Buying Guide: Choosing Your New Home!

When we went searching for a home to buy two years ago, I thought it would be a long and difficult process. I had heard horror stories of canceled closings, looking for the right house for months, finding the dream home and then finding out that something dire was wrong with it and so on. We were very lucky and found our dream home the very day that we started looking. The realtor didn't suggest it; I had found it online and asked to see it.

So that brings us to the first step in a buying guide for a home. Check the local realtors online to see what's available. I always thought that if a home is listed with an agency, that's who needs to be contacted for the sale but it just isn't like that. I am not certain it is the same in all locations, but in this area, it worked great for me.

Find a few homes and take note of the addresses and the major things that are listed online. It will save you a lot of time to know that a certain home has two bedrooms if you need three or more. If you have bad knees or a bad back and need to have your laundry area on the first floor, why waste time looking at houses with basement hookups?

Drive through the neighborhoods of your top choices in homes, too. There may be things you see in the area that you wouldn't notice on the day you're there with the realtor. Try to find out from others how safe your prospective new neighborhood is.

Many people prefer looking for owner-sold homes and choose not to go through a realtor at all. I would not have done it this way but I find that I'm rather paranoid about some matters, so while I might think something would go wrong with this kind of transaction, it may go fine. I wouldn't do it without a lawyer, however.

Before you start actually looking for a home to buy, make sure that your finances are in order. Your mortgage lender will definitely be checking your credit rating, too. Find out what kind of loans you qualify for and how much of a down payment you are likely to need. If you take a little time for researching things like this, you may be preventing a big disappointment later when you think you found your dream home and then some surprise roadblock comes up that prevents the purchase.

It is a good idea to know that the place you have in mind to obtain the loan will actually take you on as a client. This is also beneficial because they will be able to tell you how much of a mortgage they can offer. Find out how much of a down payment you will need. You should have at least 20% to put down but if you cannot manage that, some lenders will accept less. Another option is to check into a Veteran's Administration loan or FHA financing which will accept a much lower payment and sometimes no down payment is needed at all.

Even if you are able to get a loan with a very low down payment or none at all, it is always a good idea to have enough money to pay your closing costs. It isn't a good idea to go further into debt right away and borrow money for your closing costs, too.

Think hard about whether or not you want to offer less on the house to see if the seller will accept it or make a counter offer. This is a big mistake we almost made. The realtor asked about that and we said we'll do it and offer a bit less. As soon as the papers were signed to make that lower offer, I started getting nervous about someone coming along and paying full price and stealing my dream house from under me. In my case there was indeed a counter offer and it was taken, but the few days of stress thinking it was a mistake really wasn't worth the difference in the amount of money that was saved.

When you are able to go inside the house, take a notebook with you, and a digital camera comes in handy, too. Write down any repairs, painting, etc. that will need to be done before moving in. Check for things like your laundry hookups and find out which appliances, if any, will be sold with the house.

You will have to get a termite inspection and an overall inspection before buying, so a lot of things will be taken care of then, but you can still have a list of things to check on your own. Even if your lender doesn't require the inspection, definitely have it done for your own protection. Having to install new windows or a roof right away would not be a pleasant surprise. Check the plumbing system, too!

Find out things that a general inspection won't tell you. These would be things like is your possible dream home sitting on a fault line or in a flood zone? How much will your property taxes and homeowner insurance cost?

Another important thing you will want to do is to find out how long the house has been on the market. This often tells a lot more than a sales ad or the realtor's pitch will tell. There are certainly always good reasons why a house doesn't sell and if the home you're looking at has been offered for 6 months without a sale, you will want to know what's wrong with either the home or perhaps the neighborhood. Maybe the home selling price is just too high for buyers, but you'll need to know if it's something more serious.

If you take the time to have everything in order before the hectic time of packing, cleaning, closing dates, and address changes come into your life, you'll be very glad you did!