10 Mistakes When Buying A Home In Georgia

Buying a home can be a pretty stressful process. As an agent and team leader, I’ve seen plenty of these mistakes firsthand, and I would love to help prevent you from making the same ones.

1. RESALE HOMES

One of the first common mistakes is that I see people make, when they are deciding to buy a home in Georgia, is ruling out resale homes. A lot of clients only want to look at new construction, and I have told y’all a time or two here lately how difficult it can be to nail down a new construction house, especially if you don’t have a flexible time frame. There are many, many more options for you if you include resale homes in your search. Sometimes people get worried that a resale home will come with a lot of issues since it is older, but that is not necessarily the case. Occasionally clients are only interested in resale, with the old saying “things aren’t made like they used to be” as their reasoning. Some older homes could have been built by an awesome builder and have stood the test of time, and some new construction homes could be rushed and not built to that same quality.

The reverse of that could be said just as easily though- some resale homes that are older are showing their age and need things like new roofs and systems, while in a new construction home, everything will be brand new. It all boils down to the builder, so I wouldn’t advise refusing to see something that isn’t brand new. If you really had your heart set on something newer, we could add homes that have been built within the last five or so years to your search, so you are still looking at newer homes and giving you more options. It is all personal preference, but I wouldn’t suggest counting out homes that are twenty years or older. You could miss out on some really great gems by really narrowing down that time frame. 

2. HOMES WITH SEPTIC TANKS

Another mistake I see is people ruling out homes that have septic tanks. If you rule out homes with septic tanks, you are cutting out a huge number of options because septic tanks are very common here in north Georgia, and they are not that big of a deal. They do require some maintenance, but nothing outrageous and it’s only required every few years. That leads me to my next mistake people make though, which is not requesting a septic clearance letter or having a septic inspection done when buying a home that has a septic tank. It is recommended that you pump your septic tank every three to five years, so if the home you are interested in has one and the seller has just recently had it inspected and pumped, that’s great. If they disclose that this hasn’t been done in say 10 or 15 years, we will definitely want to have that done to avoid any issues in the future. I know a lot of homeowners that don’t have theirs pumped on that 5-year basis, and everything is fine… until suddenly one day it is not fine and there is sewage backing up. That can turn into an expensive, crappy mess, so it’s best to avoid that additional cost by maintaining it frequently, just like you would get an oil change in your car.

What usually happens when you call to schedule a septic inspection, is they will give you a quote of say $300 for the inspection. Then once they get there for it, if the tank is below a certain amount of inches underground, which it usually is, they charge you an extra fee to dig that low. I would bank on going ahead and expecting it to cost you $400 to $450 dollars. If you are going to have it inspected, it makes the most sense to have it pumped at the same time. This is general homeowner maintenance, it’s nothing wild and crazy that you have to worry about every six months, and I definitely don’t think it’s worthy of ruling out a really amazing house just because it has one. If you have plans of putting in a pool though, you will want to know where the tank is, or else this might squash those pool dreams.

3. JOB UNCERTAINTY

This next mistake is something that I hear about from buyers pretty frequently. I will get a phone call from someone who wants to relocate from out of state and they need to get approved for a loan to buy a house here, but they have not yet secured a job first. Now, if they have a job that they can work remotely and be anywhere in the county, this is obviously not an issue, but say you are renting in the state that you are currently living in, so you won’t have proceeds from a home sale out there and don’t have employment secured here, then that can be tricky. Something you might want to consider is going ahead and moving here to Georgia and renting while you are on the hunt for a job. If you sell your house in the state you are in now and can use those proceeds towards a down payment, that will definitely be an easier scenario to work with. I do also have a lot of people reach out once they have already secured a job here, which is fantastic and something you definitely will want to consider doing before deciding to make the move, and It will definitely make it easier for you to secure a home loan for that new house.

4. UNDISTRICTED HOME ADDRESS

This next mistake is not one that I have heard of before, but it did recently just happen so I had to share. This isn’t something that would be an issue if you were relocating from out of the state, but only if you were moving locally within the same town. One of the girls on my team has friends who recently sold their house in a neighborhood and bought a house on a big piece of land that they are going to remodel. The new house they bought is just down the road from their old one and they did this process during the summer when school was out. Well, they took their son who is in elementary school to the open house to meet his new teacher and get ready for the school year just the other day. They went down to the cafeteria to add money to his lunch account, and they said “wait, what’s your address?” and so they gave them their new address of this home they just bought, and the lady at the school said, “…. Um, you aren’t districted for this school anymore.” They absolutely freaked out… school was supposed to start in just a few days and now all of a sudden, their poor kid finds out “Hey man, you don’t get to go to school with all of your friends, you have to start at a brand new school where you don’t know anyone and you start in two days.” They assumed since their new house was just down the road from their old one, that they would end up in the same district, and this was obviously not the case. School districts aren’t cut up into perfect little boxes, they are kind of haphazard and all over the place, so you will definitely want to confirm what schools the house you want is districted for… before you buy it.

5. DIGITAL DEPENDENCYI

Think another common mistake people can make is really looking over the potential of a specific home or a certain area. If you are relocating from out of state and you have never spent much time here if any, and you might be drawn to a specific area over another based on what you see about it online. I would recommend coming into town and spending a few days exploring the town you think you really want to be in, and going to the surrounding areas as well. When you decide you want to come out and visit and we talk about what you are looking for, I can help point you in a direction that fits that criteria, but give you some options of some areas and neighborhoods you may not have considered. If you have school-aged kids, you might find yourself being a little more constricted on where you want to look in order to stay in a certain district, but if you are homeschooling or don’t have school-aged kids, I would definitely recommend exploring more options than just what you think you have your heart set on. You also don’t want to be fooled by a home’s paint color, or the way the current owners have it furnished. You might overlook something because it doesn’t necessarily match your style. It can be easy to forget when you are touring homes that that is not what a house is going to look like when you live in it. You might miss out on a really great house if you aren’t looking at the bigger picture and overlooking its true potential. You will want to first consider the things that you cannot change, like the size of the lot and the neighborhood or area it’s in. If it doesn’t have enough bedrooms to hold your family or there is no backyard and you have pets, or it’s an hour away from your work and you don’t want that kind of commute, these are bigger issues that you will want to hold at a higher value than things you can change, like paint, flooring, fixtures, and those details that you can control.

6. INDECISIVENESS

The last mistake I have seen more recently since the market has been so crazy is people aren’t always prepared to make the jump as quickly as they need to be, or they drag their feet making a decision and miss out on a home they really wanted. In this market, most homes are getting several offers, so if you see a house that you really like that fits your needs, but want to see 10 more houses just in case, you are more than likely going to miss out on that house. You have to assume that you are competing against other buyers to secure a home, so you can’t drag your feet. Or people will start looking on Zillow and find a house they absolutely love, but they are not actually moving into town until after they sell their current home so they still have a few more months to go before they can even think about buying. By the time they are finally ready, that house they fell in love with is long gone, but they can’t get it out of their head and think nothing will ever be as perfect as it would have been and get discouraged with their new search. Of course, you will want to do your research and see what homes are like in the area, but try not to get attached to something you know won’t be there when you are actually ready to buy. You’ll want to get a feel for the area before you buy, but we will want to avoid scheduling showings because they aren’t going to still be available later on down the road if you can’t commit to putting a contract on anything yet. 

Have you moved recently? If so, is there anything you wish you knew before you made the move? I’d love to hear about it! My team and I can help you avoid making these mistakes and plenty more.

If you want to learn more about Northeast Metro Atlanta or buying and selling a home, check out my YouTube channel for more content!