The Home Buying Scaries

It's spooky season and of course we are going to be talking about... the horrors of buying a home! Now, most of the time the home buying process is smooth, exciting, and rewarding! But, occasionally, things can happen during the process that can really haunt the transaction. Fortunately, your pro agents (us, duh!) will get you through these ghoulish situations and into the haunt-free home of your dreams! You will be bewitched!

Let's talk about a few scary scenarios that can happen during your home purchase and what you can do (no call to ghostbusters necessary!)

1. Interest rates go up while you're looking for homes. This can be a haunted nightmare because it can change your overall budget. Let's say with the current interest rates, your max budget is $500k. You've been looking at houses for $500k and even found one you really love! But now, interest rates just went up! Now your dream home is suddenly out of your budget. What can you do? You may have options! Your agent can negotiate a closing cost credit from the seller to buy down your interest rate so that you can end up with the budget you originally had. You may also be able to make a larger down payment, lowering your overall loan amount. Your agent and lender will work together with you to figure out the best way to make the numbers work for you!

2. You make an offer on your dream home, but so does someone else! You need an exorcism to get rid of this other buyer! When I represent a buyer in this situation, I work closely with the listing agent to find out what is most important to the seller. Maybe they have no place to move yet and they want to stay put in their home for a few months after closing to give them time to find a house. Or, maybe they really want to sell all the furniture with the house so they don't have to figure out what else to do with it and they don't need it anymore. It definitely pays to know what the seller's motivations are and what will put your offer at the front of the line.

3. You get your offer accepted on the house of your dreams, but the inspections are a haunted nightmare! First of all, don't be spooked by the pages and pages of issues that come up in the inspection report. The reports are supposed to be long and detailed! And not all issues are catastrophic. Your agent will help you make sense of the bigger issues and the ones that you will want to keep an eye on and maybe address in the coming months or years. They will also negotiate with the listing agent to have the seller possibly take care of some of those issues prior to closing.

4. You're ready to close but your lender isn't! Sometimes despite our best intentions and most diligent efforts, things don't always fall into place just how we planned them. Your lender may need more time to clear conditions for your loan, or wait for the appraisal to come in. Maybe the seller needs an extra week or two because the house they're moving into isn't ready. There are lots of moving parts in these transactions and sometimes not everything comes together in time. Your agent will help come up with a solution that will work best for everyone, and by the time you've moved into your new house, you won't even remember the hiccups!

Although many things happen during real estate transactions that can spook buyers, sellers, and agents, the end result of moving into your new, non-haunted, home is worth it!