Albuquerque First Time Home Buyers Guide Part Three: Tips for Making a Smartpurchase

OK, so you've decided it's time for you to

Buy your First Albuquerque Home

andyou've been preapproved by a lender, so now you're ready to look for a home. Eventhough it's a buyer's market, you still need to buy smart. The quality of your decision willeffect your financial life for many years.

Tips for Making a Smart Purchase on Your First Albuquerque Home

Location is Huge

There's an old joke about real estate:One person asks "What are the three most important things to consider when you buyreal estate?" Another person is quick to answer "Location, Location, Location!"Well, it's still true, location is the number one most important factor! What this reallymeans is you need to search for the best neighborhood you can afford to live in. Heresome things to consider when you are thinking about neighborhoods:

Pride of Ownership

. Look around the neighborhood as you drive through it. Are theneighbors taking care of their front yards? Trimming their shrubs? Sweeping the graveloff their sidewalks and driveways? Are there cars parked on the landscaping? Are thereold vehicles and oil stained driveways?

Quality of the Schools

. This is important even is you don't plan to have childrenbecause schools drive and support housing values. Do your research before you startlooking so you'll know where school boundaries are when you go out looking at homes.Use the Schools for your address tool on the Albuquerque Public Schools website tolearn where your kids may go to school.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/ybf8t66

Crime.

You can research crime by going towww.CrimeReports.comor www.SpotCrime.com.You might also want to check out

http://tinyurl.com/2etxds

Size is Not Nearly as Important

Square Footage Can be Misleading.

How a house is laid out, how the floor plan flowsis just as good a measurement as how many square feet it has. Does the house havean impressive two story entryway or an incredible vaulted ceiling? That's great, butremember all that impressive but unusable open space is in the square footage.

Don't Pay too Much Attention to the Price Per Square foot

. This number isfrequently misused by first time home buyers to determine which house is a better deal.Remember what I said about location earlier. Once you identify a neighborhood, thenyou can use the number to compare very similar homes only.

Tastes in Housing Change over Time

. In 2006 everyone wanted homes with just tonsof open space including giant loft areas and multiple living areas. Builders were goingcrazy building 3,500 square foot homes with only 3 bedrooms. They were impressivehomes, but now most homeowners realize all that extra open space goes unused andthat their homes are not worth nearly what they paid.I'll give you an example of an area of homes that were built in 2006 that are like what I just described. There are some huge homes in a certain subdivision in