Mistakes Home Buyers Make

For those of you who are in the market to buy a home, here are few homebuying mistakes you’ll want to avoid.

Focusing on your wish list and not your reality check.

Buyers need to figure out what they cannot live without first — that’s the reality check — before focusing on all the other goodies they’re hoping to get in the property. So, it’s important to put together a “wish list” (which is everything you want in a home, from school district to the number of bathrooms you’d love to have in a perfect world) and a “reality check” (which is everything that you can’t live without).

Falling in love with the home, but ignoring the neighborhood.

You can change everything about a home except the location. So what do buyers do? Instead of spending a lot of time in the neighborhood, seeing who lives there, who does business there and what sort of atmosphere it has, they spend all the time in the house.

Getting the wrong kind of mortgage

Buyers still naturally turn to the 30-year fixed instead of thinking about how long they’re going to stay in the home. But, today, there are 5/1 adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs), 15-year fixed-rate loans and even interest-only mortgages. Start by thinking about how long you’re going to be there, then figure out which loan will save you the most cash.

Need personal finance advice or real estate advice? Send your questions to Ilyce Glink: www.ThinkGlink.com