What Not to Do When Buying a Home

Many factors come into play when you’re buying a home. Don’t let avoidable mistakes keep you from closing on the home of your dreams. Review this list of things you will want to avoid until after you close on your new home.

• Don’t quit or change your job; if you lose your job before closing, make sure you alert your lender right away
• Don’t buy any large ticket items (really, it doesn’t take much to throw off the financial balance!)
• Don’t make deposits that you can’t trace – all recent funds will have to be documented
• Don’t talk to the sellers directly – this can put you at a disadvantage come time to negotiate
• If you’re receiving a gift, be prepared to provide a gift letter and bank statement for the funds (and be sure to let the gift giver know you’ll be needing these things)
• Don’t forget to share if you are allergic to animals or have other needs that would be important to consider when looking at homes
• Don’t be anything less than completely honest with the lender about child support, alimony, wage garnishments or any other payroll deduction
• Don’t wait to see everything else that’s on the market – you might miss out!
• Don’t call the other agent on the “For Sale” sign – it is to your advantage to let us manage conversations with them for you
• Don’t hesitate to visit open houses or tour new construction – just let us know and give the agent on site our name so they know you’re working with an agent
• Don’t forget to tell me if you have a property to sell – we need to be prepared to if we’ll be presenting an offer that is contingent on another sale
• Don’t delay paperwork because you are irritated by the frequency and number of requests from the mortgage company
• Don’t go with a lender online offering a 0.001 interest rate, or use a 100% online lender
• Don’t forget, it’s possible you may find exactly what you’re looking for the first day you look
• Don’t wait for the absolutely perfect home – if you find a home that meets 80% of your needs, has 10% you can fix and 10% you can live with, that’s a good sign to make an offer!
• Don’t co-sign for anything during this time
• Don’t schedule a vacation before we close
• Don’t order DirectTV, a new cable service or anything else that will pull a credit report, unless you want to write a letter of explanation about the credit report to the mortgage company
• Don’t change your name during the mortgage process
• Don’t hide any information from your loan officer
• Don’t forget, the clock starts ticking from the time the loan officer got the contract, not the date it was written
• Don’t forget to get a home warranty
• Don’t give away your negotiating power by saying too much in a home – technology makes it easy for sellers to listen in or record your conversations
• Don’t miss the opportunity to have a full home inspection
• Don’t go looking at homes until you are fully approved – finding your dream home and not having the ability to make a timely offer is discouraging
• Don’t hesitate to shop the good faith estimate
• If you need the advice of an attorney for your purchase, be sure to contact one who specializes in real estate
• Don’t forget to use your name as it appears on your driver’s license for all documents
• Don’t look at short-sale properties if you need to move immediately, or if you need to be in control of the process

While this list is intended to help you as you start your search, every situation is unique. If you have questions, reach out to us before you make a decision that could potentially have an adverse effect on your ability to purchase the type of home you want.