PROPERTYSPARK ARTICLE

The #1 Mistake First-Time Homebuyers Make in Today’s Real Estate Market

How To Become A Social Media Superstar

By: Kosta Hantzis

Founder of Luxury Listing Boston | Real Estate Advisor At The Loveland Group | Helping You Make The Best Decisions in Real Estate

Kosta Hantzis Realtor | kostahantzis| Kosta Hantzis| Kosta Hantzis

I’m about to share with you the single BIGGEST mistake first-time homebuyers make in today’s market especially.

This mistake is not necessarily prevalent for first-time homebuyers only, and to be honest, this mistake can be applied to many things. But for this article, we’re sticking to Real Estate.

To better explain this “mistake”, I’m going to tell you a story. And for this story, we’re going back to everyone’s favorite place: School. It goes something like this… There are two students, both have to study for their semester’s final exam which is taking place in exactly 3-months. Both have exactly the SAME IQ. Let’s call them, Student A and Student B.

Both are taking the same exact exam EXCEPT each student has DIFFERENT teachers. Let’s call them, Teacher A and Teacher B. To study for the test, Teacher A gives Student A, 1,000 textbooks and says “Here are 1,000 textbooks, everything you need to know for the exam can be found somewhere in each of these books. Good luck and don’t reach out to me for help, everything’s can be found in those books”.

Teacher B then gives Student B, 10 textbooks and says, “Here are 10 textbooks, these are the BEST textbooks you can read to prepare for the final exam. What I even did is prepare a study guide with KEY information that you need to know. If you ever need any help along the way, please don’t hesitate to reach out”.

The final exam comes and who do you think does better? Take a moment to pick an answer. If you guessed Student A then you are CORRECT… Just kidding, Student B indeed does FAR better. How Does This Relate To Real Estate? This is 2021, we live in an age with so much information and technology that we don’t even know what to do with. How many real estate websites are there? Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com, Aparmtents.com, Apartmentslist, Trulia, Home.com, Homefinder.com, I think you get the point.

But is this a bad thing? For the most part NO, but it depends. It’s amazing to have all these different sites as sources of data and knowledge but if you don’t know how to implement and navigate this data, then finding a home will be a nightmare. Zillow’s Zestimate says this house is worth X amount but Redfin says it’s worth Y. Side note – Zillow is now offering a service where they will buy your home for cash, based upon their Zestimate values. It’s called Zillow Offers. This means you are essentially having the buyer of your home, tell you how much your home is worth.

This may be an option for some but if you’re thinking of doing so, at least get a few different opinions in terms of the value of your home. They may offer you more than you paid, but your home could really be worth 20% more than that. A lot of the times these, websites are flat out wrong and many times they withhold information so you have to reach out to one of their “preferred agents”.

The answer is that first-time homebuyers should use this information to gain a general understanding of the process and to see what is out there, but they should really hire a “good” real estate agent. Someone they trust and know is going to have their best interests in mind.

See, what a good agent does is take a home buyer’s wants and needs and finds the best possible options. They can navigate through the noise and only present you with the best information possible. They can answer any questions you may have and guide you to the finish line in the smoothest way possible.

For example, with our clients, we make it clear that this is THEIR process, and we are here to advocate, negotiate and listen to create a personalized experience that ends with them at the closing table. Especially with first-time buyers who are new to this process, we want them to feel comfortable with everything that is going on.

We get it! It can be incredibly nerve-racking to make arguably one of the biggest purchases of your life. We embrace the technology in today’s world but we know that buying a home is not just data-driven, it has an enormous emotional component attached to it. And it should, this is one of the biggest investments of your life – where you create memories, start a family, and go through life.

We take this process very seriously because we know how important this process is to YOU. If you’re a first-time homebuyer, then you should really think about hiring a real estate agent. In case you didn’t know, it’s FREE. You are not the one paying your agent, your agent gets paid by the seller of the home you buy, and only IF you buy. So if you have a good agent in your corner, that can make ALL the difference.  

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