Last Updated on November 21, 2023 by growinghome.la
Dreaming of buying a home? I share the unexpected life event that shifted my journey to homeownership, along with five critical lessons and first time homebuyer tips I learned from our home search.
First Time Home Buyer Tip #1: Stay Positive
“Does this mean we have to cancel our wedding?” It was March 13, 2020. After 13 months of planning, complete with guest list discussions, food tastings, dress shopping, and deposits to vendors, the world as we knew it ended. A few days later, we made the call. We sent an emotional email to our guests that we were postponing our 150-person wedding in downtown Los Angeles until further notice.
Buying a new home has a lot to do with being in the right mindset
We had been saving up for a house for over two years and budgeted carefully for our wedding, so we’d have extra money to spend on our first home purchase. Postponing enabled us to rethink how we wanted to spend the wedding funds and opened up new possibilities.
Things won’t always go the way you planned, but buying a new home has a lot to do with being in the right mindset.
First Time Home Buyer Tip #2: Find the Right Agent
By that time, we had been house-hunting for months. We filled every weeknight with endless Zillow searches and our weekends with open houses. We had already fired one real estate agent after he showed up two hours late to our appointment. Luckily, our second agent was young, ambitious, and dedicated to helping us find our first home.
This first time homebuyer tip centers around your real estate agent. If you’re not connecting with your agent or they’re not responsive, don’t be afraid to move on.
Buying a home is a big financial decision that shouldn’t be made emotionally.
First Time Home Buyer Tip #3: Don’t Get Too Attached
After what was approaching our 50th house tour, we finally put in our first offer. That house was perfect. In a nice neighborhood, it was newly renovated and exactly my design style. It had gorgeous landscaping and even a yoga room in the backyard. Who could have asked for more? It would have been the perfect place to quarantine. The only problem was, it was at the top of our price range and multiple buyers were fighting over it. In fact, we pulled out after the counteroffer because the price had gone above what the house was worth. We felt defeated. When would we find our home?
It’s easy to fall in love with a house. You can feel so attached to the idea of living there that you overlook red flags or compromise your budget. This is another key first time homebuyer tip. Buying a home is a big financial decision that shouldn’t be made emotionally.
First Time Home Buyer Tip #4: Look For A Diamond In The Rough
About a month later, a listing popped up on Zillow that looked interesting. In the same nice area as the first house, this one was dated, but had a big yard and a lot of potential. Best of all, the estimated mortgage was only a couple hundred dollars more than our rent. Definitely one to look into. The house tour was quick, but we could tell the neighborhood was really well-kept and people cared for their homes.
Think about the long term-potential for a home. Another key first time homebuyer tip is – The only thing you can’t change about a home is the location.
First Time Home Buyer Tip #5: Get Creative!
A few days later, after picking up our marriage license in the parking lot of the Honda Center in Anaheim, we decided to get married in the backyard of my mom’s Airbnb in Santa Monica. Instead of 150 wedding guests, we had eight guests including the judge. On April 25, 2020, just 6 weeks after postponing our planned wedding, we had a beautiful ceremony and became Zoom wedding trendsetters. We also put an offer in on what would become our new home.
The only thing you can’t change is the location.
After closing a month later and over the course of the next 10 months, we completely transformed our home. Major projects included:
- Creating a new floor plan
- Gutting the front part of the house
- Remodeling the kitchen and existing bathrooms
- Building a 432 square foot addition
On the inside of our home, we transformed our 1,084 square foot 2 bed, 2 bath house into a 3 bed, 3 bath 1,500 square foot, beautifully designed and updated home.
Outside, we tore down the backyard fence and shed, pulled out hundreds of weeds, tilled 2,000 square feet of soil and built three raised vegetable garden beds. That summer, we grew enough cucumbers and tomatoes to feed ourselves, our friends and our new neighbors!
Taking on a renovation is a big project. But if you can see the potential in a home and believe that you can transform it, your home will give you gifts you never imagined.
4 Comments on First Time Home Buyer Tips