7 Mistakes People Make When Buying a New Home

In the six years we have been married, my husband and I have bought two homes. It always starts out so exciting. Making the list of our must-haves, searching HAR like it’s our J-O-B and binge watching HGTV. We meet with our realtor, go look at houses, and stage ours to sell. But all too soon, the real work sets in and searching for the dream home becomes all consuming and emotionally draining. Have you been there?

There are lots of tools out on the web that help you get your finances in order so that you can make a wise decision about purchasing a home. Before you get too deep in google searching, visit our sponsors at Numbermode.com. They have done the hard work to help you make a good decision for your family. Their website is clean, visually appealing, and easy to navigate. And…the smart mortgage calculator will quickly become your new BFF when buying your new home.

There is so much to consider when making one of the biggest purchases of your life. Based on my experience, here are the top mistakes people make when buying a home.

Mistakes When Buying a New Home

  1. Not accounting for the trivial costs. Obviously, you are looking at the sales price and figuring out what your monthly payment is going to look like. But don’t forget about property tax {including school taxes, municipal taxes, etc}, your interest rate, HOA fees, insurance… {see where I’m going here?}. And you know you’ll want to furnish your new place with a few new pieces. So, do your homework and be prepared. This handy mortgage calculator from Numbermode will help steer you in the right direction.
  1. Trying to do it all yourself. Realtors exist for a reason – to make your life easier when you are making such a big investment. While it might sound like a good idea to just prop a “for sale” sign in your front yard, run an ad on craigslist, and cross your fingers, in the long run you are actually losing money. While you will save on realtors fees, you will end up compromising too much in the inspection, and with survey and title issues. It’s wise to interview agents and choose someone both you and your spouse feel a connection with. Through the process, our realtor has become a dear friend to us as she patiently helped us find the right home for our growing family.
  1. Not waiting to get a pre-approval. Pump the brakes, people. Do not set foot in a potential house until you have your pre-approval letter {and in some price brackets, you can’t even go see a house without the pre-approval}. With the Houston market as tight as it is, you don’t have the luxury of waiting on your lender to get back from summering in the Hamptons to get you the letter that you need to make a competitive offer on a house. A seller will choose an offer with a pre-approval over one without a letter, bar none.
  1. Overlooking school ratings. Maybe this isn’t a deal breaker for you just yet, but kindergarten will be here all too soon. Thankfully, Numbermode has made it easy to include school ratings in your search for a new home. When you enter in a potential zip code, it tells you the ratings for schools within a 5-mile radius. And, in case you missed it, Children at Risk just released their annual report card of Houston area schools, and it’s worth your time to carefully read through it and check out the schools in your future neighborhood.
  1. Disregarding your current life because you are too busy dreaming about your new one. #guilty. Assess your current situation. What part of town are the things you don’t want to give up? Your job, your pediatrician, your church, your car repairman? With Houston freeways constantly under construction, try to move to where your life already is so that you don’t spend the next few years driving all over town.
  1. Forgetting to factor in PMI {that’s private mortgage insurance, which protects the bank in case you default on your loan}. Numbermode is once again a step ahead of us and their website automatically calculates this at a set rate of one percent. This is so handy because the PMI fee is often something so easily overlooked when putting together your finances during this process. Basically, if your down payment is less than 20 percent, then you will have to pay PMI every month until your equity is up to 20 percent.
  1. Not taking a walk around the new neighborhood. We bought our last home pre-baby, and we seriously lived in the cutest house you’ve ever seen in a really hip neighborhood. Our street was so chic, and we were walking distance to great restaurants and shops. At the time, it was a major selling point for us. What we didn’t notice was the two sets of speed bumps on our block, which meant it was a high traffic street with lots of noise. The constant road noise made our dog go bezerk and meant playing outside with our future baby nearly impossible. 

Oak Forest Houston Home

What mistakes have you made when buying a home? Any advice for fellow mamas purchasing a home this summer?

Also, be sure to connect with Numbermode whether you are currently house hunting…or just dreaming of a new home in the coming years!

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Please Note :: While this may be a sponsored post, all thoughts and opinions are completely my own!

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Brittney F
Originally from Louisiana, Brittney has called Houston home for nearly all her life. Brittney graduated from Houston Baptist University where she was a member of Phi Mu and a four-year cheerleader. It didn’t take long after graduation for her to meet her husband Jeremy on the sand volleyball courts at Memorial Park. She jokes that when marrying Jeremy, she also married LSU because she tied the knot with the most passionate Tiger football fan. Many weekends in the fall, they can be found in the shadows of Tiger Stadium at their big family tailgating party. Brittney has a Master's Degree from LSU and works in secondary education as an administrator and a cheerleading coach. Brittney and Jeremy have three boys, Connor {Nov 2012}, Parker {Nov 2014}, and Ryan {May 2018}. Brittney is a big baby-making, food allergy fighting, NICU surviving mom. Though she grew up surrounded by hairbows, pom poms, and lots of pink, Brittney now embraces being a boy mom. She loves raising her three boys and learning all about superheroes, baseball, and the pain of stepping on a lego when barefoot. In her kid-free time she enjoys working on craft projects, getting lost in a good book, and watching Grey's Anatomy.

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