Ask Yourself These Questions to Avoid Buying the Wrong House.
It happens to the best of us: one minute you’re innocently flipping through Zillow’s listings, and the next, you’re planning your life in a former industrial city where you’ve found the historic home of your dreams at seemingly affordable prices. give. You can even move on to the next step and see the house in person and realize two things: the house requires a lot of work, and you are completely in love with the place.
But no matter how many HGTV shows you watch about flipping old homes that have a happy ending, reality isn’t always that good. Regardless of when the home was built and its current state, if you find yourself in a situation where you are about to propose, ask yourself these questions first to make sure this is indeed the right home for you (and your budget).
Questions to ask before buying the wrong home
In an article for BobVila.com, Terry Williams highlights several signs that you are about to buy a home that doesn’t really suit you. Here are some questions to help you determine if this is your best option:
- Are you making numbers work? The ability to “afford a home” goes far beyond whether you can hypothetically secure the funds for a down payment and a mortgage. It also includes all renovations, taxes, service charges, utilities and who knows what else will come up over time. Make sure you take all this into consideration and be realistic about what you can afford.
- Are you worried about home? Not everyone is in a place where they can reach the home that they “care about”, but if so, why spend so much money on something you don’t like?
- Does the home meet the needs of everyone? If you live alone this is not a problem, but if you live with a partner and / or family, make sure that the house is for everyone, not just you.
- Are you ready to give up on contingency inspections? This is a seller’s marketplace, so if your attempt to differentiate your offering is about giving up on checking contingencies, this could be a problem down the road. “There might be something about an inspection report that completely changes your enthusiasm for buying a home, ” Tyler Forte, CEO of Felix Homes, told BobVila.com .
- Are you ignoring the findings of the audit report? If so, this may not be the place for you. “If the inspection comes back with red flags trying to tell you this is not your home, listen to them, ” Chris Lindahl, CEO and founder of Kris Lindahl Real Estate, told BobVila.com . “Once we start imagining ourselves in the house or imagining ourselves raising children in the house, it’s really hard for us to leave.”
- Are you ready to do whatever it takes to renovate your home? Keep in mind that home improvement exhibitions show only a tiny fraction of the entire renovation process. This is so much work. And also expensive. If you don’t have the skills to do it yourself, or the money to hire people to renovate, it’s time to leave.
- Does the house have a high turnover rate? Do a little research and find out the history of home sales. If he changes hands a lot, this is a bad sign and you should find out why this is happening.
As heartbreaking as it may be to walk away from what you think might be your dream home, it might not actually work. And it is better to know this now than after the documents are signed.