Wet Behind The Ears (And The Walls): Simple Mistakes We Can All Make Buying Our First Home

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In some ways, buying our first home can highlight just how wet behind the ears we are. Most of us have a very simple set of demands out of our first home, that it keeps us comfortable, has a little bit of space and can store most of our junk. But when buying our first property, there are some common mistakes that we can fall foul of…

The Money Oversights

Naturally, we can do our best to get our ideal home, even if this means choosing a mortgage that we can't really pay back. We may find that we've got to make a few sacrifices in order to achieve our dream home, but if we are only just making the repayments every month, if some unforeseen financial circumstances come up in the future meaning we are struggling to keep up our end of the deal, this could mean we end up losing our home.

Lack Of Professional Insight

So many people are desperate to get onto the property ladder that they will do almost anything. And this means skipping the home inspection, and thinking that the house will be fine because they wouldn't put it on the market otherwise, right? Well, there are so many little problems in houses that can develop into potential hazards down the line. A crack in the wall may seem harmless, but this could spell disaster for your foundation, and if you see a crack in your foundation it's always best to get a professional to look over the property, if only for peace of mind. After all, you don't want to be spending through the nose for a property you can only just afford, and then find you've got more financial hardship around the corner due to there being major structural damage that could have been spotted by a professional.

Not Working With A Realtor

As we've all got a cliched perception of real estate agents: they are keen on the big sale and are only out to make money, we can believe we can cut out the middleman and get a property under our own steam. This is very dangerous, as you don't have the wealth of experience behind you to negotiate the fine details. Working with a real estate agent can serve you well, and on thebalance.com you can make the most of advice on how best to work with a real estate agent so that you are getting your value for money, but you're also not being taken to the cleaners.

Our first home doesn't have to be a fixer-upper, nor does it need to be the perfect palace, but what we can struggle with is the fact that we're amateurs. We've never done this before, and while it's easy to say that you need to get sufficient research under your belt, it's vital that you understand the magnitude of the situation. We all know what we want out of our dream home, but sometimes this is not feasible, so we have to make certain concessions. And even if we've covered every base, we can still fall foul to simple mistakes.