What First-Time Homebuyers Should Look For

With the affordable real estate prices and large inventory of houses on the market, it is an excellent time for the first-time buyer to purchase a home. It is amazing how many home buyers will allow first impressions and impulse to guide their purchase. If you are in the market for a home, lead with your brain, not your emotions.

Real estate professionals advise sellers how to prepare their homes for viewings. Sellers are encouraged to spruce up the curb appeal, keep the property sparkling clean; free of clutter and overly personal items. It has even been advised that a batch of freshly baked homemade cookies will make buyers more amenable to a purchase. Do you really want to make one of the largest purchases of your life based partially on that cozy fragrance which evoked a fond childhood memory?

What should home buyers look for? There is a reason for the familiar real estate idiom "location, location, location". A homeowner has little control over their neighborhood. Which is one reason some home buyers prefer neighborhoods with homeowner associations. This allows the homeowner to attempt to excerpt control over what their neighbor does. But, the only problem with that scenario, you may be the neighbor they are telling what to do.

From an investment point of view, a lower priced neighborhood will limit what improvements you can do to your property, should you attempt to resell. An example of this is a couple I know, who built a beautiful million dollar home, in an average neighborhood. It will be very difficult for them to find a buyer for the property. Buyers, who are in the market for a million dollar home, normally want an upscale neighborhood.

If you do find two houses you really like, don't base your final decision on surface frills. An example of this; one woman I know found two houses in the same neighborhood for sale. She liked them both, but intended to make an offer on the higher priced house.

Both houses were in the same neighborhood, they had similar floor plans, and the less expensive house was actually a bit larger. So why was she so sold on the more expensive house? It had plantation shutters, which she loved. She was willing to pay another $10,000 for a smaller house with plantation shutters. Not a bad return on shutters which may have cost the seller $2,000.

Let's return to that notion of baking cookies to entice buyers. It is true that scents can influence us. If your ultimate dream house came on the market, and you went to view it, and the moment you walked in the door there was a rancid, overpowering smell, chances are, you would not continue to look. Perhaps you would glance around, simply to be polite, but mentally, you've crossed that house off your list. What a shame, that was your dream house, and the smell? The owner just cooked cabbage and forgot to turn on the fan. Unless the smell stays with the property (such as being located near a sewer plant), try to see beyond the scent.

When we purchased our current home, over four years ago, we were looking for a three bathroom house. My mother lives with my husband and I, and we needed that extra bathroom. We were both REALTORS® at the time, and the market was good. If you found a great house, it was usually gone by the next day.

My husband found a listing which was extremely reasonably priced, in an excellent neighborhood and had three bathrooms. It had been on the market for a long time, and he was curious why it hadn't sold. We had just started looking, so we decided to check it out.

The previous owner had passed away, and her son was staying in the home. In the back yard were several broken down vehicles, including a large antiquated motor home. The house was cluttered, stuffy and in the garage were several vehicles and a strong oil and gas smell, which drifted into the house.

We weren't there to look at the homeowner's junk. What we saw was a great neighborhood, ideal floor plan for our needs, terrific oversized windows, and a supersized yard, with room for a future pool and additional room for my mother. We loved it.

But, when we took my mother to see the house, she hated it. The gasoline scent, which lingered in the bedroom that would be hers, immediately turned her off of the property. After that, all she could see was the broken down boats in the back yard, and boxes of clutter inside.

Today, mom loves the house, and we occasionally tease her about her initial impression.

When you look at property, don't be influenced by the seller's ugly furniture, their messy closet, or the lingering scent of last night's dinner. If you only look at the frills and surface, you could be passing up your dream home.