1. Cost associated with inspections - be prepared
At a bare minimum you should have a home inspection, termite inspection, septic inspection and, if you are going to be doing anything in your basement, a radon inspection. But this isn’t all that may happen. Sometimes your home inspection may dictate that you need an additional inspection. For example, there are cracks in your foundation, the HVAC in the home is old, the roof is over 25 years old or there is a negative grade to the house causing water to eat away at the foundation. You need professionals to review these concerns, and these good people don’t work for free.
2. Viewing Homes - time is important
There are some people who think buying a home means looking at every house they like. Over time, you will find that this will eat away at your mental health. I do not say that jokingly, there are ways that searching for homes can be done, without feeling “buyer fatigue.” What is buyer fatigue? It's when you look at too many homes and become exhausted, not just mentally but physically and emotionally. This can affect your decision making and you may end up "settling" on your next home.
A good realtor will not let that happen. A good realtor will:
- Make sure that you are looking at homes that you should purchase.
- Sit down and do an assessment with you (like a doctor does)
- Put together a plan (like a doctor does)
- Make sure that you do not go look at homes that you have no business looking at whether it’s due to your budget, likes/dislikes or what type of loan you have.
When the dust settles, you are purchasing a home that comes with a MONTHLY payment. That payment doesn’t go away. So when we are looking to make a huge decision about a recurring payment, we need to make sure we are looking at the homes we are ready to pay on. Time is the ultimate resource that we cannot create more of, that is why we have to treat it as such!
3. Moving - no one likes this
I have never had a client reach out to me after moving into their house and say, “Wow! That was the best experience ever!” Nope. Most people see that moving turns into more obstacles.
- More stuff than they thought they had
- More space needed to move
- More time to take items to the trash, donation, dump etc.
- More items break
This is one of those instances where you need to plan, and replan and plan one more time. It’s important to have something solid in place. Your buddies don’t want to move you into your place just for pizza and a few drinks. Hire the movers (that I recommend) and you will be eternally grateful!
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