Purchasing a home can be a minefield – you might be making mistakes along the way and not even know it! The market is quite agitated at the moment, which is causing lots of stress among homebuyers and ultimately leading to careless errors.
Today, we’ll be clearing up some of the most common pitfalls and providing tips for how to avoid them.
The first mistake that a lot of people make is thinking that they have enough time in the day to source the right property.
Most people who are in the market for a home are not full-time real estate investors, and they’re certainly not real estate brokers. So, the time commitment is never going to match what a broker will be able to provide.
Sure, you can go on the internet and look at houses, but especially in today’s market, you won’t be able to move on a property or evaluate it faster than someone with representation.
At LJ Realties, there are so many things happening behind the scenes before we even visit a property. We go through all of the documentation and analyze the true market value of the home – that way, when we show up, we have enough information to prevent getting swayed emotionally by a well-staged property or compelling pitch.
Another common mistake is that a lot of people believe they’re top negotiators because they deal with a lot of negotiation at work. They think that they’ll be able to check their emotions at the door and remain unaffected
when it comes down to negotiating their offer.
But here’s the thing: even the brokers at our company, when purchasing real estate for themselves, take another team member with them to help them stay grounded and prevent emotions from impacting a major investment decision.
When dealing with this amount of money, it’s important to seek advice from someone who’s not afraid to tell you something you may not want to hear.
The next big mistake is that people think they are qualified to draft an offer, including all the annexes to go along with it, because they have basic experience with contract law.
Unless someone is a real estate lawyer, there’s an extremely low chance that you are qualified to write up this type of document, including the proper verbiage and clauses.
There’s a common misconception that real estate transactions are relatively easy: it’s just a question of showing up, making an offer, then closing. But in reality, there’s so much back and forth and there are so many contracts and amendments to be drafted. If you don’t have the proper qualifications, you’re not going to be able to keep up, and you risk making a mistake that could cost you.
Yet another mistake we see a lot of buyers make is that they believe they’re going to get a better deal if they go directly to the listing broker. In reality, the listing broker is only contractually obligated to the seller. Their job is to maximize the advantages for the sellers throughout the transaction, whether that be regarding the conditions of the sale or negotiations on price.
So, what happens is, people get involved in transactions where they’re unrepresented. They are under the impression that the listing broker is working for them, and to be frank, they get taken advantage of.
The good news is, all of these mistakes are incredibly easy to avoid. Many people don’t realize that buyers have access to a real estate broker essentially for free – they get paid by the selling broker, not by you.
Want to step into the market with confidence? Reach out to our team to learn more.