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Before You Buy Your First Home - Learn Before You Earn
By Tisza Major-Posner | July 13, 2007
Hi All,
I spent this past evening as I have the last four Thursday evenings, and as I will for the upcoming Thursday evenings until October, at the Upland Street Fair and Farmer’s Market from 5 PM to 9 PM in downtown Upland. This is a great opportunity for me to get face-to-face with folks and see how I can help them make their Real Estate dreams come true.
I meet quite a few folks there that are not homeowners… yet. But they hope to be at some point in the near future. Some are looking at a couple of months down the line and some are one or two years away from their purchase. Quite a number of these folks are first time buyer’s and as such, have never worked with, or for that matter even talked to a Realtor at any in-depth level before.
One of the things that I offer to folks is the opportunity to receive a monthly Market Update for Claremont, the Inland Empire and surrounding communities via email or regular mail, if they prefer. Incidentally, that offer extends to anyone who is interested here as well. If you would like to receive this information, just contact me and I will be happy to provide it.
Invariably, I hear some variation of the same theme when I talk to them. It goes like this… Oh, we’re just looking; we aren’t really ready to buy just yet. And to each person who makes that comment I give the same advice: “Learn before you earn”.
What I mean by that is your home is usually your largest single asset, bar none, that you will ever have. And yet, most folks put more time, energy and effort into shopping for shoes than they do shopping for the team that will get them from contract to close. And, they also usually wait until they are “ready” to buy to begin learning anything about the market and the home buying process.
I think this is a shame, a waste and a HUGE mistake. The weeks, months or years that precede your home purchase are some of the most valuable you will ever encounter. They are the time you should be spending educating yourself.
When you go to college they don’t hand you your diploma on your very first day and then tell you that you need to study for four more years after the fact. You study, learn and demonstrate your knowledge before you get your sheepskin. The same should hold true for a real estate purchase.
In those early days before you officially get into the game and are confronted with contracts, offers, inspections, home warranties, insurance, taxes and title, you have time to explore the meaning and value behind each and every aspect of the transaction. And you should.
Learning before you earn will ultimately save you time, energy, frustration and may even save you money as well. How can you possibly determine if a property is a “good deal” if you have nothing to compare it to? How can you know what is or will be expected of you if you never find out beforehand? How can you understand the terminology if the first time you hear it is at the closing table? How can you decide who you want to work with if you never talk to anyone beforehand?
And most importantly how can you know where you want to live if you have never explored the area? Doing all of these things ahead of time will make you a stronger, better educated and happier buyer. And when you are ready to receive your “diploma” which will actually look a whole lot more like a fully executed contract and your new house keys, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you studied hard, put in the time an earned it.
Take care,
Topics: Buying and Selling Tips |
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