This is a pretty easy choice if you’re going to go out to dinner. Don’t you wish it was just as easy when it comes to buying a home? No, the possibilities and variables almost are without limit when it comes to purchasing that thing that makes up the biggest part of the American Dream. So brace yourself for impact and let’s just go over the first 20.
- Where do you want to live?
- What kind of a house would you hope to buy in a perfect world?
- How many bedrooms do you require or prefer?
- How many bathrooms do you have to have?
- Are you looking to be in a specific school district?
- What are the Real Estate taxes? This is a big one in 716land since taxes vary wildly from town to town.
- Presuming you are not paying cash, who will be doing the financing?
- How much money will you need to put down for your total deposit?
- Should you go for a 15 year mortgage or a more traditional 30 year?
- How much can you muster up right now to make a solid Earnest Money Deposit?
- When do you want to close?
- Is your time table for closing consistent with what the Bank can accommodate with respect to your application?
- Is your projected closing date consistent with what the seller needs?
- Will you require the services of a Professional Home Inspector?
- Should you check for Radon while you are doing your due diligence?
- How is the market? If it is a seller’s market, and it is right now, how much over the asking price are you willing to offer?
- Should you consider an escalation clause?
- What is your maximum commuting time?
- Special requirements: Fully fenced yard, swimming pool, convenient to worship, etc.?
- And the most important question in this brief compilation of interrogatories is, who will your agent be to help you with all of this?
When we look at this and realize this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to making decisions, it makes this last question incredibly important. Let’s be fair. YOU can certainly go it alone. But God Bless YOU if you do. There is an incredible amount of leg work and problem solving that needs to get done, before, during, and sometimes even after the transaction is closed, and NOT having a good agent makes absolutely no sense. This is particularly true when you realize that the agent will cost you nothing, zero, zip, nada. They will be getting paid by the seller as a convenience of the transaction. So why wouldn’t you want to have someone else do most if not all of the heavy lifting. One other thing, let me remind you, this is nowhere near to being a complete list (because there is no such thing.) This was, again, just the tip of the iceberg.
Don’t you wish it was easier and you could just say: “I’ll take the fish.
Hey, I wrote the book on Real Estate, literally.”
Author Brendan J. Cunningham is a New York Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker, lead of the Platinum Team at HusVar Real Estate, as well as an accomplished writer, Shakespearean trained professional actor, and podcaster.
Start your home search now at www.husvarre.com