{"id":246,"date":"2014-12-20T00:20:30","date_gmt":"2014-12-20T00:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/foundation\/?p=246"},"modified":"2014-12-20T00:20:30","modified_gmt":"2014-12-20T00:20:30","slug":"expert-answers-homebuying-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/blog\/expert-answers-homebuying-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"15 Expert Answers to Your Burning Buying Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

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?<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

They even had a few words to offer on their \u201chindsight being 20-20\u201d regrets.<\/p>\n

How long does it take to find your dream home?<\/h2>\n

\"15<\/p>\n

Source: Flickr user Universal Pops (illustrated)<\/div>\n

Mostly, the answer to this question depends on how quickly you need to move.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cI looked at six million places,\u201d joked Karen Schneider, who was house hunting in New York City<\/a> about three years ago. \u201cI was okay with the apartment I was living in, so I wasn\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI only looked at four other places before making an offer on my place,\u201d said Diana Diamondstone, who was also looking in New York City around the same time, but under very different circumstances. \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

What were some deal breakers during the hunt?<\/h2>\n

\"15<\/p>\n

Source: Flickr user heiwa4126<\/div>\n

For most of the home buyers we spoke to, location <\/b>and price<\/b> 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were open to different towns,\u201d said Judy Capon, who was looking for a suburban home in Westchester, NY<\/a> for her family about two years ago. \u201cBut it had to have good schools, not be too far from the city, and the price, including taxes, couldn\u2019t be too high.\u201d<\/p>\n

She ended up buying a home that fit all those parameters, but needed a lot of cosmetic fixes.<\/p>\n

Bryan Rosenberg was willing to compromise on size when he was looking for a home in San Francisco<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cA location in the Sunset<\/a>\/Richmond<\/a> was a deal breaker for me,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

Still, for others, amenities can win out over location. <\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cNo closet space was a deal breaker for me,\u201d said Andrea Lee, who was shopping for condos in Minneapolis<\/a> in 2008. \u201cI also eliminated anything without underground parking because it\u2019s freezing for eight months of the year and I didn\u2019t want to deal with scraping snow off my car.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

How do you negotiate the sale of the home?<\/h2>\n

\"15<\/p>\n

Source: Flickr user Aidan Jones<\/div>\n

Most first-time owners said that the most important thing during the negotiation process was knowing when to walk away. <\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cJust because you put in an offer doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re about to buy a home,\u201d advised Bryan, who was looking to buy during a time when multiple, over-asking-price offers were the norm.<\/p>\n

Lydia Choy was also looking for a condo with her then-boyfriend in San Francisco during the height of the market in 2006.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe only put an offer on one other place, which gave aggressive counter-offers that we turned down,\u201d she recalled. \u201cWe learned that patience and not being pressured by external factors were key.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, other times, not sweating the small stuff<\/b> made the deal go through.<\/p>\n

\u201cKnow when something is worth losing the house over and when it\u2019s not,\u201d said Judy. \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

How important is finding the right agent?<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In a word: very. <\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cMy agent was awesome,\u201d said Bryan. \u201cI had no idea what I was doing and he walked me through it all at every step in the process, always honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n

A not-so-great agent can also have its effects. \u201cI had a sleazy real-estate agent who I don\u2019t think did very much for me,\u201d said Diana. \u201cHe 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\u2019t do much to help find the place and he didn\u2019t do much during the negotiation.\u201d<\/p>\n

A little research <\/b>can help you figure out the difference between a life-saving agent and one who does little beyond collect a commission.<\/p>\n

\u201cReach out to friends for realtor referrals,\u201d advised Andrea. \u201cA coworker recommended one to me and it made me more confident that he would do a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can also search for real estate agents<\/a>, who are all highly recommended experts in their local markets.<\/p>\n

Looking back, are there any regrets about buying your first home?<\/h2>\n

\"15<\/p>\n

Source: Flickr user Funk Dooby<\/div>\n

Most buyers felt there were things they would change about their first purchases, but nothing major. <\/b><\/p>\n

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\u2019s car.<\/p>\n

Noise-sensitive Karen wishes she had paid more attention to the school next door to her building. \u201cAfter 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.\u201d She is currently looking into sound-dampening windows to remedy the problem.<\/p>\n

But for Lydia and Bryan, who both bought at the height of what ended up being an unsustainable market, the regrets are bigger.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

They both offered this bit of learned-it-the-hard-way wisdom: don\u2019t assume the market has nowhere to go but up.<\/b><\/p>\n

According to Lydia, the best piece of lived-it, learned-it home buyer advice is also the simplest: \u201cBuy a place that you will enjoy living in that also has a sustainable mortgage.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 \u201chindsight being 20-20\u201d regrets. How long does it take to find your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[167],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basics","post--single"],"yoast_head":"\n15 Expert Answers to Your Burning Buying Questions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Now you know.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.movoto.com\/blog\/expert-answers-homebuying-questions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"15 Expert Answers to Your Burning Buying Questions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Now you 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