You have decided to purchase a home:
Let's outline your approach:
1. First, sit down and make a list of the important elements that you would
like your new home to contain. How many bedrooms do you require? How many baths?
Do you require a basement (finished or unfinished) or a garage? Is a formal
dining room, family room, den, loft or study a necessity? What type of heating
or cooling do you prefer? Gas heat, oil, electric? Is central A/C mandatory? How
much property do you want to maintain? What should the age of the home be? Is
well water and septic sewer something that you would consider (single family
homes) or would you prefer public water and public sewer only? What style of
home do you prefer? single family or townhouse or condominium? I can explain the
difference. Would you like a pool or tennis courts, playground or clubhouse in
the townhouse community?
2. Begin to think about location and where you need to commute to work
everyday and think about proximity to major highways, family, friends,
co-workers and proximity to daycare if necessary?
3. Once you have begun to formulate style, size and locale it is time to get
pre approved. Contact several mortgage lenders and learn about their mortage
programs and fees and the interest rate they will offer you. Do you need to pay
PMI? (mortgage insurance) Obtain a pre approval letter.
4. Contact a full time Real Estate agent or company that covers the area(s)
that you are considering. Sit down and discuss with the agent your "Wish List"
of important criteria, price range and time horizon. Your agent will prepare
appointments to view home listings that match your criteria and show you these
properties. Generally, most buyers will not to be able to afford or satisfy all
the criteria on their "Wish List" but your Realtor will attempt to satisfy as
many as possible. Decide what criteria you are willing to sacrifice or forego in
order to match your price range.
5. When you arrive at each home, jot down notes on each listing of the
location, curb appeal and condition of the property. Although, you are making
your first purchase you should greatly weigh the resaleability of this home for
the future, when it comes time to sell. What is the condition, age of the roof,
furnace, A/C? What is the condition of the kitchen, garage and basement? Is the
basement dry or is there a musty, damp odor? Does the basement have a sump pump?
Is one necessary? Will the carpets need to be replaced? Will the kitchen need to
be updated or renovated? Generally speaking, a home that shows well and one that
is neat, clean and well maintained will have less inspection issues; as the
owner has pride of ownership and has kept up with the necessary repairs.
6. Once you have located a home and have decided to make an offer and
negotiated price and terms and have completed attorney review, schedule a home
inspection with a licensed company. Your Realtor should be able to provide a
list of satisfactory companies. After the home inspection you, your Realtor and
your attorney will receive a copy of the completed inspection report and discuss
what items you would like to address with the seller. Some seller's will fix
everything, some will fix a few items and some will state the home is to be sold
"As Is" and will not perform any repairs except the contractually required
ones.