Checklist for Buying a Home

Posted by Nick Niesen on November 8th, 2010

Buying a home can be one of the best feelings in the world. Nothing beats that feeling of security and satisfaction when you open the door to a new home and are happy with your purchase. The question is, how can you best ensure that feeling is going to happen? There are a lot of pitfalls in the real estate world and naturally you want to be able to avoid them and end up with a great home. Here are some great tips on how to streamline your home purchase and keep those little headaches from cropping up.

Enough cannot be said about being financially secure and aware. If you spend some time organizing your finances before making an offer the process becomes much less stressful. Take some time and research your credit history and find out if there are any outstanding issues or problems and get them taken care of. This can negatively affect your chances of getting a good mortgage, so it's in your best interest to clear any credit issues up before the buying process starts. Most mortgage companies will offer you a pre-qualification, now this is nice to have but you are better off to take it a step further. Obtain a pre-approval for your mortgage. The pre-approval gives you an absolute number to work with. Not only does this make shopping for a home easier on you, but it gives you a significant amount of leverage in the actual sale.

The next logical step is to begin working with your realtor on finding homes that suit your needs. Let you realtor know what things you cannot do without and those things that you would like and let them come up with a list of fitting homes. During this time you can also research the available homes in your chosen area on the internet and find places that appeal to you. With this ammunition you and you agent should be able to view homes and properties with confidence and easily find a place that is agreeable to your needs, wants, and wallet.

Once you have located the perfect property, have an inspection done. This step cannot be stressed enough. Be wary of sellers who are willing to sell to others on the "no inspection" clause. This is never a good thing and much of the time they don't want an inspection done for a reason. The inspection is extremely important step in ensuring your protection as the new owner. After all, this is going to be home right? Don't ever sell yourself short.