Top 3 Home-Buying Mistakes Among First-Time Buyers

© 2009, Brandon Cornett. All rights reserved.

Summary: In this video lesson, you’ll learn how to avoid common home-buying mistakes made by first-time home buyers. Some of the mistakes discussed in this video can lead to foreclosure, so it’s worth your time to watch. This video runs about eight minutes in length.

Home-Buying Mistakes Covered in This Video

Here’s an overview of what you’ll find in this video lesson:

• Mistake #1 is letting a mortgage lender determine your budget and spending limits. You should avoid this altogether. The only thing a lender can tell you is how much they’re willing to lend you. You need to establish a home-buying budget for yourself, long before you start talking to lenders.
• Mistake #2 is starting the house-hunting process before you’ve been pre-approved for a mortgage loan. This can waste your time, as well as your real estate agent’s time. Sellers will also take you more seriously if you have a pre-approval letter in hand.
• Mistake #3 is buying more house than you can afford. People do this all the time — sometimes knowingly, sometimes not. The last thing you want to do is become “house poor,” to the point that you are scraping by each month. This is also the leading cause of home foreclosure in this country.

There are many home buying mistakes that could be added to this list. But I’ve chose to focus on three that are the most common among first-time buyers … and also the most serious. How common are these mistakes? Well, in the first quarter of 2009, more than half a million homeowners lost their homes to foreclosure. Many of those people made the exact same home-buying mistakes discussed in this video. You can avoid becoming one of those statistics by following the advice in this lesson.