As a Real Estate Broker, I would love to say there are no issues throughout the home buying process. You will find a home that you love right away, close quickly, and move in right away! Well that would be far from true! If I were to take a poll today of recent homebuyers, a large percentage of them would say that the process did not go smoothly.

So this is why I decided to write a post about the 5 home buyer issues and concerns that happen over and over again.

Not getting Pre-Approved before starting your home search! So many potential home buyers begin their search online, fall in love and begin the home search right away!  But there is a step in between, a very important step that has been missed.  That’s getting Pre-Approved!  Just say, you start looking at homes today and you fall in love with a home right away.  You call a lender right away to get Pre-Approved.  Your Pre-Approval takes 3 days.  Your excited about the Pre-Approval letter and even more excited to get that offer written.  You call your Realtor and you are advised that the property that you love and have envisioned yourself living in for the past 3 days, has a contract pending!

Another situation that I’ve found is that 99% of the banks and Sellers want to know that you are Pre-approved before they accept your offer.  Put yourself in the owners situation. Would you want to take your home off the market for 30 days or more to possibly find out that the buyer did not qualify? Or if you are the bank or seller, you’ve received  2 or more offers at the same time. Which would you consider 1st?  Yes, the offers received with Pre-Approval letters. This is why I suggest getting Pre-Approved in advance, otherwise you are in last place, loosing the race!

Searching for homes online, to later find they are not active. I find that many homebuyers begin their search online, of course because it is the quickest easiest way to start and to find information. But that information is not always accurate.  In the past few days I’ve received requests for information about properties that buyers have found online.  But when the properties are searched in the mls (system used by Realtors to confirm status and property details), it was found that they were inactive.  1 of the properties had a contract pending since January (Today is March 31st). The other property was sold last September. But the websites that buyers were searching were never updated.

So for the most current listings I suggest contacting Realtor and requesting them to set up your email to receive listings automatically as they come on the market and if the price changes.

I love this home but it is a short sale. A short sale is a home that the property owner owes more than the property worth. In many of these cases the banks allow the owners to sell the property at its current market value.  But there is a catch!  This is a very, very long process.  Some take 6 to 9 months to close! So if you plan on moving before that time or if you have little to no patience, this is not the type of property you should choose. But take into consideration that some short sale properties can be great prices.  So if you don’t plan to move right away this may be a good option for you to try.

Home needs too many repairs or doesn’t have everything on my wish list.  You walk in a home, there is green shag carpet with green wall paper in the kitchen and mustard yellow appliances! Wow where is the granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances that you wanted. When searching for homes you must take into consideration that everyone does not have the same taste that you have and also the home owners may not have been able to afford to upgrade the home. But there is help!

When applying for your home loan you can  ask your lender if you qualify for a rehab loan. When you choose a rehab loan you can take a loan for ” Value After Repair” or VAR. An example is if the home will be valued at $250,000 after repairs are complete, but the cost of the home is only $100,000.  You can obtain a loan for up to $150,000 for repairs of the home.  This is a good idea if you’ve been viewing homes in the higher range of your loan approval but you just can’t find the one that feels like home.  Why not search for cheaper homes, obtain the rehab loan, then fix up the home just the way you like it.  If you can’t envision this, just take a look at a few episodes of HGTV’S “Property Brothers”.  This will show you exactly how you can make that dream home a reality.

Not getting the facts.  We all have a friend, family member, or coworker that know’s everything! We often hear horror stories about everything including their home and the issues that they may have.  This may not be the person to get home ownership advice from because everyone’s situation is different. So try to seek the advice of a professional loan officer that can give you solid advice about your situation.  You can also search websites online that will help you with the goals that you have www.daveramsey.com is a website that I’ve found very helpful.

And here’s a bonus. My advice is to stick with 1 Realtor!  Working with more than 1 Realtor can drastically increase your stress level!  Many people choose to work with several Realtors because it’s believed that you will have access to more properties from every Realtor.  But guess what, each Realtor has access to the same system with the same properties! So choose 1 agent that you trust. An agent that continually provides you with the most recent real estate listings. You can request your agent to set up am automatic alert that will come to your email with new listings or listings with price changes.

I really hope this blog will help in your home search.  Feel free to connect with me on Facebook for any real estate advice.  www,facebook.com/gettingourhomesback

Grab a copy of my new eBook. “The Essential First Time Home Buyers Guide”.

In this eBook you will learn;

How to review and build your credit.
Mistakes buyers make when choosing a Realtor.
What an offer consists of.
Guidance for your home inspection.
The approval process, closing, and what to expect.

Click the link below for your copy.

http://homebuyersguide.gr8.com

Knifie K. Burks
Real Estate Broker & Consultant
Real People Realty