10 Tips for Buying a New Home

It's hard to believe, but it's been over 6 months since we moved into our new house. Craziness.

And each time we walk around the neighborhood we feel extremely blessed to live where we do. It took a long time, a lot of stress and a lot of patience to finally get the home we did. It's a quiet, family-oriented neighborhood, it has a backyard for the pups -- it's perfect.

I've been sitting on this post for awhile now; mostly because it's hard to put all our thoughts down on paper. But here's our quick list, in absolutely zero particular order. Share with others as you feel led.

1. Be careful with timelines. It's no fault of ourselves or our agent, but imposing timelines on a home search can really open the door for compromise. If you do have a timeline, I really suggest doubling your lead time to make sure you're not pressed near the end of it. We began our home search in January and didn't actually close until August...after a 3-month escrow. Which leads us to our next point...


2. Don't compromise. For us, this was a house we're going to be spending years in. Bringing newborns home to. Raising children in. ...eventually..don't pressure us..we WILL fight back... And because of all of that, we didn't want this home to be something that we settled for because we were frustrated by the process or had a lease term to compete with. Granted, those were both obstacles, but sometimes you need to slap yourself around a bit to rearrange your priorities.


3. Find an agent that's right for you. Yes, your friend may have really liked Joe Silk Shirt Realtor, but that doesn't mean you will too. As we mentioned, this can be a really long process. So make sure you can see yourself 'courting' one another for awhile. This means being able to communicate the same way too; if you like talking via smoke signals, make sure your agent can too. Just because you meet with an agent doesn't mean you've necessarily hired him. Interview your heart out.


4. Have fun. Especially if this is a first-time buying experience like it was for us, you need something to break the frustrating monotony of really bad properties. Don't be frustrated by the blue-striped garage mural... laugh it off. No matter how irritating you might think it is, that irritation isn't going to remove the mural. This also applies to cracked sinks, missing cabinet doors, and the classic let-the-kids-draw-on-the-walls-with-marker-before-we're-kicked-out.


5. Don't get burnt out. Looking at houses, calling your realtor, browsing the MLS, and looking at houses again gets exhausting. Make sure you play too. Go to a movie, go on a walk, go on a weekend getaway. This is the digital age, so don't worry about missing anything. If you're out of town, you're okay. After all, we closed on our house while we were in Alaska. Bryan really pulled through for us while we were on vacation. Not only did we close escrow, but when we got back to the mainland, he arranged for our house to be repainted, and the new floors to be installed so we wouldn't need to worry about it when we returned. So if we can do that, you can go out to dinner. But make sure you have a good agent to back you up.


6. Identify your 'must haves.' It'll be tough to find that house that has absolutely everything you want, so what are you willing to give up? Do you NEED to have a formal dining room, or would you give it up for a big backyard? These are all up to you, don't let anybody pressure you into anything else. Tell your agent what really matters to you and specifically ask not to see a home that doesn't have a few of your 'hot' items.


7. Don't fall in love. This was one of the toughest things we dealt with. We'd find a house, fall in love with everything it was, make an offer, and then get destroyed emotionally when we were outbid. You, of course, need to make sure you can see yourself living there, but you may want to stop short of already knowing where the area rug is going. If you fell in love with the house, chances are lots of other people did too. For us, it stopped being about comparing prospective properties with one another. Instead, it was more about comparing properties with our current home. Was it an improvement? Was it horizontal?


8. Expect to be surprised by something...anything. Every situation is unique -- for us, there were complications with the squatters/tenants. Then there was legal action. Then the short sale was turning into a quick foreclosure. And more. But when we went into this home none of that was really on the table. All of it came as a bit of surprise. There will ALWAYS be something you weren't ready for. So you can freak out about it, or you can be calm, accept the absolute worst case scenario, and then develop a solution for it. We found the latter is much more effective.


9. Be grounded. It's easy to get caught up in the moment and decide to spend more than you can afford on a whim. Don't do it. You (hopefully) established your financial limits before this journey began. So abide by them. Don't let your sudden love for a house you can't afford change any of that. The same goes for your agent, don't let him push you into something you can't afford. Unless he's willing to subsidize your monthly payments... For us, it was important that we could afford the mortgage on one income. It may be a different rule for you, but don't break your own rules.


10. Pray. This really belongs at the top of the list. No matter how much you (think) you want something, it really doesn't matter if God's not in on it. Pray for direction; pray for peace of mind. There's really no point in stressing out if you realize you're not really the one in control.

Feel free to add to our list -- surely there's something we've missed!