12 Things to Consider Before Buying a Home

Things to consider when purchasing a home:

It is important to consider the following “home buying strategies” when purchasing a home.  Taking these 12 steps will help you to come to a place which tells you that you have made a great decision.  Most people do not take these steps when purchasing a home.  We at LendPlus Financial think you should.

When you purchase a home you should:

1.   Ask if the neighborhood has an association.

2.   Be sure to talk to the neighbors. It’s a great way to get information on the neighborhood and meet your future neighbors.

3.   Visit the neighborhood  various times a day.  If you do this action you will see your future community in different eyes each time. It a great way to meet others in the community and see the local trends prior to the purchase.  Remember, do these tasks in the community you want to purchase a home so you fell safe living there and can feel its experience before you purchase.

4.  Be sure to get a home inspection.  The cost of a home inspection is well worth it since you will have a clear understanding of what things need to be resolved regarding the soundness of the home you are purchasing.

5.  Get detailed records on past improvements. If the owner of the home you are buying says that they completed improvements on the home, recently, ask for them to support their claim.  This lets you know that they actually did the work. Sometimes you can get this information. Sometimes, not!

6.  Don’t always assume that remodeling will be an easy set of tasks. Talking to the current owner about your intentions to make some remodeling changes may cause the current owner to deliver to you valuable information about the home you are about to purchase.

7.  Consider the View.  Look at your neighbors homes and see if any of them obstruct your view or them being able to peer into your home which is not always favorable.

8.  Ask for utility bills.  Sometimes, the current owner will be willing to provide you  a months worth of utility bills so you can see what the average monthly bills may be.   Many homeowners are kind enough to do so or will just tell you the average monthly utility bills, amount!

9.  Pay close attentions to taxes.  If you are buying a home in a new community you may have some additional tax assessments to contend with.  The lender will calculate your taxes for you when you get a loan approval. You might want to ask your realtor to talk to the listing agent to get the information directly from the seller.  That’s always helpful!

10.  Most people buying a home do not go to the city hall of the city they are purchasing  to check on any issues regarding property zoning, easements, liens or other restrictions to the property you are purchasing. The buyer’s agent should be able to help you with this.  Just ask them about it.

11.  Reconsider the bells and whistles.  Are you sure you can live with a detached garage or one car garage?  Perhaps the property has only “street parking”, these are things to consider when determining which property you want to  purchase.   Perhaps you want to purchase home with a pool.  Do you really need it and do you want to incur the monthly costs of up keep. These are the kinds of questions you will want to ask yourself when purchasing a home or condo.

12.  Explore the other streets close to your neighborhood.  Does your neighborhood have the possibility of being degraded in the future?  Are their poor neighborhoods close to the one you are purchasing.  What are the housing trends close to to the home you are purchasing.  Are people purchasing homes and cleaning them up to improve the local community.  Perhaps its a great time to purchase in a older community. These are the questions you should be asking yourself.

So many questions and considerations, right!   We at LendPlus Financial want you to make quality decisions when purchasing a home. Give us a call at 800-379-1328 so we can help you get started in the home buying process.