This is a big mistake that I see a lot of people make when they go to start looking for a home. So I was talking with a realtor friend of mine the other day, and we were talking about how people act like they have money burning a hole in their pocket, they act like they have to go spend this money as quickly as possible.
Here's what I'm seeing. We'll get somebody pre-approved they will go start looking for a house and then they want to go put an offer in that week. And I get it. You might have some time constraints where you need to move out of your house or you need to stop renting something's happening, where you need to make the move quickly, which is perfectly fine. We get that.
But we're noticing where people big mistakes or have the potential to make big mistakes because they're acting like that money that they just got pre-approved for is just burning a hole in their pocket and they have to go spend it as quickly as possible.
So what's happening is you tie that mindset, we're creating this artificial urgency that doesn't have to be there when you're purchasing a home slowed down, make sure that you're making a good choice. You don't have to do it quickly. And I think this industry becomes fodder for people feeling like they have to make a decision as quickly as possible.
I see real estate agents and loan officers, and everybody in this industry saying, you better, you got to buy. Now, you got to buy this home quickly. You got to put an offer quick. In some cases, that can be true. You need to put an offer quickly sometimes to get the deal that you want. But it's causing these disconnects where people are making poor choices because they're not thinking about it, is this home something that actually makes sense for us, right?
This might be a decision that you're stuck with for the next 5, 10, 15, 20 plus years. That's going to cost you several thousand dollars over a period of time, and you don't want to shrink down that decision-making into just a couple of days or just a week. You need to make sure that you're having all of the numbers played out.
Do you know how much you're spending on a payment? Do you know how much your closing costs are? Do you know what repairs might look like on this property? Do you know what appreciation is gonna look like? Is this a place that you've traveled to several times? Have you tried your work commute from this house?
Have you visited the house? So when it's raining, when it's snowing, have you visited the house when it's dark, when there are events going on nearby? Are you really taking into consideration what's going on in this house?
I think that's the big takeaway is really slowing down. It can feel like it's urgent. It can feel like there's a lot going on, but in your best interest is to make sure that you consider everything that's going on in your decision to purchase a home. It doesn't have to be immediate just because they're pre-approved doesn't mean you have to put in an offer, and just because you find a house that you like doesn't mean that you have to put in an offer either.
You're allowed to slow down and to think about it and to rest on it and to see is this a decision that you want to make and how the potential to get locked into a contract with, there are always ways to get out of a contract, but make sure that you slow down. You're allowed to take a breath you're allowed to breathe.
You don't have to be forced and feel like you're being pushed into a decision to speak. Everybody else is saying that the market is super hot and you have to put an offer and you have to move now and you have to make these decisions very quickly because you don't, right? You can slow down, you can relax.
You can take time to consider all of your decisions and all of the opportunities that you have. And that's going to save you in the long run, a lot of stress and headache of managing. Did we move too quickly and make bad decisions. This or did the house have things that we didn't consider that affects this part of our life. Take it slow. Don't stress out too much, and don't believe all of the hype that everybody wants you to believe in this very urgency-driven industry.
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