5 Tips for Home Buyers in Humboldt County
Maybe you’ve been considering buying a home because prices
are low and interest rates are too. You
may have never thought that you could afford a home (considering where prices
were just a couple of years ago) or it just made more sense to rent. It seems that the word is out now and buyers
are placing offers and buying homes.
Well if you do want to jump in and buy a home here are 5 tips you should
consider.
1.
Get a Realtor to assist you in your search. A good practice is to ask your Friends or
family if they know a good Realtor who can assist you in your home search. I suggest this because you can run yourself
ragged looking in print media and on the internet for a home. If you have multiple homes that you want to
see, chances are that you will have to make appointments with multiple Realtors
and each one has a different schedule and personality. Pick one Realtor who will schedule
appointments, suggest listings to see, let you know when that house you missed
out on is back on the market and just might have some tools that will help you
in your search. More on helpful tools
another blog post…
2.
Get Pre-qualified
or better yet, Pre-approved! - This makes all the difference in an active market. You may have looked at an online to see what
kind of payment you can afford but without visiting with a Lender you may not
realize that the car you bought last year actually affects what a bank is
willing to lend to you. You should be
realistic about what you can afford and it will help your Realtor narrow down
listings that currently
Many homes coming on the market under
$200,000 are getting multiple offers.
You don’t want to have an offer rejected or miss out entirely by not
having a lender willing to write a letter attesting to your qualification to
get a loan on the house. How bad would it feel if you missed out on the perfect
home because you had to visit with a lender before your offer would be
considered by the Seller? So visit with a competent lender to help you get that
home. It will also help to know exactly
what you can afford.
3.
Make yourself available to see homes. Waiting a week to see a new listing may put
you out of the running. Also plan to
look on weekends and evenings even lunches if necessary.
4.
Don’t apologize to your Realtor for seeing a
house that doesn’t suit you or fit your personal style. If you ask me I think of that as a success
because now we can cross it off of the list.
5.
Be realistic about the condition of the
home. Just because the house is located
in the perfect neighborhood, is the right size and (best of all) is priced
right doesn’t mean it is right for you.
If it is missing flooring, has chipped and peeling paint, no toilet and
a non-functioning kitchen chances are that you won’t be buying that place. This doesn’t apply for cash buyers and rehab
loans, but it’s likely the only buyer for that home is an investor.
6.
Be Realistic about location. If you work in Eureka and your spouse or
significant other works in Eureka it would probably be wise to live in Eureka,
not Willow Creek. Especially with gas
prices like they are…
7.
Be patient.
If you miss out on one home there is likely a reason for this, if you
are patient another house will come along probably a better house. I once had a client that I worked with for 2
½ years. They missed out on a house they
loved early on and they would always mention it. They finally bought a new house last year and
couldn’t be happier.
Happy house hunting!
