Excited to buy your first home? Owning a home is a big responsibility. So make sure you’re prepared for all the responsibilities that come along with being a home owner. Here are a few mistakes that first time home buyers often make, according to Investopedia. Knowing these mistakes well in advance will help you steer clear of these terrible errors in judgment when your time comes:
- Doing all the work yourself. Some home owners often seem to think that finding prime properties are easy and possible without the help of real estate agents. If you’re retired and you’ve got a lot of time on your hands, then that’s possible. But if you’ve got a full-time job and you have kids, then you’ll barely have enough time left over in the weekends to dedicate to the project With a real estate agent, you can save on a lot of time. Not only because leaving the work gives you more hours to spend on other things, a professional will also find it easier to perform the search on your behalf, considering the tools and network they have.
- Not enough funds. In buying a home, you don’t just pay for the home. Often, you pay for adjustments along with a little home decorating as well. If you don’t factor those expenses in, they could bleed your account dry. That or the expenses of moving into a home or furnishing a new one could all add up and cause you to go over your budget in a major way. That’s why it’s always a good idea to have extra funds in case you run into an emergency. Otherwise, you might find yourself stopping the payments and if that goes on for too long, you might even lose the home you loving bought in the first place.
- Overpaying. Make sure you ask your agent for information regarding the market value of the real estate property in Houston you’ve been eyeing for weeks now. If you aren’t sure, find out what the going rate for homes in the sale area cost. That would give you a pretty decent ballpark of how much the home is worth. That will also help you find out if the owner is overcharging you or not.
Bottom Line
Investing in property—especially prime property—isn’t easy. But knowing enough to avoid costly mistakes can keep you and your bank account happy throughout the process.
Looking for prime Houston real estate property? Contact the Keller William Houston Memorial for real estate assistance and services.
