Click San Diego Real Estate.com provides links, helpful information and resources to help make the buying or selling of Real Estate in the San Diego, California area a simpler and more rewarding process. We provide a directory of agents, brokers and realtors, details about neighborhoods and general information about San Diego real estate procedures.

TIPS TO HELP YOU AVOID PROBLEMS IN THE WORLD OF REAL ESTATE.
HERE ARE SOME OF THE MOST COMMON PITFALLS. (Part 2)

Who Is Lending The Money?
The wrong lender or the wrong loan program for your particular circumstance can lead to the loss of big bucks! For example, if you know you are going to be in your home only a couple of years before that next job transfer or retirement, why pay all your closing fees up front? Often you can save thousands by raising the interest rate you pay by half a percent. Your monthly payment may be higher, but you may save $2,500 overall. A good lender will take the time to find out what works best for you!

Not Having Your Own Team
You should always have your own agent in a real estate transaction!  A new home is no exception - it costs you NOTHING and a good agent will be able to save you money on loan fees and upgrade options. Finding out too late that you have no representation. This can be a real nasty surprise when you assume that the Agent with whom you are working represents you when they actually represent--and owe complete allegiance to--the seller. How does this happen?

Buying a Home You Can't Afford
Always go by the lender's guidelines when deciding how much house you can afford. If you stretch too much you may find yourself in a financial bind, which forces you to sell your home. A forced sale almost always guarantees a loss.

When Did You First Notice You Do Not Like Your New Home
You have to live in your home, not your mother, your father, your big brother, your best friend and not even your REALTOR®! Make sure the home your purchase is the best one for you that you can find within your price range.

 
Home Buying Made Easy….Sort of!
Buying a house covers a lot of ground--including legal, financial and emotional considerations. To not educate yourself and learn from the mistakes of others only sets you up to be at best disappointed and at worst finding yourself living in the wrong house. We have listed some of the most prevalent--and potentially dangerous and expensive--mistakes made by first time homebuyers.

TAKE YOUR TIME…STEP BACK ….TAKE A GOOD LOOK.

Running before walking. This is easy to do once the decision to buy a home has been made. It means rushing off looking at homes, surfing the web or calling on advertisements before doing some up-front preparation. Not spending time doing this preparation, though, can be a disaster. We get a number of emails from buyers who have contracted to purchase a home and want to know the easiest way of getting out of the purchase. Let it be known loud and clear: If you contract to purchase a home and "change your mind," the chances of getting released from the contract are almost non-existent. Still we hear "We found another home!" Sorry, too late. Maybe next time. "We are buying too much house!" Okay, maybe you will be able to rent out a room or two. " It's not what we want!" Maybe you can paint the house, or add on to it or replace the carpeting, but you will almost certainly will be living in it!



By not taking the time to investigate and familiarize yourself with the laws regarding AGENCY Or, by rushing out to look at homes, whether in person or on the Internet, and contacting the Agent who has the house advertised (who will be the listing Agent and will absolutely represent the seller). Another pitfall occurs when you try to represent yourself in the purchase of a home, thinking that you will save money. This may be the case, but it is just as--or more--likely that you will run into a savvy seller who is looking

Not getting mortgage preapproval. In the past it may have been different, but in the year 2005, prequalification and preapprovals are a necessary part of the home buying process. Not only will it give you an exact price range for your purchase, preapproval will add a great deal of strength to your offer. See the pages devoted to the subjects of

Waiting for the "perfect" home. Many first time buyers make the mistake that they will, if they look around long enough, find a home that has a full 100% of their needs and wants. With the thousands of variables available in housing, including location, style, size, amenities and condition, this is almost always an unrealistic goal. There are two potential problems with this strategy: First, these buyers pass by homes that meet 90% or more of their requirements only to eventually give up (often purchasing homes with less of their requirements because they are worn out!) and second, while they are waiting for the "perfect" home, housing market prices (and often mortgage rates) continue to rise, adding expense to their purchase. Instead, it makes sense to determine the most important of your needs and the most desired of your wants and selecting a home that meets the majority of them.

This article was provided by San Diego writer John Harris.