By: Jennifer Ervin
Close your eyes and picture your dream home… go ahead I’ll wait. Now, picture the price tag. O! That was mean, wasn’t it? Were you just starting to feel the sun warm your face while you fall asleep on a grand front porch swing or were you pulling back the curtains to people watch from your penthouse? For most of us, having everything we want in a home is simply unattainable. With that said, bringing that realism into your home search can be more difficult than you thought. While you were picturing 10 rolling acres and a perfect turn of the century farmhouse your agent drove you to a split entry in Millard. So how can you make it easier to put yourself in a home you CAN like?
Know what your limits really are!
Get preapproved. No, agents don’t tell you to get preapproved so that you are not wasting their time or so they can take you out and show you the most expensive thing. Almost every agent has seen the very sad reality of a buyer getting to the end and having the whole thing fall through due to lack of preparation in this area. Most importantly, your financial limits and the type of financing you get are huge factors in what you should be looking at. For example, if you have an FHA loan you need to be looking at homes that have seller’s willing to deal with the requirements of that loan. Additionally, I don’t want to take you to $150,000 homes and have you find out that you are preapproved for $100,000. That makes the search very frustrating.
Are you sure you want a garage? This is where I use visualization with my clients. I tell them to take their idea of a perfect house and know they can’t have everything. How does that house look without a garage, or in a part of town they previously disregarded? I use your minimum as the absolute minimum. I won’t take you to two bedroom homes if you told me the minimum was three. So, before you commit to having a two car garage or write off Dundee, you had better be sure!
When you find it, STOP! I have had buyers love the 5th or even 10th home they have seen and second guessed themselves because they felt they didn’t look at enough homes. After looking at 20 more they always want to go back to those first homes and make offers. Almost every time, the home is pending or we have to compete with another offer.
Grandma’s house is GREAT! Yes, she put glitter on the ceiling and pink was a great wall color, but the house is in great shape! Please look at the things that matter and will really cost you money. If the walls are pink but there is a new furnace I can guarantee that paint will cost you less than any furnace. I listen to buyer’s say they can overlook harvest gold appliances, yet they buy the house with beige walls and a 20 year old roof. So prepare yourself to look beyond the visual pleasures of a home!
When you need someone to bring you home…
Jennifer Ervin
699-3703
Deeb Realty 2611 S 117th st Omaha, NE 68144
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