First-Time Home Buyer Advice?

[Kaylee Walterbach]

Yet another chance to be featured in the next issue of BiggerPockets Wealth Magazine!

Investors and homeowners, let us know: What do you wish you would have known when you bought your first property?

By responding here, you're allowing us to print your name and response, if chosen, in the next issue of the magazine. We're excited to hear what you have to say!

[Matthew Haraminac]

My wife and I purchased our first house as a live-in fix and flip. It’s been nearly a decade since we sold the property. There are several things that I wish I had known then that I know now.

1) If there are other people involved, make sure that you both (all) understand what each other’s expectations look like. This is true regardless of if it is a business relationship or a romantic one. I have both first-hand and second-hand knowledge of the stresses that inviting additional responsibility from real estate investing brings to a marriage. Don’t discount the sacrifices you may need to make and make sure your relationship is strong before agreeing to take on projects that will vie for your time. Thankfully, in my situation, we were able to persevere and our relationship is stronger because of it. This isn’t always the case.

2) Network with and interview inspectors before choosing a real estate broker. Once you find an inspector you trust ask them for some referrals for a real estate broker. I’m both a broker and an inspector. I can tell you that the inspectors know what agents take their clients seriously and which ones are interfering at the inspection with their comments from the peanut gallery.

3) Interview several agents. Don’t work with someone just because they are pretty, handsome, popular, a friend, a friend of a friend, your cousin, projecting an image of success, blowing up your neighborhood with ads, etc.

When interviewing agents keep in mind that your agent is there to advise you on arguably one of the most important financial decisions you will ever make, their competency matters. Your mutual respect for each other matters. Your personalities should be compatible.

Find an agent who is financially stable. You don’t want their ability to pay their bills hinging only on your transaction. They should be able to advise you without the stress of their personal finances being in the back of their mind. With that being said, don’t confuse the image of wealth with actual wealth. The gal driving the 15-year-old paid off Nissan may have more wealth than the guy in the new Audi with wearing expensive clothes.

Find an agent who is knowledgeable in houses, many agents aren’t. Your agent should be able to help you weed out good and bad properties before you spend several hundred dollars on an inspection.

4) Really take a good look at the neighborhood before you commit to owning part of it. There are a ton of resources available to gain extensive knowledge of an area. My first property was in NW Denver at a time when it was “up and coming”. I’m a nice guy, but the neighbors didn’t care; they didn’t want me there. It was an eye-opening, and often uncomfortable, experience living somewhere where I wasn’t wanted. In the eyes of my neighbors, I was destroying the neighborhood. In my eyes, I was making the neighborhood better. Understand that not everyone views gentrification the same way and people who have been living in a neighborhood for generations may not be welcoming of you and your attempts to make the area something it currently isn’t.

5) Have fun. Money isn’t everything and you only live once. Make sure that you are taking time for yourself and those who are important to you. I stressed myself out way too much when we were flipping our house. Looking back I wish I'd relaxed a bit more.