How to avoid home buying mistakes the first time

Buying a house to make a home for you and your family can be a stressful time for anyone, especially when it’s your first home.

Below I’ll be sharing with you mistakes that you want to avoid when home buying.

If you’re looking for your first home are hoping to sell and buy these tips are for you too.

Let’s go.

Home Sweet Home Will Cost You Money

We no longer wanted to rent so looking for our first home was something that came fast and furious for us.

With that comes the urgency to own a home and sometimes you overlook some of the obvious concerns. I certainly won’t be making some of these mistakes next time around.

I can remember the endless trolling through MLS listings online and then booking an appointment with our real estate agent to go and view them.

Some houses definitely viewed better through photos rather than real life, but it’s always something every house hunter has to endure.

When buying a house everyone has a list of wants and needs and a general style that they are looking for.

For us, a more modern house was an easier choice due to lower maintenance costs and less chance that there were going to be hidden problems.

The trouble for any couple or family starts when they discover hidden issues with the house they thought was perfectly fine. Other life events can throw your plans off track too.

As a homeowner, I have found a number of things I would consider when purchasing a house even if it’s your first home.

Is bigger, better?

That large house that you have to maximize your mortgage for just to impress your friends and family can become a mill stone around your neck.

A much larger house than you really need or can hardly afford costs more to run on a daily basis.

Increased square footage will go hand in hand with an increase in property taxes, heating and cooling costs, maintenance requirements and so on.

If your monthly mortgage costs are already crippling your finances, the increased costs of owning a house will tip your finances over the edge.

There is never anything certain in life, so if a job loss occurs, injury, health issues or a pregnancy that was unplanned happens, could you still afford that castle?

You can’t predict the future but you can take steps to prepare. Life insurance with Sun Life Go is that preparation.

With coverage from $5,000 to $1 million and easy online access, securing your family’s future has never been easier.

Consider staying a while

Jumping from property to property can cost you more than you think.

You can make money from selling your house due to increases in property prices and renovations that you have completed on the house.

You can also lose money if you are selling frequently, unless of course you sell said property yourself without a real estate agent.

Take an average priced house of $300,000 and apply the typical 5% fee that goes along with it selling with an agent.

That’s going to cost you $15,000 ($16,950 with tax) to sell your house, but don’t forget that’s not the only cost associated with it. There is the fees for the lawyers, land transfer tax, moving costs and a  Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp (CMHC)  fee if applicable among other fees and taxes.

At roughly $20,000 or more per move if you keep upgrading homes over time, the costs of buying and selling can get expensive.

If you move house 5 times in a relatively small amount of time that’s $100,000 you’ve spent.

Did you actually make that much on selling the properties?

Home renovations

There is a common list of renovations that retain money and those that don’t with a fresh coat of paint giving the biggest return on investment. Sure you could renovate your house to the nines but is someone going to pay the over the top price for it when you come to sell?

The same applies to when you’re buying a house. Be wary of buying a house on a street where it’s the most expensive by quite a margin. A few thousand dollars won’t make much difference but paying thirty thousand over might ring alarm bells.

If you are going to pay all that extra money for a home that’s been completely renovated, make sure you’re getting what you pay for.

Having seen so many badly executed renovations during open houses to do with hardwood flooring or basements, I would advise taking a closer look.

I’m not going to spend hard-earned money on hardwood flooring just to rip it all out and start all over again.

Take a walk around the property, look closely at the finishes and the way things were renovated. Slap dash installation can suggest that most of the renovations in the home probably aren’t going to last.

I saw a brand new kitchen renovation in one prospective house and the upper cupboards weren’t even level with the ceiling. They change from one inch distance to the ceiling at one end to three inches at the opposite end.

Even if the ceiling wasn’t level, that would suggest there was even bigger problems. Your personal observations can be your biggest clues as to whether this house is for you or not.

Location, Location, Location

Quite possibly the most famous saying when considering buying a house. They even named a British TV show with the same name.

Living in an affluent area may make you feel like you’re on the way up but it might not necessarily be a good idea for you and the way your life actually is.

As a working couple, there may never be a time when you both hold a job in the same city or even travel to work in the same direction.

Picking a location that makes a commute easier and faster would be a sensible solution. Also selecting an area where each commute is roughly equal may make life a little easier so one person doesn’t feel like they’re doing all the travelling.

Consider the math for moving closer to work and buying a more expensive house or staying outside the city and buying something cheaper.

With the costs of gasoline fairly high compared to what they used to be and increasing commute times it may make more sense to live closer to work.

High mileage vehicles depreciate faster and require more maintenance and you may find yourself buying cars more often than those who live close to work.

Time to buy

When we we’re looking at buying our current house we started looking in the middle of winter, which was great for viewing the inside but completely useless when viewing the exterior.

There were some advantages of looking during the winter. You can see how parking, snow removal and prevailing weather affects the property. Check the windows, they should perform as intended.

Double glazing panels can fail, fogging, condensation trapped between panels can be an indicator that you may be spending money sooner rather than later.

Check for cold rooms or uneven heating throughout the house. A bedroom above a garage that can be colder than the rest of the house can potentially be hotter in the summer months.

It doesn’t necessarily suggest that there is missing insulation, it could be caused by the garage underneath. Consider that you may have to invest in a thermal garage door.

A garage was part of the essential list. Not so much to store household stuff in, but actually house vehicles in especially during the winter months.

If you’re going to store a snow blower in there as well, check out the room available for all your toys because there’s nothing worse than a garage filled to the top with everything but your vehicle.

There are however down sides to looking to buy a home in the winter. After buying our house and then moving in, we were quite surprised when the snow disappeared and revealed a front garden that nobody in their right mind would be proud of.

We were also surprised and annoyed at the same time when we found items that the home inspector had missed. We have since resolved those issues, but it was inconvenient all the same. If your planning on buying a house within the next twelve months, consider doing some research.

If there is a particular area you want to buy a home in visit it during every season. View the rest of the houses in the street as they tend to be of roughly the same age. If most people have already got a re-roof done, then a house with an original roof will have to have a new roof budgeted into the cost. It may require landscaping or re-sodding which is a less expensive alternative to improving the curb appeal.

Making a list of pro’s and con’s could narrow down your house hunting and result in a better home purchase.We had to make compromises but at the end of the day we’re happy with our choice of house to make our home.

What are some things that you would look for the next time you buy a home that you didn’t consider the first time?

Leave a comment below with your thoughts. Thanks.

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