Buying your first home is an exciting step in life. However, it’s also one that needs to be taken with great care. You can’t just leap in blindly and hope to end up with a good deal. There are many setbacks and pitfalls along the way that you need to watch out for. The following are a few tips that will help things go smoothly as you close on your first property.

Finalize Your Loan

In a competitive housing market, it can be difficult to beat out other home buyers. Home sellers aren’t interested in waiting around for you to figure out your loan if they can immediately accept an offer from someone else that has their financials all put together. So, before you start to close the deal, you need to make sure that you have your loan finalized so that the process can go quickly and smoothly. You don’t want to deal with the headache of closing on your home and then having the mortgage loan denied at closing, so make sure that you communicate clearly and honestly with your lender.

Get a Thorough Safety Inspection

Just like you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, you shouldn’t judge a house by its fresh coat of paint. Homes require maintenance. If the home isn’t properly maintained, it can develop issues that can lead to safety concerns. For example, flickering lights can be a warning sign of electrical issues. That is not something that you want in your new home as it can be very costly to repair. Having a thorough safety inspection of the home can help make sure that you avoid these kinds of issues. If the inspection discovers problems with the home, you can choose to walk away from it, or you can negotiate with the owner about fixing the problem before selling the home.

Double-Check the Title

This may be surprising, but sometimes the person trying to sell a home, doesn’t actually own the home. They could be a scam artist, a partial owner, or the child of the deceased owner that hasn’t completed the legal process for transferring the title into their name. By having a title expert inspect the title of the home, you can have the rightful legal owner of the home verified for you. You can also find out if there are other issues with claims or liens on the home. The small fee to double-check the title is well worth the problems you avoid if there is an issue.

If closing on your first home is starting to sound overwhelming, don’t worry. Your real estate agent will be well aware of these issues. They can help advise you on what you should get done so that you don’t have to worry about anything. Just stay calm, do your homework, and you’ll soon be enjoying your dream home.

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