Buying your first home is an exciting experience but are you overlooking 2 of the most important factors?
There are a couple of critical mistakes which those buying a home for the first time make again and again without fail.
For many the first is not properly assessing their needs. They rush into buying a home and perhaps due the proper due diligence and make a good acquisition but then realize later that they quickly outgrow it. After a ton of redecorating and stretching to make ends meet a condo is no longer what they really wanted or 2 bedrooms is no longer enough space to house a growing family and gets extra cramped when the in-laws decide to move in. If your first home is really to be your dream home and be the one you stay in and perhaps hand down to your kids, make sure it will accommodate your future needs and goals too.
In contrast the second major mistake many buying a home make is believing that their first home must be their dream home. Despite what your plans are now the odds are that most Americans will move again in 5-8 years.
This means spending 6 months’ of weekends hunting for the ‘perfect’ home or demanding every inch represents all of your dreams before you move in is more than overkill. That’s a lot of wasted time you could have spent enjoying your own home and growing equity for a down payment for your real dream home.
Going in with that mentality can also cause many to overstretch themselves to the max, resulting in their ‘dream home’ soon becoming their umber one source of stress and frustration. What’s the point in buying a home you can barely afford and having to work 3 jobs just to make sure you don’t slip into foreclosure? You should be enjoying it.
If you are absolutely sure you will be staying put in the home you are buying for the long run perhaps it is most important to ensure that is has all the room and potential you need for the future. Don’t worry about the pink carpet or purple paint in the third bedroom as much as a home you can really enjoy for the long run. It’s OK to take your time to remodel and craft it just the way you want. Then while your friends are busy working nights and weekends you can be relaxing in your hot tub, playing in the yard with the kids and can afford to eat nice meals out and get away on vacation.
