For most people, a house is the biggest purchase of a lifetime. It is a serious business and it can not and should not be taken lightly. A transition between a home renter to a home owner is a major change in lifestyle. If done correctly, your home will be the best decision you can make that can have your life all set for good.
Below are a few things that I strongly recommend when preparing for your home purchase:
1. Whether you are still just thinking about buying a home or have already decided to become a home owner within x amount of time, you should get a consultation from a real estate professional like me or someone you may know. This is absolutely the first step before you start visiting open houses. A consultation with me typically offers the most updated market information, different types of offer contracts and what to expect in the home buying process, which I think is what every buyer needs to know in order to gain confidence for making the most informed and educated decision for the biggest purchase in life, this will save time, money and hassle.
2. Find out where you fit in your mortgage pre-approval process. Unless you are an all cash buyer, most of us needs financial help from lenders to make such a big purchase. It is absolutely important to know how much do you need to save in order to purchase a home, how much will your monthly expenses be, what programs and options are out there for down payments and closing costs and how your current credit score affects you in your mortgage? Take the step and contact lenders in your area for a consultation.
3. The first 2 steps will help you determine what your purchasing budget and how competitive that is price-wise in the current market. Now this step is about the specific of your dream home. I know that we all want the perfect house that has everything that we ever wanted. Take this step to decide on the following must-haves and nice-to-haves:
Location
Style of home
Amenities
Age of the homes
School districts
Distance to work
If the home that matches all of your criteria is out of your current budge, which criteria are you willing to let go in order to find something that is within your budget? Based on our initial consultation, I would normally provide an unique customized buyer's questionnaire that helps buyers to determine what's the best fit based on lifestyles, income and family situation.
4. After finding out your financial situation and lifestyle, it is now time to find your home on the market and making a visit. Here, a lot of buyers are tempted to do it themselves, while they certainly can if timing it right, in a lot of cases it is not the most effective way when it comes down to determining your offer price as well as other decisions about the property. Since most of the general public only has access to public sources such as zillow or Redfin to search for properties, they are not aware of the most updated changes going on. Because for any transactions to go from actually sold to the date the sold price being posted to the public, it takes 1 months or two based on the escrow process. In a rapid changing market like SF Bay Area, this is not going to help determining to best offer price. Also, there are other information about the properties such as the the disclosure and seller's terms will be not easily accessible at your open house. Therefore, working with a good agent who has access to the most updated information about the property helps a lot.
5. Re-evaluate the plan of action in case the your goal doesn't fit the current real estate market. Things happen sometimes in life. The best thing we do is to re-evaluate ourselves and design a new plan of action. This time, you will be even better prepared and more ready.
