Real Estate Tips: 5 Common and Costly Home Buying Mistakes

You’ve likely heard about a couple of the things that can go wrong when buying a home, but just in case you haven’t heard about the most common and costly mistakes we’ve put together a list of 5 of the worst offenders that cost buyers dearly when buying homes for sale—which is why you should always use an experienced, full-time real estate agent:

1. Real Estate Tips: Buyers get Too Excited About Buying a Home and Buy New Stuff
   Buying something on credit—like a car, TV, furniture and/or new appliances—before closing and then on the pre-closing credit-check your mortgage broker notifies the buyer that they have adversely affected their credit rating and are no longer able to buy the homes for sale that they just purchased new furniture and appliances for.
2. Pool Follies
   In-ground pools are a beautiful thing, but they are also a thing that we rarely think about during Canadian winters. Many homebuyers will purchase a home in the winter with an in-ground pool but forget to add a clause to the purchase agreement that says what state the pool has to be in when it is opened in the spring. This is why The Wilding Team recommends a third-party pool company clause that has a third-party open the pool to ensure it is in working condition. As the seller this eliminates the buyer having to trust that you closed the pool correctly.
3. Home Inspection Failure to Launch
   Far too many home buyers like to skimp out on the costs of a professional home inspector because “my brother does home renovations and can check it out for me”. Unfortunately family members and other non-professional ‘home inspectors’ just can’t stay up to date on current bylaws, building codes and notices—for example, furnace-part recalls and electrical codes. There are a number of small things that home inspectors check on each and every time, and while they might seem small they can put a huge dent in your wallet. Your family member also isn’t likely to check the electrical work, climb up on the roof to check the status, or dig for possible mould or termites.
4. Not Having a Closing Contingency PlanMore and more sellers are running into the problem that the present house they live in does not close on the completion date. There are two things that can be done to avert this crisis, one is to arrange for the new house to close a couple of days earlier by using bridge financing, and the other is a new insurance program that protects you up to $25,000 if your house deal does not close (or close on time).
5. Forgetting To Ask for Permits
   Many older homes have had additions put on them and you need to know that this addition was put on according to local bylaws and building codes to protect your family and also for the future when you want to sell the house. Failing to ask for a building permit with the purchase of a home can result in a lower price on the future sale of the property, or you could find moving forward that there was an error in workmanship and the addition needs additional work that should have been done properly in the first place. Buyer beware of home renovations.

These are only a few of the hundreds of things that can go wrong while buying a home and real estate. To be sure you don’t become another home buyer horror story, use The Wilding Team as your representative.
The Wilding Team, the we’ve-got-your-back real estate agents.