Don’t Fall For These 5 Traps When Buying a House for Sale

“Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life.” – Sophia Loren

We all make mistakes in life. However, there are two kinds of mistakes – the ones that you cannot avoid and the ones that you can avoid. Falling into the trap set up for a first-time house buyer certainly falls in the latter.

If you are a first-time house buyer, then we have got some tips that will help you avoid falling into the five common traps set up for you. Let’s take a look at those traps and how you can avoid them –

• Not Setting A Budget

You will be amazed to know how many people make the mistake of not setting a budget before planning to buy a house. Rather, we should say that not many people really know what they can afford when planning to buy a house.

As a rule of thumb, you must not buy a house that costs 30% of your take-home salary in monthly expenses, which includes mortgage costs, property tax, insurance, and maintenance. You can choose to go beyond this value, however, by doing so you will be putting yourself at a big risk.

Remember, the temptation to buy a lavish house is the biggest trap set for you to fall into. Not setting a budget could mean that you end up lusting something that’s way beyond your price range. This could eventually lead to two consequences – either you will end up stretching way beyond your financial means and regretting later or feeling dissatisfied with the properties that actually fall in your price range. Both these situations can prove to be dangerous for your future.

• Not Shopping Around For Mortgage

The real estate market is full of competition. When you will step outside the market looking for mortgage options, you will find that everyone is there to make you the best offer.

A number of first-time house buyers make this common mistake of accepting the first mortgage offer made to them. By doing so they miss out on the opportunity to find whether they could have qualified for a better deal, like a higher loan amount or lesser interest rate.

Don’t make the mistake of accepting the first offer that is being made to you. Rather, invest your time shopping around and meeting various lenders. Get to know what offers are being made by different lenders, so that you can pick the best of the lot, especially if you have a considerably high credit score.

• Not Giving Due Consideration to the Neighborhood
  

Another common mistake that people make when buying a house is to look just at the house, and ignore the neighborhood in which it is located. Neighborhood means not only the people living in the surrounding area, but a number of other vital factors.

These could include but are not limited to the development plans in work, zoning laws in the area, or any fluctuations in house pricing in the recent past. Getting answers to these questions is important they will help you find a good house.

Of course, you cannot be 100% certain in predicting what the future is going to be in real estate, but making a learned decision is always a wise idea. Get to know the important facts about the neighborhood before you actually buy a house.

• Not Taking Steps to Drive Your Credit Score Up

You can easily boost your credit score up by making on-time payments or repaying some of the already existing debt that you have. This will help you get the most competitive rates on a mortgage.

However, a number of house buyers are ignorant. Either they don’t have the information on how to boost their credit score, or they end up being driven by the temptation to buy a house quickly.

A slight effort to boost your credit score could save you thousands of dollars in interest rate. Why wouldn’t you do that?

• Not Picking The Right Real Estate Agent

Not researching enough because choosing a real estate agent for buying your first house is the most common mistake that people make. You should consider a number of factors before choosing a real estate agent.

Factors like their experience in the local market, their contacts, their past clientele and reviews, their communication, and availability – all play a vital role in their service. You have to meet a few real estate agents in the market before actually deciding which one can prove to be the best for you. Or, to avoid the hassle you can go to a Negotiator Recognized Partner, who can prove to be the best help ever in your endeavor to buy a house.

Conclusion

Listed above are some of the most common traps that people fall into when buying their first house. As you can see, avoiding them requires not too much effort. Rather it requires some patience, a lot of common sense, and some simple guidance, which we have tried to offer here. By following the advice mentioned you can easily avoid making the mistakes that first-time house buyers make and get the house of your dreams that you have been looking for.

The only question is – are you willing to follow these tips?