Buying your first home can feel like one of the most stressful experiences that you have undergone to date. But if you focus on getting through the process properly, you can quickly reach the other side and enjoy your new home.
To that end, it is important to understand the most common mistakes that new homebuyers often fall prey to.
Miscalculating your maintenance costs
Nerd Wallet discusses many of the most avoidable real estate mistakes that first-time homebuyers end up making. A top mistake involves shopping for a home before a mortgage. The mortgage you qualify for will determine what sort of house you can afford to buy. You do not want to get into a situation where you fall in love with a home, only to later discover that it is outside of your attainable price range.
Another mistake involves the miscalculation of various costs. First, you have the cost of renovations and repairs. Simply replacing the tiling on a roof can cost tens of thousands of dollars. You do not want to go into a “fixer-upper” thinking that you have the money to change it, only to realize that it is far beyond the help of your budget.
Underestimating the price of owning a home
Similarly, you do not want to underestimate the costs of homeownership in general. You have your mortgage payment, but you also have bills like water, gas, oil and sewage. You may have homeowner’s association fees to pay, and of course, you will have bills like internet and so on that banks will not take into account when determining what mortgage you qualify for.
In other words, it is prudent to do a full exploration of the total costs you will face and determine with certainty if you will have the money to afford them.