9 Ways to Blow the Purchase of Your Home

1. Wait to see “if the price will go down.” By the time it does, it will either be sold, or you’ll be in a multiple offer situation.
2. Don’t get pre-approved. Waste time seeing homes that are beyond your loan limit.
3. Do your home search ‘completely on your own.’ (Working with a realtor who knows the market will get you insider info on homes you can’t get on your own.)
4. Hop from realtor to realtor. A realtor does not get paid until the closing; if you’re not loyal to them they are not going to place your needs on a very high priority level.
5. Expect an existing home to be in brand-new condition.
6. Don’t get needed documents to your lender in time.
7. Obsess on a ‘rock-bottom’ price. This is not the ‘buy low, sell high’ mentality, but the ‘buy lowest’ mindset. A realtor I know had a buyer who walked away from a home with a countered price of $260,000.00, which was a very fair price based on sales comps.
   The buyer wanted $255,000.00. That $5000.00 difference only amounted to $30.00 in the monthly payment, or less than $1.00 a day.
8. Expect a champagne home on a beer budget. Insisting on granite counters on a $175,000.00 home will lead to frustration. Be realistic about the features your price range allows.
9. Find the perfect home, then ask family members what THEY think. You LOVE the house, and are so excited you ask mom/dad, grandma and uncle Joe to come and give you their opinion. And give their opinion they do…. More than you expected. It’s normal, really- they love you and don’t want you to ‘make a mistake.’ Family feels compelled to point out every wrong thing they can find. But mix family dynamics with the emotion of a home purchase, and it can be volatile.