Buying a new home can be an exciting endeavor, especially for first time home buyers, but it can also become overwhelming fairly quickly. Looking through new houses for ?the one? isn’t as simple as you may think, there are several factors you want to keep in mind to optimize your experience. Preventing yourself from getting sucked into the hype that, in the real estate world, can suck you in and leave you dazed and wondering how you ended up where you landed once the dust settles. With that being said, here are the top four tips you’re going to want to know before diving in:
Take your time: Once you decide on your new home, make no mistake, it is a long term commitment and treating it as such during the buying process can help you be continuously happy with your decision because let’s face it, regret is the last thing you want to feel after choosing the home your going to be living in for the next however many years. Now I know how exciting purchasing a home for the first time can be but buyers spend and an average of 4.2 months shopping for new homes and that’s about where you want to be in your decision-making process.
What luxury houses actually are: Watch out for terms such as ?luxury real estate? as they can be misleading. Knowing the actual meaning can be helpful since terms can be used very loosely in the real estate world. The benchmark for luxury houses can be significantly different depending on location, appliances or even price. Even new homes with something as small as updated appliances can be tagged as luxury houses in today’s market, so don’t assume that it is automatically better than one without this moniker without asking the right questions first.
New Vs. old: Some people like a home with character and a little bit of age but it is becoming increasingly rare in home buyers each year. If you don’t mind fixing a few things sooner than anticipated then it’s fine but there are benefits to purchasing a home that has never been lived in and saving money on repairs in the first few years is the main one. Almost half of interested buyers say that energy efficiency plays a key role in their decision to purchase a new home as opposed to one that has already been lived in before.
Don’t settle: When buying a new home don’t settle because you think that’s all there is. If real estate agents have a particularly difficult property to get rid of they will push and push hard to get it sold on whoever they can. It is important to not let yourself get bullied into a home that you are 100 percent certain you’re going to be happy with because this can and does happen regularly, especially to first-time buyers.
According to home-buying millennials, one of the top reasons for purchasing a new home is because of marriage or family expansion. Regardless of why you are purchasing a new home, hold fast to your initial reasoning behind this change, whether it’s because you are getting married, expanding your family or you just want to check out some of those luxury houses you’ve heard so much about. Doing this will help you navigate all the distractions that will be thrown your way and help you to stay focused on what’s important to you, not what the real estate agent or whoever you go through wants you to think is important. Really, just have fun, this is an experience that you only get to enjoy once, for some, in your life.
