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When home shopping feels overwhelming because you have a specific vision in your head, it may be time to step back and reconsider your options. If you have seen a few homes that are less than perfect or have not met your must-have requirements, take a second look, you may just fall in love with an imperfect home.
When people start the process of trying to find a home, they -want to make sure that they take the time to get this decision right. The reality is that a home is the most expensive purchase that most people are ever going to make. As a result, they need to make sure they find a home that will meet their needs.
At the same time, it will be hard to find a home that is truly perfect. Therefore, it is a great idea for everyone to come up with a list of necessities and a list of features on which they can be more flexible. How can people do this? How are people falling in love with an imperfect home?
Every home is going to have its flaws. Those who spend the time trying to find a home that is absolutely perfect are going to have decision paralysis. On the other hand, it is important to remember that there are options available. Nearly everything that is wrong with a potential home can be remedied, fixed up, or recycled. In this manner, even if a home is not perfect when people first look at it, there is a way to make it perfect with a few improvements or upgrades. This is a nice alternative that people should keep in mind.
Moreover, even if the house itself is not flawed, it may not match up perfectly with the vision in your head. For example, you may have come across an affordable contemporary home in a great neighborhood, but it may be a little smaller than you would like. In other instances, people find their dream home but in the wrong location, or they may have come to an amazing house that meets every requirement on their checklist until they see the price. Of course, none of these situations are ideal, but that does not mean you do not have some wiggle room. So do not sell these “imperfect homes” short, especially if there is room to negotiate for a better price, space in the budget to do renovations and additions, or if you see yourself working from home more these days, so a short daily commute is really no longer a must-have.
That said, sometimes it’s not the price or the size or location; instead, maybe it is the style of the home. However, before you write a perfectly good home off, you should keep in mind that it might be helpful to find a home that will grow with the family or the homeowners. The reality is that styles rotate and change on a regular basis, so people should not worry about finding something that is going to be absolutely perfect right this minute. For example, the open concept floor plan is one of the biggest shifts that has taken place during the past few years—some people love it while others hate it. But that does not mean you cannot invest in some room dividing furniture and forget all about it.
Yet another big home-style change is the expected closet standards. Today’s closets are full organization systems with vanities and center islands. But, if you are looking at older homes, walk-in or entire room closets are not included. Nevertheless, you can change that instead of walking away from a perfectly good house. Likewise, there are less than desirable architectural styles and even inconvenient structural columns that people are finding a way around and ultimately falling in love with an imperfect home. As a result, there are plenty of ways that homeowners can take a home that has flaws and find ways to help them match new and trending styles.
In fact, there are several other common flaws that you should not let deter you from buying a home. Take unappealing paint, for example; this is one of the easiest and cheapest fixes, especially if you do it yourself. Pink rooms may have been the current owners’ taste, but it does not have to be yours. Of course, first impressions are everything, but you definitely should not let someone’s poor taste in paint colors convince you not to buy. Remember, it is very, very rare for any buyer to purchase a house and not personalize it in some way, so you should keep that in mind. The same can be said for outdated wallpaper. Picture your future without the unsightly wallpaper because if you purchase this home, you can remove it.
Minor cosmetic details like dated kitchen cabinets, missing closet doors, unfashionable wall-to-wall mirrors, and less than optimal window treatments can be dealt with accordingly. Moreover, you can also negotiate with the seller to see if cabinets can be updated, replaced, or if they can remove/throw-away items that are not to your liking. On the other hand, if issues are not cosmetic but rather involve major repairs and significant repair costs, then you should consult your budget for possible renovations and discuss what the seller is willing to potentially fix beforehand. Here, broken heating and cooling systems or a pump for a boiler will likely not cost you thousands of dollars to fix, and thus repairs like these should not necessarily stop you from buying an otherwise good home. A few other notable items that you can overlook during the home buying process are bathroom fixtures, carpeting, flooring, and so on.
Ideally, at the end of the day, no one wants to fix or renovate their new home, but if the issues are truly minor, then there is no reason you cannot find ways to love a home that is not perfect. So, take a deep breath and reconsider certain home flaws or imperfections before you stress yourself out or lose all hope of finding the right home for you and your family.
Do you have questions about home loans or obtaining a mortgage before you start the home shopping process? Or are you simply ready to apply for a mortgage to buy a home? If so, Sammamish Mortgage can help. We are a local mortgage company from Bellevue, Washington, serving the entire state, as well as Oregon, Idaho, and Colorado. We offer many mortgage programs to buyers all over the Pacific Northwest and have been doing so since 1992. Contact us today with any questions you have about mortgages.
Whether you’re buying a home or ready to refinance, our professionals can help.
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No Obligation and transparency 24/7. Instantly compare live rates and costs from our network of lenders across the country. Real-time accurate rates and closing costs for a variety of loan programs custom to your specific situation.