Checklist for Buying a Home

Buying a home can be one of the best feelings in the world. Nothing beats that feeling of security and satisfaction when you open the door to a new home and are happy with your purchase. The question is, how can you best ensure that feeling is going to happen? There are a lot of pitfalls in the real estate world and naturally, you want to be able to avoid them and end up with a great home. Here are some great tips on how to streamline your home purchase and keep those little headaches from cropping up.

Enough cannot be said about being financially secure and aware. If you spend some time organizing your finances before making an offer the process becomes much less stressful. Take some time and research your credit history and find out if there are any outstanding issues or problems and get them taken care of. This can negatively affect your chances of getting a good mortgage, so it’s in your best interest to clear any credit issues up before the buying process starts. Most mortgage companies will offer you a pre-qualification, now this is nice to have but you are better off to take it a step further. Obtain the pre-approval for your mortgage. The pre-approval gives you an absolute number to work with. Not only does this make shopping for a home easier for you, but it gives you a significant amount of leverage in the actual sale.

The next logical step is to begin working with your realtor on finding homes that suit your needs. Let your realtor know what things you cannot do without and those things that you would like and let them come up with a list that best fits you. During this time you can also research the available homes in your chosen area on the internet and find places that appeal to you. With this ammunition, you and your agent should be able to view homes and properties with confidence and easily find a place that is agreeable to your needs, wants, and wallet.

Once you have located the perfect property, have an inspection done. This is a must! Be wary of sellers who are willing to sell to others on the “no inspection” clause. This is never a good thing and much of the time they don’t want an inspection done for a reason. The inspection is an extremely important step in ensuring your protection as the new owner. After all, this is going to be your home right? Don’t ever sell yourself short.

However, if you are buying a property that is under pre-selling, which means the construction or land development has not yet started, make sure to visit the site at least, so that you will have an idea of the community or surrounding neighborhood of the property you are planning to buy. Sometimes, buyers’ decisions are influenced by the price of the property. Most especially when it’s monthly payments are very affordable. But if you are someone that has the right spending money, put on some weight on security and community in your buying decisions.

I hope this helps you in starting your real estate investing or home buying journey!