When buying a home it is very well advised to do your research. Part of that is involving a Realtor. A good Realtor will help you avoid all of the possible mistakes that could easily be made by the first time and even repeat buyer.
Many buyers make the mistake of going to the bank and getting pre-approved right out the door and find out the amount that they are approved for and immediately start looking at that price range. Thankfully due to tighter restrictions on lending the amounts they offer to people have drop dramatically. However you may find that the amount you are approved for comes out to a much higher monthly payment than you have anticipated or wanted.
In my opinion the best way to approach a home purchase is to figure out how much you are wanting to spend a month. Once you have that number a loan officer can tell you around what price you will need to stay to accomplish this.
Another large mistake buyers make is not talking through their wants and needs with a professional. Remember we buy and sell homes every day for a living. A Realtor can be a wealth of knowledge and many time can bring things to light that you may have never thought of.
The general lack of understanding of credit also hinders the general public in their ability to get the best deals all the time. Working with a good Realtor and Lender will help you not make a very common and very sad mistake that some buyers make. When a buyer is prequalified for a loan and they show a certain amount of debt. Many buyers will think that since that have been prequalified they can go and buy that new living room suite or TV. Sure enough towards the end of many loans credit has to repulled and the new purchases show up knocking the client out of eligibility for the loan and putting them at risk of losing their earnest money.
Also a good loan officer can counsel you on some good pointers to keep you credit moving up and not down. All in All you can save yourself a lot of grief by calling up a Realtor and discussing your needs. In fact call me and a couple other Realtors and see which one seemed to have the most time for your questions and with which one you feel most comfortable and commit to working with them. It will make all the difference in your home buying experience
