With interest rates historically low still, many home shoppers have rushed to take advantage of them. But rushing the process just to get a better monthly mortgage payment can easily lead to home buyers’ remorse.
Here are some tips for avoiding the costly headaches of home buyers’ remorse
The Most Common Causes of Buyers’ Remorse with Home Buying
Overpaying for a Home
Home Maintenance Costs are Higher than Expected
Home is too Small or Too Large
The Mortgage Payment is Actually Stretching Your Budget Too Thin
The Neighborhood is Not a Good Fit
Remedies for Buyers’ Remorse
Preparation
The best remedy for not regretting a home purchase is to conduct as much research and investigation into a potential property you would like to buy as possible.
These could be tasks like using several different resources to value the home. Have a list of must-haves and wants for your next home. Checking out the neighborhood atmosphere at different times of the day. Look into online chat forums about the neighborhood as well as online reviews from sites like Niche.com. or Trulia.
Look into other aspects of everyday life that you enjoy and what the area has to offer for those items. Like if your child is in sports, do they have a good program for that. Or if you like to go out, are there good restaurants within what you would consider a reasonable distance to get there.
Related: Things potential buyers should do before applying for a home loan
Put Emotions Aside
Emotions are crazy things that can change very quickly with just the littlest of details. Make sure you are being as grounded as possible with reality and facts about your decision as possible. List out all the reasons you need to move to a new home and what you really need from this home and your new location to improve your current quality of life.
If you really need to make a move then this list of reasons for moving will stay solid and not change in a short amount of time. Even when your emotions change to different viewpoints.
Have a 100-Day Plan in Place
Ask yourself what it might look like to live in the home for the first 100 days. What will you need to accomplish right after moving in to get you all set for living in the home for years to come?
Do you need to make a ton of improvements? Do you need to find a completely new set of community activities to get involved in? It can be easy to just focus on what the lender is demanding for loan approval that you neglect to consider the realities of actually living in the home and what it could look like.
Related: 5 Reasons to Build instead of Buy
Don’t Spend All of Your Money on the Purchase Price
One of the best ways to avoid hating your home is to not put all your eggs in the "securing a mortgage and paying for the home" basket. Make sure you reserve a little bit of money for anything that comes up that you might want to change about the home. Even if it's just some landscaping and lawn furniture to help you better utilize your outdoor spaces.
Don’t start ownership of your new home strapped for cash and unable to make little tweaks to it to turn it more into something you truly love and are comfortable doing everyday life in.
For more information on purchasing a home in Apalachicola or other areas on the Forgotten Coast, please contact us at any time.
