First time home buyers often find the home buying process intimidating and sometimes overwhelming. Buying a home, even a starter home, is likely to be one of the largest purchases you make in your lifetime. The best advice we can offer any house hunters searching for their starter home, is to partner with an experienced realtor.
A good realtor will listen to your wants and needs, while offering helpful tips to get you the best bang for your buck. A great realtor will help you avoid common home buyer mistakes and ask the right questions to provide a smooth real estate experience for your first home purchase.
To make your starter home buying process even easier we have collected a list of tips to explore, to help you get the best starter home to meet your specific needs.
Home Buyers Tip #1 – Make a list of “wants” vs. “needs”.
What are you expecting from your first home? There will be details you need vs. details you would love to have, such as the following:
Needs:
- Home structural integrity
- Number of bedrooms, bathrooms & square footage
- Desirable neighborhood & quality of schools
- Reasonable commute to work
- Dishwasher or other major appliances (washer/dryer/stove/refrigerator…etc.)
- Keeping your vision of your first home realistic
Wants:
- Hardwood floors
- Stainless steel appliances
- Smart home features
- Swimming pool
- Newly remodeled bathrooms, kitchen (granite countertops), etc.
- Fireplaces
Making a list of realistic expectations will help you stay within your budget, prioritize home details, and help you narrow down what the most important needs are in your new home.
Home Buyers Tip #2 – Keep Realistic Expectations
As a first-time home buyer, the best thing you can do for yourself is to remain realistic in your house hunting search. Unlike house hunters who will have some equity from selling a previous house, first-time home buyers often do not have a large amount of money to put down on a starter home. Keeping your vision of a home realistic includes knowing how much you can afford for a mortgage and sticking to that price bracket. If you explore homes for sale that are outside of your budget, you’re almost guaranteed to fall in love with a home that’s more than you can afford. Then what? In the long run, it will be better for you to establish what you’re capable of using as a down payment and what you can pay monthly in mortgage expenses.
Home Buyers Tip #3 – Make a Plan for Starter Home Improvements Over Time
Being prepared to make compromises when buying a starter home is really the best outlook you can have. Items such as water heaters, wiring, and energy-efficient windows will have the biggest effect on your quality of life in a starter home. Look for a home that offers good home fundamentals and then work on a list of upgrades you can add to the home over time. Instead of passing on a home that looks a little dated inside, realize you are not going to live there forever and that the improvement possibilities are endless. If the essentials are in good shape, there is a good chance it is a smart first-time home buyer purchase.
Choosing the Right Realtor
Selecting a realtor is one of the most important choices you will ever have to make. At Noonan Lombardi Realtors, Owners Glen Lombardi & Aliesha Noonan, as well as their skilled team of personable and professional realtors, realize that the average home buyer or home seller will purchase or sell real estate only a few times over the course of their lifetime.
This is one reason why, as a team, Noonan Lombardi Realtors asks why you would choose an average realtor to handle your most important financial decisions, when you can have an excellent real estate team like ours by your side? We strive every day to be those excellent realtors you can trust to help you secure the best property for your specific needs and lifestyle. Our goal is that you will be as happy with our real estate services as we are to provide them. Call our team for all your Southern New England real estate needs (401) 580-8672.
