Not Getting Pre-Qualified for a mortgage - There are many different types of mortgages out there and each mortgage product varies from the amount of money needed to the acceptible debt-to-income ratios necessary. When buying a home it's important to know what mortgage product best suits your needs and the easiest way to do that is by getting pre-approved for a mortgage. What is pre-approval? Mortgage pre-approval is when a lender gives their written commitment to a potential borrower. Getting a mortgage pre-approved allows you the time to correct any potential credit issues that could arise in the lending process. Errors happen in credit reports and often times you never even know of the issue until you go to get a loan. Getting pre-approved will allow you the time to get your credit report corrected as it typically isnt the easiest process. Getting pre-approved also helps eliminate dissappointment. Your Real Estate agent doesn't know your financial situation and without pre-approval you could be going to home showings and falling in love with your dream home and be completely heartbroken because you cannot get a loan due to credit or various other reasons. Getting pre-approved can save you the time of looking un-necessarily but can also help you plan well in advance to make sure 30 or 60 days from now your debts are paid off and the final closing documents can be signed without any hiccups along the way.

Not shopping around for the best mortgage terms and rates - We understand your time is valuable so you may feel going with the first lender that approves you would be best, however we have found shopping around for various mortgage terms and various interest rates prove to be extremely beneficial. It's amazing how a few points of interest over a 15 or 30 year period really add up. Now a days, with just a few clicks you can check out all sorts of different mortgage companies rates and terms and it isn't nearly as time consuming as it used to be. We highly recommend avoiding this mistake by doing just that!

Not getting a home or condo professionally inspected - As we also discuss in our Home Buying Timeline a professional Home Inspection is extremely important. Granted a home inspection does cost roughly a couple hundred dollars give or take, however in the end we feel it is well worth the money. A home inspection reveals all of those potential hidden issues in the structure of the home that you would of otherwise never known until possibly years later after moving in. There could be a crack in the foundation or an electrical issue that you can then go back to the seller to discuss and work out the financials to have the home repaired to satisfaction, saving you potentially hundreds or even thousands in the end.

Not using a Professional Real Estate Agent - We find a Professional Real Estate Agents expertise is critical in buying a home, which is why when choosing which Realtor you will be working with is of utmost importance in your home buying process. Buying a home requires a lot of paperwork, negotiations, knowledge and experience that only a professional Real Estate agent can provide for you. Choosing to buy a home without a Professional Real Estate agent in the end could end up costing you a lot of money and time as they have the negotiating power as well as access to Listings that you cannot see online. A Realtor can help you find those hidden gems that aren't currently being advertised elsewhere.

Buying your new home without selling your old home first- We know you want to have your new home secured so you know you will have a roof over your head after your home sells, and we understand that. However, we do not recommend this approach as we have seen far too often the homeowner purchases the new home and their old home does not sell for various reasons in the time frame necessary for thier financial situation. This puts a burden on them to come up with two mortgage payments and all the expenses involved with having two homes.

Not knowing the full cost in buying a new home. - This is a very common mistake we see often. Buyers only calculate the cost of their mortgage without adding in all the other factors of utilities, regular monthly expenses of food, fuel and various other cost of living items. We also find most don't factor in the costs associated with rate increases of Homeowners insurance, property taxes as well as the costs of those unexpected repairs that come along the way. We recommend having a good grasp on all costs associated with homeownership. For more on this topic please check out our Free First Time Home Buyers guide where we go into detail all the costs to factor in when purchasing a home.