When it comes to being a first-time home buyer, there are many different decisions that you will need to make. It can also become extremely easy to get caught up in the excitement of shopping so much that you end up making all sorts of mistakes that could leave you with buyer’s remorse as time goes on.
Here are three of the most common mistakes that all first-time home buyers should always avoid.
Stay In Your Price Range
One of the most common mistakes that all first-time home buyers should avoid is purchasing more house than you are actually able to afford. It can oftentimes be easy to fall in love with a home that can overtake your budget; however, whenever you overextend yourself, it can end up leading to financial disaster. If you were to end up purchasing more home than you are actually able to afford, you will end up putting yourself at a much higher risk of foreclosure in the event that you end up falling into some kind of financial issue, and you’ll also have a lesser amount of room in terms of your monthly budget when it comes to bills and additional expenses.
Be Cautious With Your Credit
Another common mistake that all first-time home buyers should always consider avoiding involves being careless with your credit. Lenders will always take the time to pull credit reports during the preapproval stage in order to ensure that everything actually checks out, as well as once more prior to the closing process. This is because they want to ensure that nothing in your financial profile has changed. In the event that you have any new credit card accounts or loans on your credit report, this is something that can end up jeopardizing both the closing and final loan approval, and unfortunately, this is something that many first-time buyers end up learning the hard way.
Avoid Emotional Decisions
One other common mistake that a first-time home buyer should always avoid is making any kind of a decision that is based solely on emotion. Keep in mind that purchasing a home is considered to be a major milestone in your life, especially since it’s a place where you’ll make tons of memories, as well as create a space that’s truly yours. According to one real estate professional, it can become far too easy to get attached and make all sorts of emotional decisions, so it’s important to always remember that you’re making perhaps one of the biggest investments of your entire life. Furthermore, according to this same professional, “with this being a strong seller’s market, a lot of first-time buyers are bidding over what they are comfortable with because it is taking them longer than usual to find homes.” If you were to end up making a decision based more on emotion, the chances are great that you could end up overpaying for a home, as well as stretching yourself beyond your actual budget instead of both maintaining and sticking to the budget that you’ve already previously established.
If you are in the market for buying or selling a home, reach out to the Barton Harris group at Weichert Realtors.
