Real Estate On Tap

4 Steps To Successfully Buy Your Next Home

Buying At The Right Time

If you had the foresight, the luck or just the fortunate timing of engaging in a home purchase within the past few months or are able to do so in the immediate future, you will be glad to know that prices have dropped severely to their lowest levels in 5 years.  That’s the good news and at this point, is no longer news as most of you have heard this countless times before.  What you may not know is that it is harder than ever before to buy the dream home that seems so reasonably priced.  If you are interested in learning what you need to know to purchase your next home, listen up!  Take out a pen or pencil and let’s get started.  In this order, not to be deviated from: 

Call A Mortgage Professional

[1] Get qualified.  Translation.  Speak to a mortgage professional and go over your finances BEFORE you begin your quest for a new home.  There is no reason to start any home-buying process unless and until you have received an approval from a lender that confirms you have the ability and the backing to purchase a home at a stated price.  Lenders are nervous and even the most seemingly qualified applicants are being turned down for mortgages.  Banks do not want to fund anything anymore.  As proof, try and find a lender who will finance a jumbo rate loan, or who will fund an investment property, construction-to-perm or vacant land.  Few and far between at best and their best will be at rates that not too long ago were considered usurious.  The point is that we are in a very unique place in time.  All bets are off.  It doesn’t matter what you have or what you are worth.  What does matter is that banks are scared and as irrational as they were when things were going up, they are even moreso on the flip side when offering reasoning or rationale for why they will not lend on home after home.

Get Organized

[2] Do your homework first.  Once you know that the loan is secure, you can decide where to spend that money based upon criteria such as: a certain city, neighborhood, subdivision, school zone, etc.  This is important for two main reasons.  It avoids wasting time which benefits all involved but more importantly, it keeps the lender from withdrawing their promise.  You have to strike while the iron is hot.  Getting a lender on board and then not finding a house for 6 months is a complete waste of time.  Trust me when I say the lender’s approval will be outdated and not worth the paper it’s written on.  Work smart and work fast.

Less Is More

[3] View between 6 and 8 homes at most on any one day, which is a lot.  Be methodical about looking.  Don’t look at everything for the sake of looking for two main reasons:  It’s a complete waste of time and more importantly, you end up even more confused and compromising on the “must haves” from your original list.  Stick to the plan and don’t get caught up in things that weren’t important to you when you originally did your homework.

Always Go Together

[4] See the homes with all decision makers present.  If you and your spouse are buying the home together, there is no reason to see it without one another.  You most likely will not be making the decision alone and will inevitably have to reschedule a second showing.  Again, important for two reasons: One, you guessed it; it is a complete waste of time and more importantly, the cause of more fights between spouses than in any other part of the home buying process.  Why?  For example sake, let’s suppose the first to see it loves it and wants their spouse to see it.  They then get their hopes up only to get crushed by the spouse’s intense dislike of the property during the second showing. 

Tip: If you are really making the decision together, view the homes together.  It streamlines the process, takes some of the unnecessary emotion out of it and makes the home buying process more productive and more enjoyable.  Not to mention, it lets the seller know that the buyers are serious because ALL of the decision makers are present.

Buying Made Easy

If you do just these 4 things, you will be very successful in the home-buying process at this point in time.  You will get the home you want at the price you want, plain and simple.  Deviate from the plan or the order and let’s just say I warned you and leave it at that.  Looking for answers?  I have them.

If you have any questions or comments about ANY part of the Buying Process, feel free to leave a comment below or contact me.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 at 12:59 pm and is filed under Buyers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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