5 things I wish I’d known as a first time home buyer

And Why you should hire a REALTOR®

Our first home buying process was a whirlwind – that’s for sure!  We got super lucky in finding our perfect house. In fact, I think we only ever looked at two homes, including the one we bought.  Still, though, now having my real estate license, I look back at that whirlwind process and think about how much more prepared we could’ve been.  Here’s what I’d change about our home buying process if we could go back in time:

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1. General Home Inspection

My husband has been in the construction industry for years and because he’s so knowledgable about how homes are put together, he didn’t feel the need to hire a home inspector. He looked over our now-home himself and knew what he was looking at and I trusted him. Still do, but here’s the thing(s):
Once we moved in and started doing “a little remodeling,” we found more than a few things “behind the curtain” that needed to be changed ASAP, one being the electrical. All the wiring was old and apparently hadn’t even been installed correctly, (like a fire-could-start-at-any-second, type situation). Not good. And while Pete enjoys fixing all that stuff himself (And I think is actually excited to have so much to work on in our house), had it come up in the inspection report, we could’ve either 1. asked that the seller get it all fixed or 2. negotiated the price down significantly.
General Home Inspectors also look at the appliances that stay with the house. So if one of them isn’t working correctly, you’ll know before offering a purchase price. (Would’ve been cool to get our oven, dishwasher, and refrigerator looked over, ya know, because they all needed either repaired or replaced within our first year of homeownership…yep) With a General Home Inspection, you’ll go into the situation prepared and you’ll be able to prioritize what should be fixed first, what can wait, and what the seller should fix before you move in. The last thing you want is a list of unexpected expenses your first year of homeownership. I’ve been there, I’ve done that. Not cool.

2. The Negotiation

(Or lack thereof) Pete and I were not so savvy on negotiations at this point.  Mainly because we’d never bought a house and weren’t represented by a REALTOR®.  We really had no guidance.  We met with the sellers once to specifically talk about price and we ended up paying asking price for the house! Don’t get me wrong – this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  But just the fact that we didn’t even try to get the price down just makes me want to go back in time and grab myself by the shoulders and tell myself exactly what to say and do in terms of negotiation. Ya’ll, it makes me wince to even think about this. So disappointing. If only we’d known what we could’ve done to get the price down. 

3. Ask about the age of the big things

Furnace, a/c, water heater, doors, windows, insulation, roof.  Most of these things ended up having some age when we bought our house.  The sellers told us about a few tings, but the other things I didn’t even know to ask about.
Basically, now we’re looking at getting a new heating and cooling system. Our water heater is leaking, the windows are newer, but they will need replaced fairly soon, exterior doors need replaced, we had all our insulation removed and are starting to install new. THANKFULLY our roof is in great condition!! Woohoo!!

4. Pump the septic tank

This doesn’t apply to properties with city sewer, but being out in the country, you need to have your septic tank pumped out every few years, depending on how many people you have living in the house.  We bought our house in July and on Christmas Eve our septic tank got so full we couldn’t even flush the toilet.  When Pete did some investigating, he said it was so backed up it was almost coming up through the shower drain! But no one was available to come pump it at first because holidays.  So Pete was out there in his Christmas suit stirring up the septic tank.  It did make for a pretty entertaining instagram post. But had we known, we would’ve asked the to have it pumped before moving out.

5. I Should’ve hired a REALTOR ®

I don’t say this just because I’m a Real Estate Agent. Honestly, I look back at this time, and we really had no idea what we were doing or what we were getting ourselves into. Luckily everything turned out alright and we’re loving our home. And doing it the way we did has given us some pretty hilarious memories. But omg I just want to cringe at the thought of how little I knew what I was doing back then. A good Realtor will work with you and advocate for you and be on your side. If you want to know what’s going on, hire a REALTOR®.

And if you want a REALTOR® who’s been in a similar situation, message me! #shamelessplug. But seriously, I’ve been there and so I have a good idea of what you might be feeling. And I’m here to make sure all of these things don’t happen to you. Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you! 🙂