Sand Traps and Land Mine’s, I think you’d agree its best to avoid those… when buying your first home, like many things in life, there is a learning curve. By definition, your first home is just that, your first home. The McDonald Team is here to help, we’ll help you through the minefields and past the sand traps when buying your first home in Charlotte.
Buying Your First Home in Charlotte- AND Avoiding the Sand Traps and Land Mines Along the way
Land Mine- The biggest land mine is Location. And you’ve heard it a hundred times…Location, Location Location.. Right? Yet mistakes are made here all the
time- let me explain how. You must, simply MUST, do your best to buy a townhome, condo or single family, where you want to live… Sounds obvious? Simple too? Until confronted with budgetary restraints- assuming you have a budget as most people do, often you can’t find the home and features you want, in the area you want, so people keep their features and change areas– 95-100 times this is a mistake, usually a big one, and definitely a land mine. I’ve discussed this in depth here, First Charlotte Time Home Buyer- The Works
Bottom line is this- if you get a location you love you’ll probably stay a long time. And if you stay a long time you reduce your risks- real estate is once again a long term investment. And you can improve the features along the way. If you don’t get where you want to be, in 6 months you could be regretting your decision and looking to move… has that happened to any of your friends? I’ll bet it has. And that is worst case scenario, I screwed up and I want to move inside a year. If you do, it will cost you loads of time and money, that’s why its a Land Mine.
Land Mine- Not seeing the whole market. This happens in many different ways, lets look how. You see a townhome you like, and you call the Agent on the sign, you go and see it, you like it. Actually, you love it. The Agent shows you a couple of comparable sales, comp’s for short, and these seem to establish the value pretty well-the are actual sales, you can see that- so you begin to think of an offer in terms of their Asking or List price. Makes sense? Unless, there were say 6 sales of similar units, and the two he showed were the “outliers” they sold at a 150 per sf, but the average of the other 4 was $130/sf, and the unit you looked at was nice, but not that nice… Without full information you will pay too much nearly every time.
This happens on New home sites regularly. You go to the new home center, and these Agents are nice, and are very helpful and capable. You ask them if you can make an offer and they respond, “Yes but our builder has already lowered his prices and doesn’t accept offers.” Hmmm… without someone who can check, you don’t know. This past spring, we aw a home originally listed at 339K, but the builder had market it down to 279K. We did our research, and saw quite a variety of “sold” prices, so we offered $210,000. The builder came down to $250,000, said it was his very best offer, and after some thought we accepted. The buidler wrote a check for $32,000 to close the home.
If you aren’t seeing the whole market, you will over pay in almost every case… but this should NEVER happen if you have a good Buyer Agent. New or re-sale, we’ll get the information needed to negotiate your best buy.
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The McDonald Team works for our Buyer Clients as Exclusive Buyer Agents- we won’t show you a house with our name on it, so we’ve got your back covered every step of the way, A -Z. We’ll keep the other players on track, and help get you into your first home. Watching your back includes specific price research for homes and neighborhoods, negotiating strategies that fit your comfort level and listening to all you say you are looking for, and the unsaid too! From the first look, through closing, we are with you 100% of the way… our services are all Seller paid and a la carte- take what you need and leave the rest!
A smart buyer and a good Buyer agent and make GREAT deals happen! Call us today, 704-351-1519
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