How to Guide for First Time House Purchasers

As you prepare to purchase your first home, there is a ton to learn. Often, people spend more time deciding which LCD television to purchase than they do on their new house. Sure, they may look at many homes before making a purchase decision, but how much research did they do about that particular home before they purchased that real estate?

When purchasing a TV, you do your homework, read reviews, visit chat forums and compare models.

Then you narrow it down and choose the model with the features you want at the cost you want to pay.

With homes, the comparison is not so simple. There are no comparisons that you may download from the Internet preloaded with information to help you compare two different houses side-by-side. Even if they were out there, it can provide basics – taxes, lot size, etc., but you would still need to do your own comparison to make sure the info is correct AND to compare dozens of attributes inside the home.

First, educate yourself on the home purchase procedures. Visit www.HomeBuyersGuide.com and download their free guide that talks about the home buying process. Read through this guide – a 100 page PDF – a wonderful guide for purchasing a home.

Next, decide on your neighborhood. If you’re purchasing Commack real estate, for example, be ready to compare different houses. Don’t just walk through, look around and then try to remember the details days and weeks later. Prepare checklists (samples are included in the guide you may download) that you should take to every house you visit. Make notes of the number of bedrooms, the size of the rooms, the layout of the kitchen, appliances and more. Look at the property. Is it attractive?

Does it have to be redesigned? These are questions that you not only need to ask, but also need to track.

You may set up a spreadsheet using Excel-were you easily create a chart on a piece of paper with a ruler. On the left side, create a list of all of the features that you may find in the house. If you want a master bedroom plus 4 more, list those.

Drop columns going down the page, one for every home.

Taking notes in the corresponding box for each house so you may sit back after looking at many houses and make a good comparison.

One of the ways that home purchase get themselves in trouble – typcially first-time home buyers – is that they fall in love with the house and oversight the problems.

These problems start popping up on the day that you move-in and, at that time, it’s generally too late to deal with them.

How do you avoid these problems? Well, with new construction you will have less problems. Why? Because the house is new. What generally runs better, a brand-new car or a 12-year-old car? The answer is undeniable. All issues can of course occur with the new car, they’re far more likely with the used. The same thing applies to houses. The older the home is, the more likely that you can have issues. New houses, while priced marginally higher, can usually have far fewer problems.

For example, with Manorwood Estates in Commack New York, a small development with energy Star certified homes, all houses are newly built. You can examine during construction to make sure that things are going as anticipated. Once completed, these houses – built to energy Star specifications – will have few problems if any. If they do, you’re still in contact with the builder who is given a warranty on the house. As issues arise, contact the builder who can quickly address them for you.

Don’t underestimate the worth of the warranties, including warranties on the appliances. If you move into a older house with a 15-year-old refrigerator and that refrigerator rapidly dies, your only remedy is to go buy a new refrigerator. If your home has a new refrigerator with a warranty, it should be repaired at no expense to you.

As you go forward, educate yourself. Read the guide. Build checklists of questions and features and bring them with you to every home you look at. Write down everything. In the end, it will help you objectively find the perfect house for you and your family.