Last week, I began a two-part series on our Top 10 Do’s and Don’ts of Buying and Selling Real Estate. The first five were all dedicated to sellers and today we want to speak to buyers.
Ok, let’s kick off our final five tips of the series and remember that some of these may seem like no-brainers, but people mess them up all the time.
1 – DON’T BUY A TOUGH LOCATION! This is the first rule of real estate and a big one. Remember, the inside and outside of the house can be made to look any way you want but you can’t pick up the house and move it. We have tried at all times not to let our clients buy homes that back to a busy road, or are under power lines, or have another house looking down on them (the fishbowl effect). We say ‘try’ because sometimes our clients overrule our best advice and buy the home anyway which is their right. Homes on busy roads or less than ideal locations do sell; they just take longer to sell and they don’t sell at a premium price. If you have fallen in love with a house that’s not in an ideal location, you can buy it; just know ahead of time that it’s going to be hard to re-sell.
2- DO BUY THE LARGEST HOME YOU CAN FOR THE LEAST AMOUNT OF MONEY! When a buyer walks into a home they don’t say, “I would buy this home if it were smaller or I would buy this home if it had one less bedroom.” People don’t think that way; our human nature is to want more. People say, “I would buy this home if it were larger or had one more bedroom.” So we advise our clients to buy the largest home they can for the least amount of money. Remember, we are taking into account that this most likely is not going to be your last home and we are purchasing with re-sale in mind.
3- DON’T QUIT YOUR JOB WHILE YOU ARE UNDER CONTRACT! Seems like this would not be something we would need to state. However, you cannot believe how many people get under contract to buy a new home and just before closing they quit their job. They either don’t say anything to their lender, they don’t think their lender will find out, or they think it won’t matter. It DOES matter and we have seen so many deals fall apart and get denied of financing because of it.
4- DO BUILD YOUR NEW HOME FOR THE NEXT PERSON WHO WILL OWN IT, NOT YOU! What do I mean by this? Let’s say you are building a new home or thinking of building a new home and you only need three bedrooms. Most people would build a three-bedroom home because after all, that’s all they need. But you need to build a four-bedroom home for the people you are going to sell it to. You need to build with the mindset of re-sale unless of course this is your last home and you will die here. When getting started on the design, make choices that most people will and need. Think about things like a larger or extra garage, a bigger backyard, an extra bedroom, and by all means, make sure you get the location correct.
5- DON’T FAIL TO PLAN THE FINANCES AHEAD OF TIME! When is a 300,000 dollar house not a 300,000 dollar house? Answer when you are getting a loan. Have extra money put aside for your earnest money, cash for your inspection, money for your appraisal, anticipating the additional closing costs of your loan, the out of pocket expense of the move, starting up the cable TV, adding window coverings and I could go on and on. Buying a new home is expensive and requires a fair amount of extra cash; make sure you have it set aside.
Obviously, there are many more tips to buying and selling a home; these are just our Top 10 favorites. If you want to speak with one of our top professionals on The Hawaii Team about buying, selling or investing in Real Estate we can be reached at 808-913-0899. We have over 50 years of experience selling in Colorado and Hawaii, we are a team of eight professionals selling over 100 homes per year. Talk with us about the results we can accomplish for you.
Dan Polimino is a Broker/Owner with The Hawaii Team, Keller Williams Realty Maui. Contact The Hawaii Team at 808-913-0899, team@thehawaiiteam.com.
