How To Buy A House, Finding Your Dream Home

Photo: Quizzle

I’ve been thinking of venturing into the real estate business (agent now, Donald Trump-level tomorrow), I got to find time to know the ins and outs of the business. Because of recession, real estate plummeted but its pace is surely picking slowly but surely.

Buying and selling a house goes beyond the price tag and the external façade of the property. Buyers have to know how it is to gauge if the property is the right property, or just a property occupying a measurable amount of space.

Like any other things, don’t just go for looks – find substance and value for the property you will be spending a lot of time and effort on and living for the rest of your life with – sounds like marriage, doesn’t it?  Check my home buyers guide below.

• Purchase objectives – be clear with what you know and know what you need. If you fall in love with a property because of the lovely staircase, the gorgeous bedroom and decide that it’s the perfect house – and eventually finding out that having that one bathroom to have the whole family share with is really unbearable and impractical.

• Long-term maintenance – Quaint Victorian decors and high ceilings may be a home that’s very great to live in, but in all it’s grandeur, can you keep up with the mortgages? Upkeep and maintenance will be an added cost apart from the amortization.

• Location – Whether the suburbs or in the city, choose the location first and then look for a home in that vicinity. The location should fit your lifestyle, should be in close proximity with your work, and should fit your budget, amongst other things.

• Talk to your agent – Tell your agent (translated ‘yourself’) what you need and about your lifestyle. There are homes built to be a bachelor’s pad while there are homes comfortable for a brood of ten – and you don’t want to switch them, else you’re in for a lot of inconvenience.

If you are a first time home buyer, apart from getting stress and the headache of getting the wrong property, you may actually lose money with it. Should you decide to sell it, it is a challenge to get the market to be in favor of you. When you can no longer stand living in that house, your impulse to sell it and move to another place may cause you to sell it short.

More than knowing how to buy the right property for myself (that may come later when I have enough financial stability, translated ‘travel less’), I have to know how to help my buyers buy the right property and let me sell the right property of course.

The whole real estate industry is a tough market because every purchase is personalized. People buy property for a variety of reasons and purposes but what’s common among all of them is that all of them buy properties that would be just right for them. What is perfect for one, may not be perfect for another – and knowing the exact want and need of your buyer can help close the deal better and faster.

I did learn a trick or two from The Apprentice after all.