The Real Estate Blog

Welcome to part two in our two-part series on house hunting mistakes to avoid! Part one of our house hunting mistakes to avoid included things like making sure to get preapproved for a mortgage, not falling in love with house you can’t afford, not having a clear vision of the type of home you’d like and ignoring problems that could become costly to fix.

• Getting desperate

If you’ve been looking for a new home for a long time without any luck, it can be easy to lose hope and become increasingly desperate to find your dream house now. But if you become too desperate and are willing to settle for almost anything, you’ll likely end up regretting your decision later. We all know that moving can be a hassle, so why buy a house you’ll hate only to sell it very soon after? 

• Foregoing a home inspection

Even if you’ve found your dream home, you will need to hire a home inspector to make sure that your potential new home is safe. It can be tempting to forego the home inspection but there could be problems with the structural and mechanical systems of the house that might not be visible to the untrained eye. If the home inspector finds any issues, they will also be able to give you an idea of how much it would cost to fix the problem so that you can decide if this is still the house you want to invest in. 

• Making a hasty purchase

Although you might have to act quickly in a hot market or with a very desirable home, it’s important not to rush into putting in an offer. Ideally, you will be able to sleep on your decision so that you can separate your emotions from the reality of the home that you might not have even thought about – is there a noisy train nearby or does the neighborhood feel unsafe at night? Taking your time also ensures that you aren’t overbidding on a home, although this is something that your realtor will be able to help you with. 

• Overbidding on the home

If there is a lot of competition or you’ve found yourself in the midst of a bidding war, it can be tempting to offer the seller a high price to end things quickly. The problem with this is that if the house is appraised at being worth less than what you’ve offered, you will not be able to get a mortgage for the higher cost of the home unless the seller reduces the price of the home or if you are willing to pay the difference out of pocket.

Have you ever made any of these common house hunting mistakes when you purchased a home? Share your experiences with us in the comments below!

As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions you have about the home buying process. I’m always happy to help!