Purchasing your new home is likely the largest purchase you will make in your life, its important to make as few mistakes as possible to ensure your hard earned money is well spent.  Over the years we have found a few common mistakes that even the most experienced home buyers make.  Our goal in sharing these with you is to help you make wise choices when purchasing your next home.  Whether you purchase with Bellamy Homes or not we are always happy to share our insights and expertise with you.

1. Focusing more on Price than Interest Rates

It is common for people to get hung up on the price of their new home and go through some complex negotiations to get the price where they want it.  Often times deals fall through over just a few thousand dollars on the sales price.  After buyers put all their time and energy into negotiating price they are out of energy when it comes to shopping for interest rates and loan programs.  We have seen transactions where the purchaser spent months haggling over a few thousand dollars all the while, interest rates went up a half point.  This may not sound like much but consider this example:  On a $300,000 home if interest rates go up 3/4 of a point which is a normal swing, your monthly payment goes up $126, which equates to $45,097 in extra interest paid over the life of the loan.

Many people are wishing, hoping and waiting to see if home prices in Charlotte come down.  The likely scenerio is home prices may come down slightly, even $10,000 would be a significant decrease in todays market.  While buyers are watching the market, we have something much more important than that already in place.  Low interest rates.  With the current lending situation it is only a matter of time before these rates double from their current levels.  When that happens it wont matter if the home you have your eye changed price because at the new interest rates you will be spending much money on interest payments than you saved.

2.  Failing to Plan for the Future

The home you purchase today is likely to be a long term new home for you.  Most buyers don’t take the time to step back and immagine what their life will be like 5 or 10 years down the road.  You shouldn’t just purchase a home that meets your needs today, instead plan for the future.  Are you planning to start a family, or downsize with a smaller family.  Take a minute and think about the future, in the future you will be glad you did.

3. Get it in Writing

In these complex transactions there is a lot to remember and often times the different parties in the transaction remember what was said in different ways.  Always draft addendums that clearly state what the parties have both agreed to do and have them signed, that way everyone agrees and the process can progress smoothly.  You won’t be as excited about your new home purchase when you have had to battle in court over some minor details that could have easily been written down.

4. Forgetting The Final Walkthrough

Bellamy Homes provides customers plenty of opportunites to take a look at their home prior to the customer taking posession.  Actaully we also come back twice within the first year of you owning your new home to perform maintenance and inspections.  This is not common when purchasing a new home.  Make sure and carefully inspect the home multiple times and as close to the closing date as possible.  Make sure you know as much as possible about the new home before you go to the closing table and purchase it.  That will help you avoid being blindsided by unexpected issues down the road after you own it.

5. Have Fun

This list is not meant to scare you or make you nervous about purchaseing your new home.  Through the years the process has become pretty streamlined and the kinks have been worked out.  Altough these mistakes are possible and even typical, none of them detract significantly from the pleasure and satisfaction of owning a new home.  The day your take possession and move in your new home is exciting and whether you make a few small mistakes or not won’t affect the memories you will create.

Bellamy Homes is an active part in the community of Charlotte and surrounding areas.  Recently the company dedicated some hard work to one of the local Habitat for Humanity homes here in town.  We framed up the whole roof and put the sheathing (plywood) around the exterior of the home.  Here are some photos of the hard work.