My husband and I have been house hunting for the last few months. We have quickly outgrown our sweet little 1600 sq ft townhouse. When we purchased our town home 11 years ago we were pregnant with baby 1, now with 6 kids we are busting out at the seams! We are taking the plunge and looking for something bigger that will fit our needs. The hunt was fun at first but it has quickly become a chore to look. It can be such an overwhelming process!
I have only purchased two homes in my life and both were new construction. Looking for a older home now is a whole different ball of wax! We have learned so much through this process. There are a few tips I wanted to share with you to help your make purchasing a home an easier process:
Right now it’s a sellers market. What can you afford? How much do you want to spend? Take into consideration all of your bills; car payments, other loans, credit cards, daily living expenses, etc. From there you should be able to determine what your budget is in finding a home. Stick to this number and do not be swayed! I highly recommend getting pre-qualified before you begin your house hunting search.
What are you looking for? Determine how many bedrooms, bathrooms, etc. you are looking for. What location do you want to live in? Have a plan, I do not recommend winging it! Remember this is a big decision!
Finding a good realtor is essential. It is hard to trust people at times so maybe try to find a realtor by recommendation. Thankfully our realtor is a friend from church so I feel like she is trustworthy. Make sure you share your plan, your wants, your must haves and your budget with your realtor so you are on the same page.
Stick to your plan! Do not base decisions on your feeling or emotions. When looking at a home ask yourself is this suiting my needs or my family’s needs? Am I settling? Sometimes if you hold out it’s worth the wait!
Be open minded. Sometimes fixer upper homes can be a good thing. If a house as great bones and only needs a bit of cosmetic work than think about doing the cosmetic work little at a time. A lot of times you can do the work yourself for a fraction of the price!
I admit house hunting can be stressful. Our house hunting experience has been in the evenings with 6 kids in tow, talk about stressful! So far we put one offer in on a home and had the house inspected (worth every penny) and we the retracted the offer after mold was found in the walls. A week later we put an offer in on another home and we were out bid. Now that same home we were outbid on is back on the market and tonight we put in an offer. If they agree to our offer great if not we keep looking! Do not be discouraged!
Are you currently house hunting? If so happy house hunting!
Not buying a house yet, when we do we are thinking of a condo rather than a house. We are not fans of yard work, lol. These are great tips, even if you are searching for rentals. Good luck finding the perfect home for your family!
I agree completely! House hunting can be so frustrating and exhausting but sticking to your tips would help a ton. Good luck with the offer and hope things work out and go smoothly.
Purchasing a home is so stressful. We have done it twice. None were custom or newly built. So many things to know and look for.
It kills me that it’s a seller’s market right now because I took a killing when it was a buyer’s market during the economy crash. I think a good realtor is definitely key as well.
I agree about the tip on finding a good realtor. They are so knowledgeable. I hope you find the perfect house. We have moved and purchases and sold so many houses that I can’t even think straight.
I remember when we bought our first home I was so stressed. With the second even more so. now i can’t imagine going through the process.
Sounds like we are in the same boat! We built this house in ’04 and moved in in ’05. At the time there were 4 of us and the day we moved in I was pregnant with #3. Now we are back to only having 3 kids under one roof but we need more space. Here we are in the middle of a buyers market so our situation is a little more complicated. We need to be able to sell our house first before we can upgrade to a bigger house. We have been looking for almost 3 years now!
Wow 3 years! I hope you find something soon!
I agree with all the above mentioned points, especially ‘finding a good realtor’ I think this is the most essential thing we need to consider first, because I remember I had a very bad experience with someone who charged me big bucks in Orlando. Well if we stick with these points, it would be quite easy to buy a new home. Finding a good neighborhood should also be kept in mind before buying a home, because sometimes people prefer to move just because of their annoying neighbors.