Whether it is your first time purchasing or selling a home or you are an experienced home buyer, the home buying process can feel overwhelming and scary. A best way to avoid it is to be well educated and prepared for the process. Real estate transactions are very complex, so it’s normal to have questions throughout every phase of the selling or buying journey – always understand “there is no such thing as a dumb question”. It’s safer to ask if you are unsure of anything.
Home buyers ask some questions more often than others and during different stages of the transaction, be it before starting the home buying process, during a house hunt, while agreeing to a contract or even after an offer has been made till the deal is closed. Here are a compilation of frequently asked questions from home buyers and sellers to help you better understand the trade and all of your prospective options.
Before Starting the Home Buying Process
1. Should I involve a bank or financial adviser before I commit?
YES!!! No real estate agent should prevent you from speaking with your financial adviser before investing in a home. First of all, talking with a bank, financial adviser or a lawyer before looking at homes will help you understand exactly how much you can afford. With this, you can have a picture of the house you want that will be budget friendly and save yourself the stress and hurt of finding a house you love only to find that it is way too expensive. There is no point looking at homes of N20 million when you can only afford one of N5 million. It is always recommended to speak with a financial adviser, bank or any professional if it is your first time buying a home.
Another important reason to talk with a financial professional before looking at homes is so that they can explain to you the expenses that comes with purchasing a home. Many people think that a down-payment, pre-paid item or an escrow are similar and do not understand their differences, this can be well explained by a financial professional and such will give you good advice on the type of financing you should obtain.
2. Should I rather buy a new home or continue to live in a rented apartment?
Individuals are very different, same goes with circumstances. While buying a home can be a very solid investment, some see renting as a better option. Right now in Nigeria, it is more appreciable to buy a new home than to keep paying annually for rent. A result study by NOI Polls showed that 51% of Nigerians live in rented accommodations, meanwhile, 85% would have rather opted for mortgage financing as a better option for homeownership, but when asked why they still go for renting, 25% explained that it was because they didn’t have a stable income. With these said, if you’d want to buy a home, you need to ask yourself some questions like: how long do I plan to stay in this home if I buy it? Will I likely move anytime soon? If it answers ‘Yes’, you most likely might consider to continue with rent. You might also like to weigh if you are willing to take the added responsibilities that come with owning a home like general home maintenance.
3. Do I need a real estate agent when buying a home?
It is strongly recommended both for a first time and an experienced home buyer to have a realtor when buying a home. Attempting to purchase a home without the assistance of a realtor will make the process very difficult and frustrating. A good and reliable realtor will have your best interest. Have in mind though to know how to properly interview prospective realtors before hiring them for your home buying process.
Read: Real Estate Company/Realtor: Scam or Legit??
4. Do I pay the Realtor fee as the home buyer?
Many times home buyers get confused as to who would pay the realtor fee and so get concerned as to why the need of having a realtor. Typically, there are no guarantees or sort, but in most cases, the seller is the person that pays the Realtor fees.
While House Hunting
5. What are the facilities with property value?
Home buyers frequently ask about their potential home’s neighborhood, crime statistics, schools and basically the facilities that can determine property value. Though there are some rules against giving specific insights as regards neighborhood, your Realtor can still give you tips to help you choose the right areas for a settled home.
6. What are the average utility bills?
When you want to buy or rent a home, you need to know the additional costs inclusive to the payment for house purchase. Utility bills are one of the additional costs to consider when buying a home. Utility bills can be gotten from the home owner and sometimes, from a local utility company.
7. How many houses should I look at before I decide to purchase one?
There is no specific number of houses to look at before putting forth a purchase offer. It all depends on you and how satisfied you are with a home after investigating all criteria, regardless of if you looked at just two or you look at 30 houses.
During a Buyer’s Purchase Offer?
8. Can I determine a purchase offer?
Typically, you are entitled to determine how much you want to put forth to a seller. But you can also ask your Realtor for advice.
9. What do I do if my purchase offer is not accepted?
When you propose an offer to a home seller, you may get either of these responses: a positive/accepted offer; a counter offer (the seller might not approve the purchase price, but proses a counter amount); a rejected offer; non-responded offer. If the seller refuses the purchase price or says No, it means it’s a rejected offer. What you can do is to place another offer to the seller, though, this is not very common.
10. Can I inspect my prospective home?
It is included in your rights to make inspections when buying a home. There are different inspections you can look out for: pest inspection, drainage and electric connections, and many other inspections.
Read: Relocating to Ilorin: Guide and Tips to Know for House Hunting in Ilorin
Before Listing a Home for Sale
11. How do I prepare my home before I sell it?
Curb Appeal!!! If you are a home seller, you would want to consider making it look presentable. Unfortunately, many people overlook this and wonder why they aren’t able to sell their houses. Making your house look presentable means giving the whole house a thorough clean and making minor repairs. This includes the cleanliness of the floors, bathrooms, kitchen, fixing cracks in the wall or patching them up, fixing damaged wiring, etc. Another tip here is PAINT. Painting the walls a neutral color like white, cream or gray make the room seem bigger and buyers would love to buy it. Know more about curb appeal and how to make your home sell in no time
Read: Why isn’t my house selling? Things to do before listing your house for a sale
12. How do I know the best listing price for sale?
In deciding a good listing price for your house, you need to make a comparative market analysis (CMA). You can do this yourself or get your real estate agent to do it for you. How this works is that your agent will find similar homes in your neighborhood that have same or comparable features like square footage, number of bedrooms and bathrooms. After getting this information, they then see how much those properties were sold for or how much they are listed for and they’ll use this as a start point for your own listing price. A good real estate agent have the expertise and knows the neighborhood so well that he/she will be able to price your home in a perfect point.
13. How long does it take to actually sell my home?
According to experts, from the moment you list your house on the market, four to eight weeks is a considerable amount of time to wait for your house to sell (with all listing conditions perfectly met). However, it won’t be surprising if a seller sees their home off the market in less than two weeks if the market is on the rush.
Are you thinking of purchasing a home In Nigeria, specifically Ilorin, Kwara State? The above frequently asked questions should give you a great head start in the process. Also, if you have any more questions pertaining real estate, feel free to CONTACT AN AGENT to get further clarification.