Yes. You hire a professional to assist you during the home buying process, but for those of you who know me know that I like to say, "teamwork makes the dream work." Cheesy? Yeah! But I am an athlete and sometimes you need a little "rah rah" attitude. So now that you know home buying is a team effort (you and your agent working together to achieve a common goal), here are three things that you may want to avoid in order to be a good teammate!
1. Believing that you need to win absolutely everything and the other side needs to lose. Going into negotiations not giving a care in the world about the seller can make you lose before you even begin. A negotiation typically means that you give a little and take a little, and it doesn't always have to be about price. It can be about possession date, deposits, conditions and terms. If you want every item listed in favour of yourself, be prepared for the seller to push back. And don't get upset thinking the seller is the bad guy for trying to get some items of the deal to align with their wants. Lets go for a win-win here.
2. Saving a dollar on one of the biggest investments of your life. For example, the "I don't need a home inspection because my uncles, friends cousin does it on the side." isn't always the best idea. This is a cost that may reach up to $600 depending on the home but if you're buying a $400,000 house and you shy away from paying a full time professional $600 to ensure that your house isn't falling apart, maybe you should rethink home ownership. At the end of the day whether it is a lawyer, a home inspector or a foundation engineer, the professional is there for your benefit. It happens every so often that "Joe Blow" part time home inspections misses something large, and your agent is left dealing with the issues the night of condition removal. Go with those who know.
3. Thinking you have the right to re-negotiate the deal over day to day details of home ownership. Let's chat home inspections for a moment! When you do make the decision to get a professional home inspection, it is for your benefit to find out the condition of the home. Items that you may not normally see when you are simply walking through a showing. The home inspector will point out major issues such as water leaks, foundation issues, roof issues and attic condition etc. They will also point out worn down caulking or a missing cover plate on an electrical socket. Two very different levels of "maintenance". If you receive a report with no major issues and a short list of maintenance issues like the later listed above and you decide that you'd like $5000 more off of the purchase price, be prepared to back up your numbers. At this point, the seller believes that they have negotiated the deal. This isn't a time to renegotiate because surprise, a house needs maintenance. If however, you find the home has major issues such as foundation or water damage there are ways of going about this. Leaving your agent to go to battle for you over an additional $5000 off because of some old caulking is not being a good teammate.
There you have it! Three things to avoid doing during purchasing a home that causes you unnecessary stress! Obsessing over winning and losing, saving a buck at the wrong time, and feeling entitled to negotiate over basic maintenance items of home ownership. Annnnnd break!