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"Smart home buyers avoid the stress Of the home buying process. They avoid the mistakes Other home buyers make Because they get facts and not guess".
My philosophy is when a person knows what not to do they'll have a better chance of doing what they should do. I don't know how accurate this is in all cases but it works like a charm when buying a home.
Follow these 10 Don't Do's and watch how it keeps you out of trouble on the way to your first home.
1. Don't Buy More House Than You Can Afford. One of the biggest mistakes many first time homeowners make whose dreams are bigger than their incomes.
The bigger, newer, fancier house is a lot of fun until the payments start to squeeze you harder.
2. Don't Move Into A fixer Upper If You're Not Willing or Able To Fix It Up. So, you've watched a few hours of the home improvement channel. Now, you've convinced yourself how easy making that rat trap of a house look like a palace. But unless dust in your hair and the smell of paint fumes excites you - think twice before buying a fixer upper.
One fact all fixer uppers require is time, money and physical labor; not necessarily in that order.
3. Don't Pen All Your Hopes On Double-Digit Home Appreciation. Yes, I know, it's hard to resist the romantic stories of homes appreciating tens of thousands of dollars and more a year. And people selling there homes and becoming instant millionaires and retiring off the earnings. But don't depend on it, in fact don't expect it.
Apply solid financial common sense and you'll stay out the trouble many starry - eyed homeowners get into in a flat real estate market.
4. Don't Buy A House If You're A Bad Money Manager. If you can't manage your money, put off buying a home until you can get yourself under control.
Don't depend on a high salary, anticipated home appreciation or an "I'll get by attitude" to save you from bad spending habits.
It's funny how time and a home has a sneaky way of revealing bad spending habits.
5. Don't Buy A House If You Have Bad Spending Habits. This is a continuation of #4. If you don't have a clue about how much you spend each month. Could care less whether you pay your bills on time or not. And would rather spend money on a quick trip to Vegas, than new copper pipes or insulation, hold off buying a house.
Yes, a home can often pay you back many times what you paid for it. But it requires you to pay first and in most cases keep paying for a long period of time.
6. Don't Buy A House If You Hate The Neighborhood or The Neighbors. Don't settle for a house or a neighborhood you feel uncomfortable in. In most cases your first home may not be your ideal choice, but it can be a spring board to a better home and neighborhood.
But if you hate the neighborhood or your neighbors, all the house will bring you besides a monthly mortgage payment is headaches.
7. Don't Guess At Your Earnings or Expenses. If there is anything, other than a teenage child, that will squeeze more pennies out of you - it's a house.
This is not the time to guess at what you earn or what your expenses are after you buy the home. The more accurate you estimate these figures at the start -the less stress you'll experience in the long run.
8. Beware Of Racial Steering.
This is a form of "quiet" housing discrimination. Where African
American home buyers are shown houses in neighborhoods less desirable than those shown to comparable whites by real estate agents.
Being limited by the amount of homes shown compared to white buyers, many African Americans give up on looking for a home.
This practice often prevents many African Americans from buying a home because they don't want to purchase in certain high crime neighborhoods.
Many real estate agents have a tendency to steer whites to white communities and blacks to black or interracial communities. Racial steering is when agents do this despite African Americans having the ability to qualify for non-minority neighborhoods.
All things being equal, if your agent is only showing you homes in minority neighborhoods and you can clearly qualify for other neighborhoods, you may be a victim of racial steering.
For more information on racial steering and what to do about
9. Don't Forget To Communicate With Your Spouse.
With all the information, facts and figures going through your head it's easy for couples to be on different pages when buying a home.
In my former life as a real estate agent, the hardest part of the sale was getting a husband and wife to agree on the same house at the same time. Don't laugh it's not as easy as it looks. In fact, it's like hitting a moving target in the middle of an earthquake in many cases.
Most of the problems occurred because they remembered to listen to the loan officer, the agent and others. But they forgot to listen to the needs and wants of each other. Dah!
10. Don't Settle For Something You're Uncomfortable With. With so much money, time and long term commitment that comes with a house, it's almost crazy to settle for a house or neighborhood your uncomfortable with.
Many homeowners buy a home hoping it will grow on them. That's always a gamble because a house is not a plant - you can't depend on it growing on you.
If your first impressions or gut feelings of a home make you uncomfortable, you should probably keep looking.
If you follow these 10 Don't Do's as a home buyer, you'll escape a mountain of problems, wasted money and stress caused by hasty decisions. If your're a first time home buyer discover how to get a free grant to buy your first home - even if your nervous, shaky and have doubts Click Here!
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