The 3 Most Important Things in Buying a Home

LOCATION + CONDITION = PRICE
The 3 Most Important Words in Buying a Home

Buying a home is complicated!  You know the saying – “the more you do something you become better at it” (hopefully) and that includes shopping and buying  a home.  The biggest mistake I see current home buyers make is “it’s all about the house” or are more concerned about the upgrades or amenities in the home than the 3 crucial words that are success in real estate.  Location + Condition + Price.

Instead of concentrating on each individual home wherever it may be, first start with picking your ideal location, for example living close to work will save gas and the dreaded commute.  Those two items are on almost everyone’s list.  Start at the beginning and see what’s available, like newer or older homes and more importantly, what you are willing to do as far as updating or projects and compromise on.  Yes, there will always be compromise!

Schools are also important for resale even if you don’t have kids.  It’s a huge deal!  Another time saver for shopping real estate is use the mapping capabilities of the internet to weed out bad locations like busy streets, rail road tracks, power lines and water towers to name a few.  You can’t trust property descriptions as being true, for example: Yesterday I saw an agent describe a property in a foreclosure neighborhood as being the best street in the development and this street faces the rail road tracks!  Lets’ not even go there….waste of time.

Two other things that will help with your search is sit down and talk to someone who knows the area front and back, that could be an agent or co worker, family or friends.  Next is drive the neighborhoods and see if it fits your criteria.  These steps will help filter the house hunting process down in a more logical manner and one home ultimately will become yours to love.  Once you pick the location, the condition of the home will determine the price range and hopefully it will have all the updates and amenities you want. 😉  And that does happen, sometimes…