Home Buying Misconceptions

It’s an exciting time right? You’re buying a home in Greater Vancouver so you hire a Realtor, get a mortgage and it all just falls in to place.

Yeah right!

Here are some common misconceptions about buying a house.

The Down Payment

You’ve probably heard from someone that you’ll need a minimum of a 20% down payment and anything up to 50% as well as a perfect credit history to even think about buying your own home.
The good news is that this is an out-dated notion and home ownership is far more accessible these days.

Real Estate Agents

Are you considering selling your home yourself to save money? Hiring a professional realtor is the smart way to go about selling your house in Vancouver; this isn’t something you should look to make a short-sighted saving on. You need to trust your realtor to get you the best deal. Read more about private real estate sales.

Renting is Cheaper

Rental properties have shot up in recent times; in fact there isn’t really much difference between the monthly costs of renting and a mortgage. While the upfront costs of buying are undoubtedly higher, once you get past the five-year mark, the costs of buying start to reduce dramatically. As you pay off more equity, your monthly mortgage payments can reduce.

Buy a “Project”

Many people will tell you that you can get a great deal on properties that require significant building works or modernisation. The view isn’t helped by the endless stream of refurbishment and renovation programs on television where it all looks so easy and money seems to grow on trees.

But the reality of tearing down walls, installing new kitchens, repairing leaking roofs and dealing with unreliable contractors soon wears thin and drains your funds rapidly.

And when you lose patience or worse run out of cash what are you left with? A half-finished house which is neither liveable nor saleable. Not ideal.

Home Inspections and New Homes

Just because a home is new doesn’t mean that there aren’t some nasty surprises lurking where only a trained eye would spot them. Builders make mistakes, cut corners and rush jobs at times so it really is a false economy to skip the inspection.

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For more helpful real estate advice, call Paul Eviston (604.737.8865), your local REMAX Vancouver Real Estate Agent and his friendly team of real estate experts! Paul and his team specialize in Downtown Vancouver, East Vancouver and Westside Vancouver real estate for over 30 years.