Becoming a first time home buyer is a thrill for almost everyone. It was for my wife and me when we bought our first home. People get so wrapped up in their first home they tend to identify themselves with it, I know I did. Have you ever called your neighbors down the street the “blue house” people? Or told someone that you live in “the Victorian on Mountain Crest Road?” We were the home with the “front porch on the corner” people.
When first time home buyers finally get into their home, they can easily fall prey to several serious mistakes that can cause a large amount of financial harm later. Here are a few of those first time home buyer mistakes that I made:
1. I ignored the home inspector.
We were so excited and desperate to get into a home, I was willing to ignore important items … like the crumbling old furnace. I reasoned that I could always fix it later, besides we were buying the house in April. That old furnace made it through one more winter before it died and it cost me $1,500 (in debt) to replace it. Had I known more about the Secrets of Power Negotiating, I could have used the furnace as a pivot point in the purchase negotiations and possibly gotten one for free!
