The Homebuyer’s Guide – Choosing the right property

For many people, achieving financial stability is just the first step towards fulfilling their dream of homeownership. With a solid financial foundation in place, the desire to own a house becomes a natural next step. After years of hard work and careful planning, the prospect of having a place to call your own can be incredibly exciting. But with so many challenges and options on the market, it can be overwhelming to know where to start, how to avoid making mistakes, and what to do next after becoming a homeowner. That’s why we’ve put together this guide for homebuyers, to help you navigate the process of choosing the right home with confidence and ease.

Before we go any further, let us first have a look at common challenges that homebuyers often encounter. Understanding these hurdles will not only prepare you mentally and emotionally but also empower you to tackle them effectively.
One of the most significant challenges faced is selecting the right property type. With a wide array of choices comes the confusion of what type of property to go for or what location your property should be in. Another pressing challenge is defining a budget boundary. This has to do with being able to strike a balance between too little or too much and knowing how much to spend to avoid financial frustration in the long run.

Many homebuyers go through these challenges without ever noticing them consciously, which is a huge problem. They tend to find out after they have made mistakes and are atoning for those mistakes. There are instances where buyers, after making these mistakes, attempt to fix them on their own based on what they feel is a good fix but only end up worsening situations for themselves. Trust me when I say nothing can be more devastating than knowing you made a bigger mess while trying to solve a smaller one.

As a homebuyer, these mistakes can significantly impact you financially and psychologically, and maybe even more. This is why the best thing you can do as a homebuyer is to try to avoid them as much as possible. Why risk a couple of million cedis and a peace of mind when you could have protected and invested it?

Let’s have a look at this scenario;
Kojo, a father of 2 and husband to a beautiful wife, decides to get a house after saving up to 10 million Ghana cedis. One day he sees a poster of a property by the roadside on his way to work and decides to call the owner to tour the house out of excitement. Upon reaching out to the owner, a friendly man named Yaw, it was explained that it’s a 6-bedroom mansion with two separate boys’ quarters, a huge compound, a garage to house 4 cars, a playground, and a pool located at Tema Community 25. He envisions his 2 kids playing joyfully in this new house, and his wife having a relaxing time with her girlfriends at the pool area. The overwhelming joy gets Kojo to make an instant purchase of 8.5 million Ghana cedis, which felt great during the heat of the moment. Later that day, he gets home to surprise his family about their new home only for them to raise several concerns. “Daddy, we school at Dansoman, how do we get to school from there?’ “Daddy, are we going to change schools?” “Hunny, is the community as safe for our kids as where we are currently renting?” “Hunny, how are the roads like?” This was the very minute Kojo noticed he’d made a horrible mistake. He had chosen the property not because it fitted their requirements but only because he felt it would be nice to have it.

Can you guess what some of these mistakes are? Do you know how you can avoid making similar mistakes so you don’t have your wife and kids as confused as Kojo’s?

It’s okay if you can’t identify the mistakes Kojo made or aren’t sure how he could have avoided them; this article is to help you with that. Just continue reading.

1. Not choosing a suitable property for himself and his family: Kojo failed to research for properties that would have fit his current needs. A 6-bedroom house with 4 parking spaces sounds like a good thing for him to have but isn’t the best thing to spend on considering his family size and the extra parking spaces that will be left unoccupied. Kojo could have saved a couple of Cedis to invest in other things if he started by doing a little bit of research.
2. Not considering the favourability of the property’s location: Fancy locations like East Legon, developed areas of Tema, Cantonment, etc., are very nice places to stay, considering the scenery, availability of resources, etc. But having to go through a travel experience each day because of things such as school and work like Kojo is about to do is one thing you will want to avoid. Considering the cost of transportation, whether it’s public transport or fuel for your car, and also time replenished (which is very much non-refundable), the best thing to do is to make sure your new home is closer to the places you frequent; these include the workplace, school, church, supermarket, etc. I am sure no one wants to hustle every day as a price to pay for going about their normal days.
3. Not considering all the possible budget-friendly options available: Avoiding debt is one thing we need to do if we want to improve our financial stability, but knowing how to manage our finances such that we meet other financial obligations is a must. First of all, you need to understand that buying a home isn’t the only thing that constitutes being a homeowner. Maintenance, utilities, property taxes, insurance, potential repairs, and many other things come into play. As if that isn’t enough, you have personal finances to take care of; the school bills, vacations, and unforeseen circumstances; all require your financial attention as well. Kojo could have considered some payment plans to give him room to explore other financial possibilities. With him spending more than 80% of his finances in a sitting, he is bound to have a couple of challenges here and there for a while. If he couples it with the concerns his family is raising, I’m very sure he will have a few restless nights; I don’t think anyone would want to be in Kojo’s shoes right now.
4. Not working with a good real estate broker: There isn’t much to say about Kojo here; not going with a broker is probably the biggest mistake he made. The broker could have put his interest first and advised him on the best things to consider as a first-time homebuyer. Maybe he could have avoided all these problems. Anyways, do you notice how I added the word “good” to “real estate broker” in the point? Yeah, it’s a big deal choosing a broker to work with, and it’s a bigger deal making sure the broker is good enough to help you. With so many people posing to be real estate brokers, you have no idea how many of them lack the skills, credibility, or certification to do what they do. Luckily for you our most valuable reader, BDZ Properties is well-vested in real estate brokerage with tons of clientele and experience up its sleeves, plus we always have your best interest at heart. All you have to do is contact us with your needs and watch us overdeliver.

Here is a home-taker just for you. You should at least be sure about two things before looking out for houses to buy. Your budget and the location you want the property in. Well, you must at least be sure about one of them. If you decide on a location, it will give you a fair idea of what your budget should be; also, if you choose a budget, it will help narrow down the locations you should be looking at for the property.

I trust you got some value from this article as a homebuyer. Don’t forget to always double-check these things when you’re deciding on buying a home.

Lastly, you should know that BDZ Properties is always going to be here to assist with your purchases, just contact us.

Let us know in the comment section other advice you have for homebuyers.