How These First Time Home Buyers Almost Lost Their Dream Home
This is the story of first time home buyers and how they learned the value of a buyers agent. Dean and Michelle contacted me last month to ask about one of my listings. As we talked, I learned that they were embarking on not one but two new adventures. 
The first was a relocation to the Charlotte NC area from another state and the second was the purchase of their first home. I helped them start their journey by sending them a relocation package about the Charlotte region and setting up a gateway into the Multiple Listing Service so that they could begin their home buying research.
This young first time home buyer couple did a lot of research into homes and neighborhoods before they arrived last week. They had narrowed their home search to a list of resale homes in the Indian Trail NC area. I explained to them that I would work for them as a buyers agent and that I would be able to share my knowledge of areas and neighborhoods and give them my opinion of the properties that we saw. But I don't think that they understood the true value of a buyers agent until they decided to consider building a new home that met their needs better than any of the resales.
Builders are expert at making home purchases appear easy to buyers, whether you are a first time home buyer or not. There are a lot of questions to be asked of the builder and decisions to be made beyond the basics of floor plan and monthly payment. Dean and Michelle knew that the builder could build the perfect floor plan for them and they knew how much they wanted to spend and what the monthly payment would be but they didn't know what questions to ask in order to make the best decisions to get from choosing the bare lot to the finished and closed new home.
What happened once building a new home became a real possibility?
- Builder's Design Center. The three of us spent a couple of hours with the interior designer at the Builder's Design Center. Here Michelle and Dean learned the magnitude of choices they would need to make before the home could be started. As we moved through the design center, I was able to give them advice on features most important to buyers so that the resale value of the home would be enhanced. Since they had a limited budget, I helped them decide where their dollars would be best spent in upgrading and those areas where they could limit their choices to basic materials. When we were finished, they had made some smart choices and were amazed at how much they had learned about the components of a new home.
- Choosing a Lot. A beautiful home on the wrong lot can be disastrous. Builders often place premiums on the best lots. Because Dean and Michelle were on a limited budget, we looked at all the lots with or without premiums. I showed them how their home would look on the lots without the premiums and how they would they would have no privacy in the back. When we looked at the pricier cul-de-sac lots, we met with the builder's sales manager to determine approximately what the home's footprint would be and how that would affect the size of the backyard as well as how far the home would be set back from the street. We also determined whether all the homes in the cul-de-sac had the same set-back so that no homes would be built behind the others. We talked about how the back of the lot would be graded. When we were finished, these first time home buyers had a very good idea of how their home would fit on the lot and its relationship with the other homes on the street.
Dean and Michelle felt confident enough in their research after the design center and walking the lots that they scheduled an appointment for the next day to complete an offer. We all agreed to meet at the builder's office the next afternoon to complete the paperwork.
How did Dean and Michelle nearly lose the perfect home for their family?
This young couple had done what every first time home buyer should do. They had gotten preapproved for a mortgage before they came to Charlotte for their house hunting trip. The next morning they walked into a branch of the bank that had preapproved them to get more information about their loan and closing costs. When I called them at lunchtime to confirm the afternoon appointment, they said that they were not going to be able to go forward with the purchase. The reason was that the bank told them that their loan would not work with new construction and that a new construction loan would be too costly for them. I immediately knew that was wrong information and that the bank was talking about a custom build, not a production builder. I suggested that they call the bank and explain the true situation. Once they spoke with the bank using the key terms that I gave them, their loan situation was clarified and they could go forward. We met with the builder's representative, went over the paperwork and now Dean and Michelle are looking forward to their brand new home!
Lesson learned from this story: Find an experienced buyers agent to represent you in your home purchase and involve that agent in every step of the process.
Read more about programs for first time home buyers.
$8000 First Time Home Buyers Tax Credit
Down Payment Assistance for First Time Home Buyers
Visit www.CarolinaSmallTownLiving.com for more information about buying your first home.
About the author: Carol Fox of Allen Tate Realtors at 704-814-6242 has helped buyers find the perfect home in the Charlotte NC region for over twenty years.
Copyright 2009. Carol Fox. *How These First Time Home Buyers Almost Lost Their Dream Home*