Searching for your dream home can be one of the most exciting experiences life has to offer. Deciding what you want, what you need, where you might be putting your children in school are all a big part of the process. From analyzing commutes to neighbourhood crime maps, it’s truly endless how deep you can dig. You meticulously pick through a seemingly endless supply of homes and locations. Tour the homes, critique different lifestyles, making sure you are just far enough away from certain family members all while getting ready to lock in a new life for yourself.

If you do everything right, the process can be so easy that there has to be something more to it. Some buyers and sellers are literally meant to find each other, and once an agreement has been made, they work tirelessly to keep the experience positive. But sometimes, one of the parties involved can seriously F*ck things up, and it’s very avoidable.

Here is the Beech Woolger Teams compilation of 5 Ways a Buyer can Sabotage Things Big Time:

• GREED: Demanding Exorbitant Remunerations or Repairs at Inspection time because you aren’t a good person: Inspection time is a crucial piece to the real estate transaction. It is a time to analyze the property with the help of professionals. You are looking for deficiencies that were otherwise not known to you when you wrote the offer on the home. During the initial showing, you and your agent should be able to decipher, as you walk around, the condition of the driveway, windows, roof, furnace, and hot water tank. Inspecting a property that has an old furnace, never advertised that it was anything but an old furnace, does not entitle the buyer to get a new furnace just because it was found in the inspection. Buyers must remain realistic, and only ask for reparations for real hidden issues or items that were previously undetectable and would be costly for the buyer to repair.

 

• LIES AND DECEPTION: Not being Truthful and Honest with your Real Estate Agent or Mortgage Specialist leads to pain and suffering: The Real Estate Agent and your Mortgage Representative are usually paid via commission, and only receive remuneration if the deal goes successfully. Stating your full income, debt ratios, and down payment origins are a key ingredient to financing a home. Having a surprise car payment, child support payment, or a secret visa or vacation property will inevitably end up haunting you in the end when the financial vetting exposes the truth. Telling your Real Estate Agent that you are pre-approved for higher values than you can afford, will end up killing a deal on the house of your dreams down the road. It is recommended that you be truthful and honest in your Real Estate dealings, in order to have the best outcomes for you and everyone involved.

 

• IGNORANCE: Failing to accept the comparable value of a home, and defaulting to what your parents or your cousin Trent thinks its worth, because they bought one in 1976 and their dead uncle still holds a Real Estate license but is not practicing: As the buying process begins, the buyer views many homes. Often they tour 10-40 homes before they make a decision. You view so many homes that you know the value of the home more than the seller does once you find the one. Now you find the one. It’s your dream home. Perfect house, perfect neighbourhood. It’s time to do a second showing with your parents who bought in 1976 for 80k, and your cousin Trent, who has construction experience and a dead uncle who used to be an agent. Trent thinks the house has too many problems, but has never owned a house himself, he’s waiting until the market goes down. It should be soon, he says. Your parents think that prices these days are just crazy and wouldn’t pay more than 100k under list price. Once this happens, the buyer writes a lowball offer, the seller’s counter with an above list price counter offer and just like that the deal is dead. On to the next one AND the next one is never as good as the first one FYI.

 

• COMPULSIVE HABITS: Making large purchases while getting your finances approved: Financial approval for a mortgage is mainly based on your income, and your debt ratios. Most banks need your debt ratios below 40-44%. What that means, is that your total monthly payments (car payments, visa payments, student loans) must be less than 40% of your monthly income. Buying a $100,000 Party Pontoon boat, is frankly a good idea, but it really should wait until after you take possession of your new home or else you could be putting yourself in jeopardy. After that you can drive that Margherita Pirate Party Barge around all summer knowing you have a new home to return to. 

 

• COMPLACENCY: This is just another term for “Sleeping On It”: We generally think that “Sleeping on it” is a good idea. But in a hot market, sleeping on it usually has you playing second fiddle to the one who never sleeps. If a Real Estate purchase goes into multiple offers, you have to act willingly, and quickly, often without spending more that 15 minutes in the home. Sometimes paying many thousands over list price without much time to think about it. It is best to take your time educating yourself on the current market. View homes, and when the property comes up that everyone is competing for, you are ready to make a strong quick offer to steal it away, before the competition has a chance. You can have a snooze in your new air conditioned home with a water bed once things are all settled down. 

We trust that the Buyers Edition of 5 Ways to F*ck Up a Real Estate Transaction has been helpful. If you are looking for a Team of Agents who know how to best avoid these situations, please do not hesitate to reach out to The Beech Woolger Team. You can look forward to the Sellers Edition being released shortly. 

Cheers,
The Beech Woolger Team