Whether you go for the max or keep your mortgage payments comfortably low, you want to avoid costly mistakes that many home buyers make at this stage, as well as putting the sharpest focus on what to look for in your search. Here are some helpful hints you can use as you start putting together a home search strategy.
In less desirable locations, homes are cheaper and appear on the surface to be hot deals that are almost too good to pass up. Sometimes these ‘‘super deals’’ are in areas of older and smaller homes, which can have higher upkeep costs and bigger energy bills while you own them and that can offer a lower return when you sell.
Here are some tips on how to spot these situations and avoid getting taken:
- Avoid homes on busy streets, in high traffic areas, or where proposed changes may increase traffic flow. Check with city and county planning agencies for proposed changes that can negatively impact values, such as the rerouting of a freeway on or off ramp, making a zoning change from single-family to multi-family dwellings, or adding an airport runway that puts the home in the landing pattern.
- Inquire about the reputation of the area. Talk to neighbors and ask them what they like and don’t like about living there.
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