Buying a home can be a stressful and lengthy process. How do you know where to live, what amenities are important to you, how much to pay, and how to find a good agent?
We spoke to several first-time homeowners who asked themselves the same exact questions when they were on the hunt. They had tons of advice to offer about how you, too, could end up with a new home that you can both love and afford.
They even had a few words to offer on their “hindsight being 20-20” regrets.
How long does it take to find your dream home?
Mostly, the answer to this question depends on how quickly you need to move.
“I looked at six million places,” joked Karen Schneider, who was house hunting in New York City about three years ago. “I was okay with the apartment I was living in, so I wasn’t going to move unless I found something I loved. I had seen an apartment in the building that I really liked, but someone else swooped in with an all-cash offer and got it. I had to wait a year until another unit with the same floor plan came on. Even though I had seen a lot of other places during that time, it was still the one I wanted.”
“I only looked at four other places before making an offer on my place,” said Diana Diamondstone, who was also looking in New York City around the same time, but under very different circumstances. “I was living with roommates and our lease was up, so I really needed to find something fast. I was in limbo between apartments and moving back home with my parents, so I knew I had to get a move on it.”
What were some deal breakers during the hunt?
For most of the home buyers we spoke to, location and price were the two biggest non-negotiables during the search. The best bet for success was to stay true to those two goals, but have some flexibility with other amenities.
“We were open to different towns,” said Judy Capon, who was looking for a suburban home in Westchester, NY for her family about two years ago. “But it had to have good schools, not be too far from the city, and the price, including taxes, couldn’t be too high.”
She ended up buying a home that fit all those parameters, but needed a lot of cosmetic fixes.
Bryan Rosenberg was willing to compromise on size when he was looking for a home in San Francisco, but he refused to give up on a spot within the city that would still be close to amenities and his job, even though he was looking during the market peak of 2006.
“A location in the Sunset/Richmond was a deal breaker for me,” he said of refusing to even look at homes in those outlying neighborhoods. He ended up in a studio, but in a location that cut way down on his commute time.
Still, for others, amenities can win out over location.
“No closet space was a deal breaker for me,” said Andrea Lee, who was shopping for condos in Minneapolis in 2008. “I also eliminated anything without underground parking because it’s freezing for eight months of the year and I didn’t want to deal with scraping snow off my car.”
Lee really liked a condo in a trendy neighborhood, but ended up buying one in an up-and-coming area that had the amenities she was looking for at a lower price point.
How do you negotiate the sale of the home?
Most first-time owners said that the most important thing during the negotiation process was knowing when to walk away.
“Just because you put in an offer doesn’t mean you’re about to buy a home,” advised Bryan, who was looking to buy during a time when multiple, over-asking-price offers were the norm.
Lydia Choy was also looking for a condo with her then-boyfriend in San Francisco during the height of the market in 2006.
“We only put an offer on one other place, which gave aggressive counter-offers that we turned down,” she recalled. “We learned that patience and not being pressured by external factors were key.”
Still, other times, not sweating the small stuff made the deal go through.
“Know when something is worth losing the house over and when it’s not,” said Judy. “We had a permitting issue and the seller refused to keep his contractual obligation to fix it. We could have walked, but losing the house was not worth it and we made the concessions.”
How important is finding the right agent?
In a word: very.
“My agent was awesome,” said Bryan. “I had no idea what I was doing and he walked me through it all at every step in the process, always honestly.”
A not-so-great agent can also have its effects. “I had a sleazy real-estate agent who I don’t think did very much for me,” said Diana. “He had helped me find my last apartment and I happened to run into him on the street and told him I was looking to buy. But he didn’t do much to help find the place and he didn’t do much during the negotiation.”
A little research can help you figure out the difference between a life-saving agent and one who does little beyond collect a commission.
“Reach out to friends for realtor referrals,” advised Andrea. “A coworker recommended one to me and it made me more confident that he would do a good job.”
You can also search for real estate agents, who are all highly recommended experts in their local markets.
Looking back, are there any regrets about buying your first home?
Most buyers felt there were things they would change about their first purchases, but nothing major.
Andrea, who ended up with her prized indoor parking spot, wishes she had negotiated for a second one. She got married after buying the home and they now have to rent a second spot for her husband’s car.
Noise-sensitive Karen wishes she had paid more attention to the school next door to her building. “After the offer was already accepted I was visiting the unit and heard the kids screaming through the window. Everyone told me I would grow to ignore it, but some days they are so loud it makes me wish I had never bought the place.” She is currently looking into sound-dampening windows to remedy the problem.
But for Lydia and Bryan, who both bought at the height of what ended up being an unsustainable market, the regrets are bigger.
Both ended up walking away from their homes when the combination of a crashing market and changes in their lives (Lydia broke up with boyfriend, while Bryan got married) made staying in their starter homes untenable.
They both offered this bit of learned-it-the-hard-way wisdom: don’t assume the market has nowhere to go but up.
According to Lydia, the best piece of lived-it, learned-it home buyer advice is also the simplest: “Buy a place that you will enjoy living in that also has a sustainable mortgage.”
Emily Landes is a writer and editor who is obsessed with all things real estate. She also has a DIY problem that she blogs about at pritical.com.
