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Choosing a home can be one of the easiest steps, or one of the hardest. It just depends on your personality type. Make the wrong choice and you could end up with buyer’s remorse. If you’ve narrowed your homes down to just two or three, how do you choose?
Go Back To Your Wish List
Remember in Step 3 we made a list of three “Must Haves”, three “Would Likes”, and three “Must Not Haves”. Which properties best meet your original needs? If one is missing an original “Would Like”, maybe you can knock it off the list and call it a win.
Neighborhood Over Home
If there are still homes to choose between, the next tie breaker should be the neighborhood. You can change a lot about your home. You can renovate it. Add on. Re-floor and repaint.
There is very little you can change about your neighbors and neighborhood. Especially when it comes to resale value, a quality neighborhood is important. One rule of thumb for investors that can be useful when buying a home is that it is best to get the “cheapest home in the nicest neighborhood”. You don’t have to get a cheap home, but I do recommend focusing on the neighborhood.
Cheapest
If you’ve narrowed it down to a couple homes and really aren’t sure which is superior, the price can be the easy decider. There is no reason to spend more for the same quality to you. Make it simple and spend less money!
Go With Your Gut
If you still aren’t sure which home is right for you, trusting your instincts is probably a good idea. You’ve seen both homes. Whichever home made the better impression probably did so for a reason.
Exit Plan
We mentioned in Step 2 that an exit plan is important when buying a home. Having a solid exit plan like renting or selling the home can also give peace of mind. You don’t have to get everything right if there is an opportunity to correct a mistake in the future.
Stop Looking at Homes
Generally, I recommend continuing to monitor the market even when making an offer and under contract. There is no telling when your current deal may run into a hiccup and you have to return to the drawing board.
But if you are the type to over analyze and second guess yourself, stop looking at homes once you’ve made an offer on one. Turn off your listing alerts. The grass is not greener.
Next > The Offer
