The home-buying process is exciting, exhilarating, extremely tiring and probably one of the most overwhelming tasks you’ve ever attempted. There could be hundreds of little things (and some big ones) that can go wrong and put your emotions in a tailspin.
The searching part is mostly fun and you’re getting to see what’s available in your price range and envision the home after you put your personal touches on it. Then, comes the journey to closing. That’s when anything and everything can happen.
You may be fortunate enough to avoid most of these trying possibilities, but you should know something about the top things that can go wrong. For example, you discover that the loan you cosigned for your cousin last year is in arrears and the payment has never been made on time. Or, the listing indicated that property taxes on the home were only $1,500 per year, but it’s been reassessed and now they’re $2,500 per year. Sometimes an appraisal doesn’t turn out to be all you hoped for and the lender balks at it being so much lower than the seller is asking for.
It’s pouring down rain during the final walk-through and you feel it dripping on your head from the ceiling in the bedroom. You might be suffering from buyer’s remorse and are thinking of calling the whole thing off. Even worse – the seller may be having seller’s remorse and thinking of calling the whole thing off. Or, what if the money you were going to use for a down payment on the home never materializes – such as a gift of money from your aunt and uncle.
You may have forgotten a critical piece of information about your financial history – such as having filed for bankruptcy six years ago. You’re in trouble with the lender if you haven’t filed income tax returns for the past year or more.
Your spouse or significant other decides he or she doesn’t really like the home you’ve chosen and wants to continue looking around for another. To top off everything, you find out the seller hasn’t paid his property taxes in a few years.
You didn’t qualify for the amount of loan it would take to buy your dream home and the amount you did qualify for is a joke. All of the above and so much more could go wrong between the mortgage application, the approval of the loan and the closing date.
But chances are most of these dire possibilities will never happen to you. If they do, keep in mind that all of the problems can usually be worked out – perhaps not in your preferred time – but eventually.
Hopefully, it will be worth the stress, headaches and heartaches when you finally do sign on the dotted line, turn the key in the door of your new home and begin to think about all the possibilities you can make come true.