There’s not many events in life that can rival the stress of getting married or losing a loved one. But buying a home is certainly one of them. Buying a home isn’t something that most of us do very often, and it involves WAY more money than most purchases we’ll make in our lives, so it’s understandable that some buyers have trouble coping with the stress of it all.
That’s where Realtors come in. We’re trained in the business of buying and selling real estate so that you can worry less. By bearing some of the burdens of the process, your Realtor can help you find the home of your dreams without you losing your sanity.
With that in mind, here are some things that Realtors wish their buyers knew about purchasing a home.
You Need to Know What You Can Spend Ahead of Time
Getting a picture of your financials before you start looking for homes is crucial to the success of the process. After all, there’s no point in looking for homes if you have no idea how much home you can afford.
There’s tons of mortgage calculators online that can help you determine how much house you can afford. But a better step beyond that is to actually talk to a lender, go over your financials, and get pre-approved for a loan. A pre-approval gives you a clear picture of what your budget should be, that way you don’t spend all your time dreaming of a $350,000 home when all you can afford is $150,000.
Another benefit of getting pre-approved is that once you find a home, you can make an offer quickly. Sometimes homes get multiple offers, so being able to jump at the chance when it arises can work in your favor.
Looking at More Houses Isn’t Always a Good Plan
Since buying a home is such a huge investment, it’s good practice to give homes a thorough look with your Realtor on a private showing. However, that doesn’t mean that you need to sit in front of your computer and go over every home in town that’s close to your budget.
Often, what happens is that buyers will see so many homes that they can’t decide which one they like – almost like being overwhelmed when you scroll through Netflix. Instead of actually watching something, you keep looking for something better, and before you know it, you’ve wasted a ton of time.
Looking at 50 houses when the third or fourth one you looked at was a great match just doesn’t make sense. If you find a house that feels like it’s right for you and fits in your budget, don’t necessarily need to spend more time looking. Otherwise, someone else might snatch up the house you like, and you’ll be left looking even longer.
Leave the Communications to Your Realtor
The point of having a Realtor represent you as a buyer is for them to communicate on your behalf with the seller’s agent. That means that you should refrain from calling the listing agent, the seller’s agent, or worse, the seller, with questions or concerns.
Among other things, communicating directly with the listing agent or seller’s agent could compromise your Realtor’s ability to negotiate on things like the price. It also indicates to the other parties involved that you might not trust your Realtor.
At the end of the day, an effective Realtor has your best interests at heart and will work tirelessly to help you find the home for you. By minding these “rules of homebuying,” you’ll enable your Realtor to do their job, and you’ll also reduce your stress level. What’s not to like about that?!