How To Make Your House Hunting Process Easier: Tips for Buying Your Next Home
It's that time of the year again where everyone is either selling or buying a house. Driving around my neighborhood I have seen many for sale, pending sale, and sold signs. Approximately one year ago my husband and I were searching for our first home together as well. It seems to be a sellers market so if you are looking at buying right now it is best to come prepared. Houses are selling fast and when I say fast I mean within one day or one viewing. One of my friends put their house up for sale in Greenwood, IN and their house sold 10 minutes into their first showing! Also our next door neighbor had so much traffic on her house that I watched two to three realtors go into the house with their clients at the same time for days and later heard from her that she sold her house in just one day of it hitting the market! My husband and I definitely were not on the same page last year when we bought our house so I'm here to give you a little advice in hopes of making your experience go a little smoother. Here are some tips along with our trials and errors that I believe will help you find your perfect house.
Tip 1: Get a Realtor
As a buyer getting your own realtor is absolutely free! You literally are not responsible for paying your realtor any fees at all. Each realtor gets a check at closing from the sellers with their cut or percentage of commission. So if hiring an expert to assist you comes at no cost, why wouldn't you take advantage of it? Make sure to do your research in your area and find the perfect realtor that is going to work for you. That means find someone that is going to make your house hunting a priority and communicate with you often and openly. Research different programs and incentives that are available within your area as well. I myself am a nurse so I applied for the Homes For Heroes program and it was super easy. I literally just filled out an application for the program online and within 10 minutes was contacted and given a Homes For Heroes realtor in my area. Now I wasn't able to choose my realtor, as there are only a select few realtors in Indianapolis that work through the program, but at the end of the closing process I was given a check just for using the program. Yes, you heard me, I was essentially given over $600 just for buying a house. Let me say that again, I was paid for buying my house! Our realtor was amazing, he was available 24/7 and put our housing search at the top of his list since we were on a time crunch to find someplace within a short 3 month span. We told him exactly what we wanted and he went above and beyond to send us daily updates on houses that met our criteria. I know for a fact we would not have been able to find our house without his expertise.
Tip 2: Set Your Budget and Stick to It
The first thing you should do when looking to buy a house is meet with a mortgage broker. Make an appointment with your bank or a mortgage lender and talk about interest rates, a down payment, and your ideal mortgage budget. Get approved for a mortgage and figure out how much money you are willing to pay for your future home. Just because you are approved for a large sum of money, does not mean that you are going to be comfortable with that high of a mortgage payment. Set a budget for yourself and stick to it. I repeat STICK TO YOUR BUDGET, don't even look at any houses that are outside of your price range. If you are buying a house with your spouse make sure to sit down and come to an agreement on how much money you both are willing to spend. My husband and I did not talk about a budget and because of that we fought constantly on how much each one of us was willing to spend on each home we put an offer in on.
Tip 3: Know What You Want
Sit down and make a plan as to what kind of house you are looking for. How many bedrooms do you need or want? How many bathrooms are necessary for your lifestyle? How much land / yard area do you wish to have? Do you want an older house or a newer house? What are the things that are the most important for you to have in your future home? Once again make sure to sit down with your spouse (if you have one) and come up with a wish list of things you would like in your new home. My husband and I both had completely different wish lists so it was very hard for us to come to an agreement when house hunting. I love the charm of older houses, the history, and the overall look of older homes. I hate newer cookie cutter homes that tend to all look the same. My husband would rather have a brand new home. I prefer wood floors and my husband loves carpet. I was okay with street parking while my husband was not willing to go without a garage. In the end after lots of arguments and fights we were able to compromise and each one of us was able to get somewhat of what we wanted in our new home.
Tip 4: Location, Location, Location
Choose a location / area in which you would like to look for homes, but be willing to look at other areas as well. Research different locations in which might not be your perfect neighborhood but that will have more homes with things off of your wish list. My husband was very particular and stubborn in the fact that he wanted to stay on the south side of Indianapolis and the Greenwood area. He refused to look at any homes inside the 465 loop and was adamant that he would not settle. We looked at many houses and put offers on three different homes on the south side without any success. Eventually our realtor convinced us to give Beech Grove a look as it had homes more suited to our wish list. I wasn't too keen on the Beech Grove area either, but after looking at a couple houses we found that Beech Grove actually had more homes that met our criteria and price range. The homes are older, they have more character, and we were able to get more square footage for a better price. Our home has some beautiful laminate wood flooring, a full size mostly finished basement, two huge bedrooms, two full bathrooms, and a fenced in yard for our dogs. We didn't get a garage, but we do have one designated gravel parking spot in the back of the house and there is enough room right outside our fence near the alley for another car to fit as well. Overall, I really love our home and have grown to love the neighborhood. It feels safe, for the most part everyone is friendly and takes excellent care of their homes and yards, and its within very close proximity to Main Street where all of the businesses are. Beech Grove is up and coming and there are many new businesses within walking distance for us to explore.
So overall make sure to:
1. Get a Realtor
2. Get approved for a Mortgage
3. Set a Budget and STICK TO IT
4. Make a wish list of what you want in your future home
5. Choose a location
6. Learn to be flexible and compromise