Imagine this: It’s another beautiful day on the golf course. A golfer steps up to the tee, sets down the ball, readies himself to swing, and in a frustrating chain of events the club whizzes by the ball without any movement or contact at all.
Argh! This is known as a “whiff”.
A whiff in Golf is when you swing and completely miss. This is obviously frustrating and puzzling!
Like wanting to connect the club to the ball during a swing, a homebuyer always has an idea of what he or she is looking for during the process but often fails to think about a few items that can result in the biggest whiff of all, buyers remorse.
Here are a few common things to start thinking about before you begin the home buying process.
Picking the wrong area
Location, location, location.
This is the Golden Rule of real estate as most people know. Location can change everything about a home exclusive of attributes, commute times, or price.
In this instance, location when buying a home is all about what realistically fits into your life. For example, maybe over the weekend you drove by a beautiful open house on a golf course and you want to make an offer but the home is 90 minutes away from your job’s location and you hate long commutes!
Realistically, this would easily be considered a Whiff in golf terms as it is the wrong location for you no matter how perfect the house is.
Not establishing a wish list
Some buyers, when looking for a new home, have a wish list that is a mile long, while some buyers step blindly into the market with no wish list at all and they make things up as they go.
Neither scenario is ideal.
A wish list should contain a set of criteria that contains the needs and wants any home absolutely has-to-have and a different list of the nice-to-haves.
The process to buy a home – your basecamp for life – is one of elimination, not selections.
Your agent can use the list(s) to narrow down homes to show you. At a minimum, a wish list should have a price range and home type that you are looking for in order to start narrowing down the search and save time in your search.
If you are considering buying a home in the coming year, now would be a good time to review my Envision the Lifestyle You Want Guide.
Overlooking large details
A complete miss in real estate and a whiffed ball in golf would be overlooking large details of the home buying process.
For example, as in point number one above, a large detail that shouldn’t be overlooked is the location. Besides how this might translate to a work commute, also consider nearness to major roads.
Other examples are the nearness to favorite recreation, schools, shopping, and entertainment.
Large details shouldn’t be overlooked nor should you try to make yourself comfortable with things you know could be regretted later.
Overreacting to small details
Large details are bad enough, but even the small details can derail a home purchase and they don’t have to.
Small details are easily fixable features like wall color, appliances or window treatments. Sure, you may not want to paint the living room upon moving into a new home but in the scheme of things, if everything else about the house is perfect, then this may be a detail in which not to overreact.
The same goes for appliances or window treatments. These are features that are easy to fix and should not really alter your view of the home. Your agent can help you with your imagination, just ask!
When you’re ready to begin your home search, contact me at (720) 323-4176, I’d love the chance to help you caddy your home search! Alternatively, you can search for homes right here on my website free of charge and without registering. Click here to start an online home search.
This post is part of an ongoing series where we talk about my two favorite things: golf and real estate! Stay tuned for more golf-themed posts as we go through the ABC’s of real estate and provide helpful tips for home buyers and sellers alike.
