Whether you are a first-time home buyer or not, you can't help but get excited about buying a home. Whenever we show our Buyers property, I am looking for that honest infatuation that tells me the Buyer(s) have fallen in love with a property, they're not being totally logical, which really increases my job satisfaction! But, (and you knew there was going to be a but), mistake number two for first-time home buyers is they do not consider their resale before they buy. Statistically speaking, a first-timer is only going to be in that first home for four years. Now you are in the position of wanting to sell your home for the most money in the shortest period of time possible. And even though you may have brushed aside some negatives in your home purchase in the midst of all of your enthusiasm, there could be some real difficulty convincing another buyer to do the same thing.
Some factors to consider for your resale while you are home shopping are, first of all, the....location! You knew that. And we can help you with making a location decision. Before you make an offer to purchase, we always show you the comps in the area, the trends, and we add in our combined 50 years of experience in Gwinnett to protect your investment. There may be planned developments or other changes that might affect future value.
The condition of the home can be huge. You overlook a lot, thinking that over time you will fix this or that, re-do the yard, paint, carpet, roof, appliances, caulking, wood repair, etc. And if you do improve the home, you will also improve the value. But what we've seen happen many times is life happened, you got too busy, and now, when you want to sell, you will either be totally stressed trying to do four years' worth of work in a few weeks, or you will spend a lot of money trying to get the house ready to sell, or you will try to sell it in its still-unimproved condition. So be realistic with your time and money.
You may also need to consider the school district, proximity to shopping and highways, medical facilities; HOA fees, etc. Lonnie and I always inform our Buyer about our opinior regarding resale. Again, life happens. You may need to sell a lot sooner that you had planned.