Some of you may have been in your apartment for a couple of years and are ready to have your own property. Well, this article is for you. To give us tips on how to prepare for the most expensive thing you will ever buy, I spoke with Bryan Morris a Realtor with Prudential Reality in Darien, CT.
When to buy
If you are looking to buy this season, just realize that most properties come out this time of year and you will be competing with other buyers. So when you find a house you like, you have to be ready to buy, like now, or you will lose out. If you can wait or are not ready yet, then I’m glad I got to you. Morris says that if you wait until after Thanksgiving, and December you can often get your dream home at a lower price because most buyers hold off looking during the holidays.
Get the right people on your side
There are a lot of things you can do on your own, buying a home is not one I would recommend. If you want to get it right you need a realtor. Otherwise, how will you find out when houses come on the market? Realtors get access to the Multiple Listing System (MLS) so they know the second a home goes up for sale.
You want someone who has been through it before and can get you the right people such as the real estate attorney, home inspector and mortgage broker you will also need to have on hand.
A good realtor will pay attention to what you are looking for and do all the leg work in finding the perfect home for you. They will also able to refer plumbers, electricians, or builders for changes you may want to make after you purchase your home.
If you are wondering about the cost, Morris says in Connecticut, the cost of the realtor selling a home is paid by the seller, not the buyer. You may need to see how that works in your part of the world.
Be approved to search
Before you start looking, you need to know how much you can afford to spend. This is where the mortgage broker comes in. I’m sure you have an idea of the type of home you want but you need to know how much you can actually afford. (We’ll go over this in detail in a later post.) And don’t think that once you can afford to buy the house that you are in the clear. You need to consider if you are going for a condo there might be common charges. And if you are buying a house you will have to have money to maintain your new home– repairs, supplemental insurance, home improvements, and furniture, to name a few.
Start searching
Once the money part is all squared away, next you want to figure out where you want to live. Do you you want to be in a beach community or close to the city? Do you want to live in a condo or a house? Do you have, or are you planning, to have children? You might want to check what school district you want to live in. Is the neighborhood kid friendly? Are there other children in the community for your children to play with? Create a list of all the things that are important to you. This is the list you need to bring to your realtor so they know what properties to show you.
Of course the reason you are buying a home is for your own enjoyment, but Morris stresses that you should consider the resale value of the home you want to buy. Jorge L. Riveria of William Raveis Mortgage, LLC in Darien, CT says that the average person doesn’t stay in a home for more than five years. So there is a pretty good chance that you will not stay there and will need to sell, eventually. Just keep in mind when you are looking, is this something that someone else would buy?
Finding a place
Once you find the perfect place, you need to make an offer. The seller has an amount they would like to sell their house for and you will either meet them at that price or come in lower. After that, it’s negotiating time. This is another time having a realtor pays off. The realtor will negotiate better than you because they don’t have an emotional stake in the house like you do. Once a the offer has been accepted, you negotiate the rest of the terms such as closing date (date when the sale of the house is final), how much money is going to be put down at closing, etc.
Inspections and stuff
Before you actually get to the closing date you want to make sure the house is in good condition. This is where your handy home inspector comes in. Morris says, “You only have about 7 to 10 days between the offer and closing to inspect the house.” So, you need to have one ready.
A home inspection is to evaluate the physical condition of the house: the structure, construction and mechanical systems. The inspector will tell you, what if, any items need to repaired or replaced and give you an estimate of the life of any systems such as electrical, plumbing, heating and air conditioning. If the inspector sees something such as mold damage, termite infestation, hole in the roof you can go back to renegotiate the deal for repairs or back out.
Waiting to close
Before you can close — which means handing over the money to the seller and getting keys in hand — you have to wait for every little detail to be completed on both sides. The day of or the day before closing you do what they call a final walk through to make sure everything you were promised or repairs that were to be done are completed.
After the closing date, you are done. The house is now completely yours. Yay! Next week, we’ll talk about the mortgage process. But in the meantime, I’d like to know if you are planning to buy a house soon?
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