiting for the ‘Perfect’ Home
While the perfect home for YOU does exist, there’s no such thing as the ‘perfect’ home. Home buyers who pass up on a house that doesn’t check every single box will usually have regrets later in their search. The bottom line is don’t pass up on a great home while waiting for the perfect one.
Lowball Offers
The price of a home reflects the market, comps and the appraised value of the home. Trust the real estate professionals to negotiate the right price for the home instead of dictating what you think you should pay for it. If you make a lowball offer, don’t be surprised if it doesn’t get accepted and you lose out on the house.
Ignoring Big Ticket Details
Big ticket details that might not be the most appealing part of the home, such as the roof, HVAC, structure and foundation, should never be ignored. For example, if the home’s roof looks to be in good condition but it’s approaching the 20-year mark, expect to shell out the money to replace the roof during your lifetime in the home.
Failing to Get a Home Inspection
The home inspectors at HouseMaster Harrisburg and Lebanon know all too well the mistakes home buyers make when failing to get a home inspection before buying a home.
Getting a home inspection will reveal the true condition of your potential home, which is beneficial for both the buyers and home sellers to know. Some might look at a home inspection as a daunting task, considering it can reveal the appealing and perhaps unappealing aspects of a home. But it can also help establish expectations for the buyer and seller. Knowing the good, the bad, and the ugly about a home before the keys are exchanged, will help you make a better-educated decision about any potential property.
HouseMaster Harrisburg and Lebanon: Inspiring Confidence in Home Buyers
Buying a home is a big responsibility with a big payoff. Our mission as your local home inspector is to inspire confidence in home buyers to make the decision to purchase the right home.
HouseMaster Serving Harrisburg and Lebanon will provide home buyers the following home inspection benefits:
- Find out what type of systems and components exist in your new home.
- Determine the condition of the systems and major components of the home.
- Understand how the systems and structural components of your new home function.
- Learn how to maintain your new home to improve the enjoyment and value of your home.
Our thorough inspection report will provide all of these answers and more, so that you can make an informed decision about taking a huge financial leap.
As an added bonus, we will support you long after your home inspection is complete. We not only provide thorough inspections and accurate information, but it’s all backed by our Limited Repair Reimbursement Guarantee to give you the peace of mind you need to make an informed decision about buying a house.
It's easy to see why customers and real estate agents in Harrisburg, Lebanon, Camp Hill, Mechanicsburg, Hershey and their neighboring communities would recommend HouseMaster Home Inspections to their friends and family.
HouseMaster Harrisburg home inspectors Dan Ayers and Scott Ayers, like all HouseMaster home inspectors, have extensive training and certifications and are tested annually to meet the industry standards of continuing education, inspection, reporting, and customer service. As part of the oldest and most trusted nationwide home inspection business, Dan and Scott have been able to put their decade long experience in fire and water property restoration and their passion for customer service to good use in the professional home inspection process. Request an inspection today!
