Don’t Sweat It: Tools to Help Take the Stress out of Buying a Home

Buying a home should be an exciting experience, filled with visions of family dinners, summer barbeques and cozy nights at home. Often times, however, home buying is a stressful experience. That is mainly because home buyers are not completely prepared for the financial commitment. There are so many questions to be answered and decisions to be made, such as where you should live, what can you afford, and how do you find a real estate agent. Eventually, a whole new set of questions start coming in. If you take the time to fully prepare yourself for home-ownership, you will likely be able to avoid undue stress. Thankfully, there are more tools than ever to help buyers answer these questions right from the get-go.

The first tool is your computer and the power of the Internet. You have full access to all of the valuable information available on the Internet at any time of the day or night, therefore making research way more convenient. Make sure to only get your information from trusted sites, you can find answers to the vast majority of your questions just by typing in a few keywords into your favorite search engine.

Another great tool is taking a home buying course. The process of purchasing a home is often a daunting one, and it is likely you will be faced with terms you’ve never heard before and details you never imagined. Many real estate firms have free home buying courses throughout the year, so it is often well worth attending one of these classes so you can better understand the process and what is involved. The more educated you are the less confusing and stressful buying your home will be.

Hiring the right agent can be one of the most important decisions you will make during the home buying process. The right agent can save you precious time and money. If you are following a recommendation from a friend or co-worker, also check out local agent ratings and reviews.  It’s helpful to know the experiences that other people have had working with a particular agent so that you can know what to expect and make the right choice.

The last tools I will mention are moving apps. Sometimes moving can feel like a never-ending process with so many details to tie up. Thankfully, apps like Moving List, (iPhone, iPad) Moving Checklist (BlackBerry) and Moving Planner (Android) can help you get organized. These apps come with pre-populated to-do lists that you can edit and organize by categories or dates. Some even help you decide what to pack and what to throw away. Staying organized and setting up to do lists help ensure you get things done on time and are sure to help relieve some of the extra stress.