10 Mistakes to Avoid When Buying a House in Warrensburg, MO

Hey Guys and Gals and everyone in between! TODAY, we're talking about the 10 absolutely terrible horribe mistakes that you can make (by accident!) when moving to Warrensburg, Missouri or PCS'ing to Whiteman Air Force Base.

But, DON'T PANIC. If you read my blog, and know where your towel is, you'll be fine. If you didn't get that reference, I'm not sorry.

Let's get to it!

Starting off, and these are in no particular order (except number one!) we are jumping right into this list!

10. Budget

Understand your budget. Before you even start looking at houses, know what you want your mortgage payment to be every month, because that will tell you what your max budget is. I've done another video on my You Tube channel where I break down a mortage payment into its four parts (Principle, Interest, Taxes and Insurance), so take a look at it (if you need to) so you really understand what you will be paying every month. There's nothing worse than seeing a beautiful and perfect house and realizing you can't afford it! I always make sure my clients really know and understand their budget, and where they fall price-wise, so that I never show them anything outside of that range. 

9. Check Your Credit

This mistake would be not checking your credit before getting your preapproval with your lender, to correct any small issues. This can actually make a BIG DEAL when it comes to your interest rate, and it ony takes a couple minutes! If you have  credit score that coule have easily been a couple points higher with just a little tweaking, you could end up saving tens of thousands of dollars throughout the life of your loan. 

8. Be Flexible

 When you go start looking at houses with your pre-approval in hand, make sure that youre flexibe on things that don't really matter as much as others - for example paint colors, appliance colors/types, cosmetic work. These are things which can be easily fixed over time (or even negotiated into your offer!). I actually recommend making a list of must-haves and would like-to-haves so you know where you stand on each house. For me, the one really important factor when I'm looking at a house is the location. Do you want an area with families? Or an area with more active and younger neighbors? I will overlook things which I could fix (like a bathroom that needs updating) for a great location. You can fix a bathroom but you can't pick up and move an entire house.

7. Getting Only One Lender Quote 

The first step to buying a home is getting a preapproval for a home loan. Most people go to their local banks, say "hey guys I want to buy a home" and get a loan option with an interest rate. Take that rate, and go to another bank, or another mortgage company that can shop around for a more competative option. You're dinging your credit already, so you might as well look and find the very best rate available! Most of the time, if a bank or mortgage company knows they are competing, they will pull out all the stops to win your business and you could save tens of thousands of dollars. 

6. Don't Fall In Love With A Property Before You Close

Now this is a hard one. You want to go to the house, see it, like it and imagine yourself living there, but don't get stuck in the mentality where you HAVE TO HAVE IT. That state of mind really hamstrings your ability (and your agents ability) to negotiate on things like the price, seller concessions and fixes. If you're madly in love with a property, you're less likely to be willing to lose it and walk away during negotiations and more likely to pay more for it. So, it's hard, but disconnect the heart and look with the eyeballs and don't fall in love until you close and it's yours. 

5. Not Looking For First-Time Home Buyer Programs or Down Payment Grants

There are so many great programs out there which can help buyers purchase their  new homes! First-Time Home Buyers can apply for an FHA Loan (which has a downpayment of only 3.5%). Or a USDA loan which has a 0% downpayment. Other great programs are available like Down Payment Assistance and Closing Costs Assistance. I have an entire video on my chanell which talks about different programs and grants for home-buyers - it's basically a video on how you can get free money from the government to buy your home, so I highly advise watching it! 

4. Once You're Preapproved - Don't Touch Your Credit!

This mistake isn't really talked about often, though it's MASSIVELY important. After you have been pre-approved by your bank or lender, do NOT apply for any other credit of any sort. Don't apply for a new credit card, don't take out a personal loan, don't buy a car, just don't touch it! I've actually known someone who lost their house a week before closing because they bought a new car - and their real estate agent never warned them against it! The mortgage lender then denied their loan at the last minute, and they lost the house. The reason behind this is, when a mortgage company or bank is looking at your eligibility for a loan, they are looking at your debt to income ratio. If you skew that ratio by adding more debt (after being preapproved) it changes their calculations. Hence, no more loan. SO, don't touch that credit! 

3. Do Not Skip Your Due-Diligance

Never skip the small stuff. Get a home inspection. Make sure it's an inspector who pay's attention to detail. Is the home on city sewer or does it have a septic tank? When was the last time the tank was emptied and serviced? Make sure your home inspector checks the attic, the crawl space and all spaces in between. Expensive surprises are not fun when it comes to a new home purchase. During your Inspection period, don't skimp on the due diligance. 

2. Never Work With a Listing Agent - Unless You're Listing a House 

Why do I say this? ? Say you have your preapproval in hand, and you go on Zillow and find a house you want to see. There's that little button at the bottom of the page that puts you in touch with the agent listing the home, and it's awfuly tempting to click it. Don't. That's the listing agent. That person has fiduciary responsibility to their client, the seller. And that's it. They do not represent you and they do not have your best interests in mind. That brings us to number one on our list. 

1. Find a Good Real Estate Agent 

Having a buyers agent who represents you and your interests is the number one most important thing on this list. And, this is kind of a hidden secret that's open but no one really talks about it: the buyers agent is paid by the seller. You as a person who is buying a house and needing a real estate agent to help you with those negotiations, aren't paying for that real estate agent. The seller is. Buyers agents are paid through commisions, which are paid for by the seller when the house closes. It's also incredible tyo find a buyers agent who is willing to take the time to walk you through all of the steps of the home-buying process. For example: What are the different parts of a mortgage? What happens after the offer is accepted? What is earnest money? A good agent makes sure there are no unknowns and suprises in the process. High five!!

There you have it folks! Don't make these ten mistakes and your house-hunting will hopefully go smashingly! As always, don't hesistate to give me a call, shoot me a text or send me an email if you're looking for a home here (or near) Warrensburg, Missouri. 

Till next time <3