Ask The Expert: 3 Things For Young First Home Buyers To Know
Hey y’all, VFL Real Estate owner Steven Hensley here with another edition of ‘Ask The Expert’ when it comes to important real estate topics. In today’s edition, I offer my personal opinions on three things I think young, first-time home buyers should know when getting ready to purchase their first home.
Everybody has to start somewhere. That is especially true in real estate, where everybody who has purchased a home had to do so a first time. Some folks reading this have purchased and sold multiple homes and properties, while other readers have never purchased or sold a home or property.
In today’s blog, though, I am talking directly to those aforementioned first-time home buyers. Below are three things I suggest that young first-time home buyers keep in mind.
You Do NOT Have To Sign A Contract With A Buyer’s Agent To See A Home
For instance, at VFL Real Estate we have you sign a one-day touring agreement. It means that we’re simply going to tour the house, and you don’t owe us anything at the end of the tour. In fact, the agreement expires at midnight the same day.
Because of the new 2024 rules, we do need you to sign a touring agreement, but we’re not going to lock you into a contract. We want to make things easy for buyers in East Tennessee, even if you decide to work with someone else down the road.
Either way, it is imperative that young people reading this remember to read through prospective contracts before signing anything as it will help you out big-time in the long run.
Shop Your Lenders
We all want to get the best rates we can when trying to purchase a home or property. One of the easiest ways to do that is to remember that it’s OK to shop your lenders in the home-buying process. This helps you make sure you’re getting the best possible rate on your loan. Keep in mind that when interest rates are higher, lenders make more money — so it’s always worth shopping around.
Young people, make sure to keep your eyes peeled for sales-y lenders. You need to shop lenders to ensure that you get the best rates possible, which is a critical part of the home-buying process.
It’s also important to try and get this part done in a 30-day window, too, so this process requires only one credit pull, rather than multiple if you let the process linger for additional months.
New Construction
New construction is OK in my book. A lot of young, first-time home buyers should really think about new construction. I’m not talking about custom-built homes, which can be great if you can afford it, but I’m talking about new construction in a different context. In my opinion, new construction is the best deal in real estate.
One reason is that if you’re not handy, home repairs could prove to be costly. With new construction, the hope is that you won’t need to do any major repairs in the short-term. That’s a big difference between fixer-uppers where repairs and maintenance problems are more common.
