Things That Could Go Wrong When Buying a House [VIDEO]

Question: What can go wrong when buying a house? Answered by Libby Guthrie

Video Transcript

Hi, I’m Libby Guthrie with Keller Williams Realty in Northern California. Today I’m going to talk about what can go wrong when you’re buying a home and how to avoid those problems. At the end of this video, please be sure to request our free report, “How to Avoid Costly Mistakes When Buying a Home“. We’ll be happy to send that to you.

So here you are on a Friday afternoon. You’re so excited because you’re going to be closing escrow on your new home, and you’ve got the moving van all set up. You’ve got the cable company coming over, you’ve got the utilities in your name, everything’s lined up to go, but then the title company gets a hold of you and your realtor and says, hey, there is a lender condition that needs to be satisfied before we can close escrow.

Oh my gosh. It can be very, very stressful. So here are a few things to think about to avoid stress like this.

Number 1

Number one. Make sure you have a competent local realtor that knows the area that can represent you properly.

Number 2

Number two is having an experienced competent lender representing you that has been in the business for a while and understand the different loan programs and make sure that they’re looking out for you regarding which loan program is best for you.

Number 3

Number three is understanding your sales contract between you and the seller.

A lot of times people will just sign the contract online electronically and never read the contracts so they don’t know what the time frames are. They don’t know what the conditions are. They don’t know what’s staying in the property. For example, is the washer and dryer going to stay? Is the refrigerator going to stay?

And then you move in and the washer and dryer’s gone and you go, well, wait a minute. I thought that was staying. It’s not in the contract and written in the contract agreed upon between the buyer and the seller. Then it’s not staying if it’s not in there. So make sure that you understand that contract and you read that contract and you go over it with your realtor.

Number 4

Number four is not getting the proper inspections. A lot of times buyers don’t want to pay for inspections, and so they’ll get a relative that may know something about contracting or has bought a home like 20 years ago or something, and they use that person to do their “home inspection”.

You need a competent person that is professional, that has done this for a while, and will give you a written report so that you can present any concerns you have to the sellers in writing, and you have a report that backs you up. So you would make sure you have any kind of home inspection you want to have done, such as a regular home inspection, a roof inspection, a fireplace inspection, things like that. So make sure you get those inspections done by professionals.

Number 5

The fifth thing is making sure that you read and understand any seller disclosures or reports that are provided to you in the state of California. The sellers, in most cases, are required to provide to you certain disclosures.

So please be sure that you’re reading those and you bring up any questions you have at that time.

Number 6

The sixth thing is buying on credit prior to close of escrow and not understanding that that could derail your purchase of your home. Because you went out and bought a bunch of furniture for your new home on credit, or you bought a brand new car to put in the driveway of your new home on credit prior to close of escrow, and that all of a sudden now has affected your debt to income ratio as far as your lender is concerned, so please be sure to consult with your lender prior to going out and buying anything on credit before you close escrow.

Number 7

The last thing we see sometimes is people not preparing properly for their move. They have a fairly good size house that they’re leaving and they’re moving into a fairly good size house that they’re buying.

But they go out and they rent a truck, a moving truck that is the smallest truck because it’s the cheapest. Well, they end up having to make four or five different runs back and forth between the old place and the new place, and they end up moving in at midnight at their new place, and the new neighbors are already not too happy with you.

So make sure you get a bigger truck if you’re going to be renting a truck. Also makes sure that you label your boxes properly so you know exactly where they’re going to be put into what room. And then, uh, make sure that you keep the utilities on in your old place until you’re completely out of there because you think, well, I’ll just turn my utilities off.

But you go back over there after moving out of the property and you’re ready to clean up some and you have no water or no electricity. So make sure you are making sure that you have your utilities still on. And also that you turn your utilities on your new place. Don’t assume just because the day that you move in there that utilities are on that they’re going to be young forever.

No, you need to get a hold of the new water company, new utility company to make sure your gas and electricity is on and all the other utilities needed in that new place. Also, make sure you contact the post office and any other pertinent people regarding your new address so they know where to send your mail.

Conclusion

I hope this information has been helpful for you. If you need a competent real estate agent, even if you’re not in our area, please reach out to me at 925-628-2436 and I can hook you up with a great agent as I know agents all over the United States. Good luck with your purchase and don’t forget to request the free report “How to Avoid Costly Mistakes When Buying a Home“.

Thanks a lot.

End Transcript