The Home Buying Process – Topic 1 – Why am I moving?

Jun 14, 2011 by FHH

Well, here we are at Topic 1. Determine what you are looking for.

This may seem like an obvious, maybe even trivial thing. A professor of mine once told me that if you don’t know where you are going, the odds of getting there are zero.  This thought exemplifies the home buying process. If you don’t know exactly what kind of property you are looking for, then how on God’s green Earth do you expect to find it? This breaks this down into a few points to make things a little easier.

1. Why are you moving? Are you relocating and need to find something fast? Are you moving because you are bored with your home and want a new one? Or like most of us, are you somewhere in the middle. Maybe looking for better schools for your children. Moving closer to a beach or into a golf community. Knowing why you are moving makes all the difference in the world.
2. What kind of property are you looking for? A stand alone home? Condo? Ranch? Townhouse downtown? Give this some thought. I can’t tell you how many clients I have had start out looking for a home and end up with a condo, or vice versa.
3. What features do you need? Grab a piece of paper for this one folks.  Make 3 columns on this paper and mark them as “Must Haves”, “Like to Haves”  “Can’t Haves” Must Haves are the features you require to move, without these features you will not be able to move. Maybe you have 4 children, if so a 2 bedroom home is not very functional. So 3+ bedrooms would be a requirement. Like to Have are the features you would like to see but may not be required. Pools fall into this category, or may with your 4 kids you would like a 5 bedroom home.
4. How are you going to pay for it? If you have the resources to pay cash for the home this becomes less of a concern. You see how much you have for a house and you go buy it. But, if like most of the home buying public you have to finance than there is some homework to do. Examine your financial situation. Pull your credit reports and see where you stand. What kind of down payment can we put down? Will you have enough for closing costs? I always recommend speaking to a mortgage professional before looking for a house. Get your financial house in order before looking for a real house. Seeing my clients fall in love with a house only to find out they cannot afford always breaks my heart. Find out how much you can buy before looking at homes.

Once you’ve answered these questions, even tentatively, you’ll be in a better posi­tion to research your housing and mortgaging options, as well as create an action plan and timelines for moving forward. You may want to do this yourself, but you may also benefit by consulting an experienced REALTOR® right from the start.

Tomorrow we get to delve into working with one of Me…a Realtor!! I love a good Realtor and as luck would have it I just happen to be a very good Realtor, so this should be fun.

Cheers!

Steven Hedquist

Future Home Realty