5 Questions Every Home Buyer Should Ask

1. Why are you buying?

But first, forget finances. Seriously think about this one, write pros and cons, sleep on it, talk to a friend or family member but don’t let them get too much in your ear. Most of the time they have good intentions but they might not really know what you want. Just get some minor feedback but at the end of the day, you’ll most likely just want to get inside your head and heart and answer it yourself 100%.

Did you know the majority of people who buy houses has nothing to do with the money? It’s about finding a place to raise your children, provide good education, a place your family can feel safe, more space and control of that space.

Just ask yourself what does homeowning mean to you? If you can truly answer that, there is no better reason to take a leap of faith and go for it.

2. Is the home actually worth it?

You don’t want to overpay for a home because that can lead to a bad situation down the road. You can offer a higher price but make sure you have a contingency stating you’ll only pay appraised value. That could be higher or lower. Let’s say you offered $500,000 and the house appraised $520,000 you will only pay $500,000 and end up buying a home with $20k in equity. Hooray!!! But let’s say it appraised $490,000 you won’t be obligated to pay the $500k, you’ll pay the $490k.

3. Are home values climbing, slowing, or dropping?

If you know what a similar home sold for the year before, you can kind of guess what it will cost you if you wait another year. I have had some buyers come to me with regret, regret that they didn’t buy years prior. Don’t miss out on an opportunity because you didn’t do some research. Plus if you don’t have the time, I can do the research for you and provide you all of the information. Don’t worry I got you 🙂

4. When should I get pre-qualified?

I see this time and time again where buyers look at these beautiful homes and turn out they can’t qualify for them. Or they find something, then they send all of their documents to the lender to get pre-approved and by the time they get everything back which is in 24 hours or less with the lenders I work with, the house is goners.

You want to be fully prepared and ready to go. So my advice is to get pre-approved first before you do anything else.

5. Where are mortgage rates headed?

You’ve heard me talk about mortgage rates non-stop and that’s because they are VERY important. They can change how much you qualify for or it might even just eliminate you from the home buying market.

Keeping a close eye on interest rates they are the long-term cost of a home and a small increase can have a dramatic impact on you.

As always thank you for reading, I appreciate you and your time.