Have you just bought your very first home? Firstly, congratulations! It’s always exciting starting afresh in another property, especially when you’re the proud homeowner.
Whether you’re transferring to your new home on your own, with a partner, or with a large family, there are lots of things to organize. As exhilarating as it can be to buy a new property, it can be just as difficult and stressful.
You need to find a new place that suits your needs and wants. Once you’ve found your dream property, you need to place your offer and hope that nobody beats you to it!
Even when you’ve successfully won a bidding war on a new property, your work isn’t over! You need to pack up your belongings and find the best movers in Greeley. For those of your getting a mortgage, this adds another layer of complexity to the whole process.
Tips for First-Time Home Buyers
There are a lot of intricacies to the property-buying process that you might not have thought about before. Luckily, you’re being proactive about it! By reading this article, you’ve already begun your research on how to make your home-buying process easier!
Here are some top tips for those of you who are heading out of home into your own place for the first time.
- Get a mortgage pre-approval
For those of you who are applying for a mortgage as a first-time buyer, it’s always a good idea to get pre-approval. You can apply for a mortgage pre-approval a few months before you purchase your first property.
Ideally, you should have your mortgage pre-approved before you start searching for any new properties on the market, making any offers, or signing any legal contracts.
A mortgage pre-approval places you in the best position possible when it comes to placing offers on houses. If you end up in a bidding war with other potential buyers, the seller of the property you’re bidding on is more likely to accept your offer if your mortgage has already been approved.
There is less financial risk, and things are often more straightforward when you’ve got a mortgage pre-approval under your belt. Speak to your bank or a lender to determine whether you can get a pre-approved mortgage and to identify how much you can borrow.
- Find a great removal business
To transfer your belongings from your existing house to your new one, you’ll need a moving company in Greeley. Research online to find the cheapest quotes from local removal companies.
Remember that the more you own, the more expensive it will be to move. Some of the moving services in Greeley charge per box, while others charge per hour. With a longer distance between your current home and destination property, you should expect to pay a little more too.
- Inspect the condition of your new property
When you're heading to a new place, it's important to take a walk around every room. Take note of any damages or imperfections. Ideally, you should do this before you start unpacking and filling up the space with your belongings.
Take pictures of each room, so you have solid evidence of major or minor issues. Get qualified professionals to check the electrical wiring, plumbing system, and water supply too. If any damages or broken structural components of the property haven’t been brought to your attention beforehand when you agreed to buy it, you must raise this issue with the current homeowner and your solicitor.
You should receive a full report of the property's condition. This will be performed by a qualified house inspector, who will check every aspect of your future home before you sign the contract and move in.
If they notice any serious problems that could put your health and safety at risk when you move in, it's the current homeowner's responsibility to fix these issues before you can continue with the process.
Should you spot damages that weren't detailed in the report and the current homeowner doesn't want to fix them, you may be able to renegotiate the contract and lower your buying price.
- Change the locks
You should always change the locks when you transition to a new property. This should be something that you do within the first few days of entering your new home because you never know who the previous owner gave their spare keys to and who has access to the property.
Even if you don’t think the previous homeowner gave keys to other people that they know, it's best to change your locks as a precautionary measure. It's better to be safe than sorry! Don’t wait until somebody manages to break into your property to do something about your locks.
Change every lock in your house, including the front door, back door, patio doors, windows, and garage door. You can ask a locksmith to cut several keys at once if you want each of your family members to have their own set of keys to the property.
- Install a security system on the property
Even if you're new property already has a security system, it's worth replacing it so that you can start afresh in your new home. Security systems come in all shapes and designs, and you can add or adjust different features according to your needs.
Home security systems maximize safety in and around your home, and they're relatively affordable. Try and sort this out as soon as possible to ensure your property is safe and secure from the day you become the owner.
Consider getting a security package that includes the following:
- A smart doorbell that has a video and speaker so you can see who's at your door at all times
- CCTV so you can see the activity around all areas of your property
- Outdoor lighting that will turn on if someone is lurking outside