Do You Make Any of These Common Home Buying Mistakes?
What Every Homebuyer Ought to Know About Avoiding These Costly Home Buying Mistakes!
Keep Reading to Discover How You Can Learn to Avoid Them…
John was excited about purchasing his brand new home, but he was preparing to make one of the most common home buying mistakes made by would be home buyers. John thought driving up in his brand new car would be a great idea. The ‘new car’ smell was mesmerizing and the vision of the wind flowing through his wife’s hair as they cruised through their new neighborhood with the top down became irresistible. He drove off the lot with a big joyful smile and a gleam in his smiling eyes.
Unfortunately, his smile soon turned into a frown of sadness when his lender informed him his new car purchase showed up on his credit report right before they were getting ready to fund the loan and close. John’s car purchase had just disqualified him from his new home loan. Indeed, costly home buying mistakes like this happen every day.
The new car monthly payments were added into John’s monthly expenses and raised his debt to income ratio to a higher level, immediately disqualifying him A very sad state of affairs, but common home buying mistakes like this are all too common I hate to say.
These type of home buying mistakes are very costly, but are not isolated to just new car purchases. Home buying mistakes also occur when would be buyers want to have things in order and finance appliances and furniture in advance of closing on their new home loan. Even racking up charges on your charge cards can increase your debt to income ratios enough to disqualify you for your new home loan.
Recommended: avoid these common home buying mistakes by eliminating all major purchases as much as possible before purchasing a home. If you must make them, check with your lender first and have them re-run the numbers to make sure you don’t end up spending the night in your convertible instead of your new home, like our poor friend John.
More Costly Home Buying Mistakes
Costly home buying mistakes made by many would be tenant buyers lately is to hand over their down payment money directly to the for sale by owner. It looks like a great deal, buying direct from the owner, the price seemed right and the owner was willing to work with you on accepting a fair rent until you were able to qualify for a loan to finish the purchase, but one of the most common (and costly) home buying mistakes was in the making.
One day, typically a real estate agent, knocks on your door asking if you are the owner. You explain you’re the tenant and are purchasing the home from the owner and the agent goes on to inform you the owner has been foreclosed on, asks to view your lease and offers you a relocation assistance program to help you with your move from the new owners at the bank.
I’ve personally seen these type of home buying mistakes made time and again. One would be tenant buyer gave someone posing as the owner, not only their down payment money, but their first and last months rent. Ouch!
Recommended: Use a real estate agent to help you avoid these common home buying mistakes that are running rampant right now with all the foreclosures happening. At worst, get your down payment money into a 3rd party escrow account, so access to the money can’t be gained by either party until either the house closes or the deal falls through. You may want to also screen the owner and get some credentials from them to prove who they really are and check the county recorders office to see if a Notice of Foreclosure Sale has been filed. Search the tax assessor and county recorder websites to find out who really owns the home and don’t ever hand over cash money to the owner, one of the very large and costly home buying mistakes.
Costly Home Buying Mistakes – Utilities Not Turned On…
Believe it or not, some home buyers actually forget to have their utilities turned on in their new home before they move in. Of course, Murphy’s law is in full effect, as this usually is discovered on a late Friday going into a weekend when no one is going to help you until Monday. That makes for a very uncomfortable inauguration into your new home, especially at 110 degrees in Phoenix, Arizona or in the dead of winter with no fireplace.
Recommended: make a note to yourself to arrange two things: (1) turning off utilities at your old residence and (2) getting them turned on at your new home.
Avoid Common Home Buying Mistakes…
Having a good real estate agent to look out for your interests as you go through the process of buying your new home is an extremely important asset you don’t want to overlook. Their services are paid for by the seller and they can literally save you thousands of dollars in grief avoidance with their expertise in helping you avoid not only these, but many other common (and costly) home buying mistakes made by would be home buyers.
It’s their job to keep up with all the details of the transaction from day-to-day, and keep everything moving smoothly and on track towards the exciting day of closing. They help shield you from a great deal of the frustration associated with buying a new home and help you stay up with the requirements of the lender as the home progresses to closing too. They arrange home inspections, remind you to turn on utilities and keep things on track.
Many home buyers fail to do this and then find themselves way behind in the process at the very last minute. This can sometimes lead to delay or even cancellation of the transaction. Recommended: take care of your side of the fence by staying on the same page as the lender all the way through the process.
The better educated you are about potential and costly home buying mistakes you could make when buying a home, the better chance you have to keep the entire home buying process cruising along smoothly toward a successful close.
By the way, after you’ve closed and you want the wind blowing through your hair in that new ragtop, go for it knowing you have avoided those treacherous common costly home buying mistakes.
