Avoiding Common First-Time Home Buyer Mistakes

April 30th, 2019 Posted by florida mortgage 0 thoughts on “Avoiding Common First-Time Home Buyer Mistakes”

Title: Avoiding Common First-Time Home Buyer Mistakes

There are many mistakes first-time homebuyers make. We want to help you avoid any of those potential mistakes.

 

Many first-time homebuyers forget to budget for closing costs. These costs are normally between 2% and 5% of your loan amount. Closing costs are made up of homeowner’s insurance, home inspections, title searches, etc. Along with shopping around for best cost of the above expenses, you could also negotiate the commission your real estate agent gets and/or ask the seller to pay for a portion of the closing cost.

 

It is also important to budget for any expenses after you move in. This could include new furniture, new paint, decorations, etc.

 

When house hunting, make sure you are keeping in mind not only your current needs, but your future needs as well. If you are planning on increasing your family size or having a lot of house guests, you need to make sure they will fit in the house you pick.

 

If you are in a buyer’s market when you are house hunting, you will have an upper hand. This means that you will likely be able to negotiate with the seller. For example, you may be able to negotiate any major repairs needed, such as changing out the current air conditioning and heating system.

 

It is important you know the restrictions of a home inspection – especially since you will be paying for it! If you are concerned about mold, it is important to know if that is included in the home inspection or not. If you are able to, attend the inspection and pay attention to what is going on. Ask questions if you have any. Or if you do not feel as though the inspector did a thorough job looking at something in particular, you can ask them to look again.

 

Since you will be required to purchase homeowners insurance by the lender it is recommended you do your research and compare insurance rates to find the best price and make sure you will be covered adequately. If a policy is less expensive, find out why before you automatically go with that one. It is likely that the reason it is less is because you have less protections and at the event you file a claim, you will have more out-of-pocket expenses. Also, keep in mind (especially if you live in a flood zone) that any damage caused by a flood is not covered by homeowners insurance – flood insurance is an additional expense.

 

We hope these items to keep in mind helps you to have a positive first-time home buying experience!

 

 

Tags: ,