Purchase A Home For Sale
What You Should Know When Looking to Purchase Your First Home
When you have finally decided that now is the time to begin shopping for your first home, the process can be altogether exciting and terrifying. After all, transitioning from renting your home to owning your home can be a big transition. You may already be scouring real estate listings, looking for a home. However, diving right into the real estate listings in your area may not be the best way to get started in the process of buying your first home. Before you continue to torture yourself over those real estate listings in the newspaper or online, get to know some of the factors that you should know and consider when you are looking to purchase your first home. Then, you can be sure that you are going about your home search the right way.
Know What You Need and Want in a Home
Perhaps the most difficult, but also most important part about buying your first home is determining exactly what you need from your home and what you want from your home. Everybody has some kind of fantasy home that they think would be the perfect place to live. Unless you are flush with cash, it is important to remember that the first home you own may not be the dream home you envisioned yourself in.
As such, you need to set up realistic expectations for yourself as you search for homes. The first step in doing so is to sit down and write a list of everything that you absolutely and without a doubt need in a new home. Figure out the minimum number of bathrooms and bedrooms that you need. If you need a certain amount of square footage, you will want to keep that on the list. A fenced in backyard may be another requirement for you and your new home. Keep this list only to absolute deal breakers for your home search.
On a separate piece of paper or in a separate document if using a digital device, make a list of all of the things that you simply want your home to have. For example, an attached garage may not be something that you absolutely need for your new home, but it is likely something that you do want. This list can be as long as you want it to be but try to keep it as practical as possible.
Do Not Discount the Importance of a Real Estate Agent
While you may think that it is better to go it alone in your home search, at least in the early stages of the process, this can be a monumental mistake in your first time on the market for a new house. Real estate agents are experts in what they do and understand the housing market in their particular area (as well as overall national trends) better than anybody else.
When it comes to deciding whether or not to hire a real estate agent to help you find the right house for you, think of it this way. Would you ever have heart surgery without every seeing a cardiologist? Would you let just anyone perform the procedure? If the answer to either of those questions is no, then you know the value of an expert opinion. Though real estate agents are not doctors, they are experts in their field in the same way that a cardiologist is an expert in their field.
Know What Your Real Estate Agent Can Do for You
Of course, now that it has been established that the real estate agent is an expert in their field, you may be wondering what that means for you, the potential home buyer. What can they do for you? The answer is a multitude of things. First of all, they can help you in the actual search process for your home. If you provide them with your search parameters from your lists of needs and wants, they can begin finding properties that fit the mold of what you are looking for in a home.
Real estate agents can also find you homes for sale that you may not be able to find yourself. These could be homes that are not yet officially listed or are so newly listed that only real estate agents have been made privy to information regarding their availability. Other benefits to real estate agents include their assistance with price negotiations, their relationships with home inspectors and mortgage companies, and their ability to negotiate spruces and repairs to a home for you if you decide you are interested.
Now that you know some of the facts that you should know when you are looking to purchase your first home, you can be sure that you are doing everything that you can to find the right home for you and your needs.