Every First Time Home Buyer has certain things they MUST know and should NEVER do, but what are they? Get the real scoop from David Sidoni on how you can customize your personal lists to help you in this gigantic decision. The goal is for you to feel confident, not confused and overwhelmed…and sometimes you need more than a few bullet points to get you there because not everything you see on the internet is correct and should be followed.
Top 5 Best Tips For First Time Home Buyers…Again
First Time Home Buyers Need More Than 5 Tips – This Is A Big Deal
What is happening to everybody out there with me? You are watching me on a computer screen, scrolling on your phone or looking at your computer because you are trying to find the answer to the question, “How do I buy a home?” In this immediate gratification world, you are going to easily find some of the answers instantaneously right at your fingertips. When it comes to buying a home, there are lots of quick lists and tips right at the click of a button or a tap of a screen. Let’s talk about it.
I’m here to help you crush the confusion and gain confidence in the homebuying process. Knowledge is power and education is everything. The goal is to help empower you, so with the flick of a finger, you can find a top 3, top 5 or top 10 lists anywhere all over the internet of things that you should always or never do when you are buying your first home. I recommend that you educate yourself far beyond those lists.
Do you know that when it comes to researching and buying a home, especially first-time homebuyers researching, those simple top 3, 5 or 10 lists, there are topmost viewed, searched and read sites on Google? They are at the top videos if you are watching me on YouTube. If you are looking for those lists on YouTube, you are going to find those at the very top of your search. I implore everyone out there to dive deeper than just a generic one-size-fits-all list for the biggest financial decision of your life.
Simply put, these lists, most of the time, are made to sell you something. They want to get clicks and views. What they want are views, clicks and subscribers. That’s a means to an end. The bottom line is they work. They are at the top of the searches. I have already figured out these things work. We are going to help you make sure that you are getting the information that you want, not what they want. It’s not just the answers to the headline that gets the most clicks. Let’s dive right in.
Look Beyond The Lists
How do you buy a home? Who knows? I’m supposed to. That’s the name of my show. Here are the real top five things that every first-time homebuyer has to know. I love those headlines. A top-five list is not going to tell you everything or even the most important thing for you. How can it? The list was made for everybody. No one has asked you any questions. Your situation is miles different from everyone else’s. Anyone who tries to put everyone in the same box for the largest financial decision and personal decision of anyone’s life, I’m sorry but that list is a sham.
Understand Your Goals
It’s a fraud, uneducated or it’s trying to get you to click on their link so they can capture you. It’s my favorite marketing word. They want to capture you and get you to do business with them later. That’s a them-thing, not a you-thing. It leads me to number two on my list. Understand your goals. It’s not the realtors, lenders or anyone else. This is hard when it comes to buying a house because your goals are different than buying anything else in your world. You are mixing your financial world and personal world. It’s a very delicate balance.
First, you have to understand the math of renting versus buying and then believe in the math. This is a big decision for you and your family. Even if your family is a pet or some plants, it’s a big decision for you in the long run. If you believe in math and numbers, it’s going to be easy for you to eventually realize that you are going to have to involve the C-word, Compromise maybe. You might have to compromise a bit but you can figure out that this is the right home for your plan, both personally and financially. That plan is yours and it fits your goals.
Knowledge is power, and education is everything.CLICK TO TWEET
Rethink Your Research
Topic number three is to rethink your research, unlike the crotchety old Boomers, which I’m still not a Boomer. I’m Gen X on the mic. Unlike those guys, I don’t look to younger generations and think that you are all entitled that you don’t understand the value of hard work. I’m in complete admiration of the Millennials and the Gen Z-ers in their dedication to researching everything, not just blindly accepting whatever they can put in front of them.
That has lots to do with the fact that you can research everything in the back of your pocket. I had to go to my shelf and look at the encyclopedias. Do not make me explain what encyclopedias are again. You are out there looking for honest and real answers. I learned all the time from the Millennials how to do that. It’s cool. They show me how to dig deeper and spot the posers versus the people on the real real.
I hope that everyone realizes that the amount of time understanding this how-to topic should be proportionately a billion times more than the other how-to topics that you research. Think of the magnitude of this topic compared to the other things that you research. Are you going to spend the same amount of time shopping for this item or figuring out how to do this item than figuring out how to do fill-in-the-blank of the last thing you did on the internet?
Think of the consequences, both the good and the bad, that this decision is going to have on you and your family or your pets and plants. It’s all-inclusive here. Consider the sources where you got that information. Who are you getting the information from? What are they trying to do? Are they trying to sell you something? Who is trying to guide you to where you want to go? How do they know if they haven’t asked you? It’s all about your goals.
You Don’t Know Everything
Number four, you don’t know it all and shouldn’t have to. There are lots of first-time buyers out there that end up second-guessing their realtor, lender and anybody else involved in the transaction because they treat buying a home like they are buying a car. They think that everyone involved is trying to schmooze them and get this thing done. That’s not the real mind shift I’m trying to get. It’s about looking at your home the same way you look at a car. It’s not a commodity.
Some buyers think, “Here is the deal. I have got the job and the money.” They view the relationship of buying the house this way, “Realtor, we want a home. Like when we buy a car, we know what we can afford. You show us the homes available at that price online. We will pick some. You show us the home and then you write the contract. Mr. Mortgage Person, it’s the same thing for you. We have a job and money. You get us a home at the best price. We will let you know when we pick a home with our realtor and you get us that home.” I get it. That’s the way that I would buy a car too, but this is a different commodity.
First Time Home Buyers: Simply put, these lists, most of the time, are made to sell you something.
It’s not a car because, like you, I would have done that the same way because I did all the research before I walked onto the car lot. This is a lot different. In buying a home, there are many different factors involved and many different things that change, not only in your preparation but in the actual process itself. With the proper guidance, you are going to come to realize that maybe you have options that you didn’t even realize existed or car lots that you never knew existed. It’s like payment options that you have never even heard of and negotiation tactics that you can’t find on Google but that will help you to reach your goals.
Your Goals Matter Most
Number five is the top tip. Understand this is a game with rules designed specifically against first-time homebuyers. The top tip isn’t to learn the top five things to always or never do when you are buying a house because saying that’s the tip of the iceberg is underestimating the iceberg. Here it comes, the top tip number five. This should have been tip number one but I wanted you to realize your goals matter most. Find yourself a trusted team. They are going to help you beat the game. They exist and love helping you beat the game because they know that it is slanted against you. The good ones are like me. I’m not saying I’m good. The good ones think it sucks and I think it sucks too. That’s what I meant.
That doesn’t always mean your trusted team has all the time in the world for you and treats you like a bestie because they might not be the best expert in the area for you. They might be great to hang out with at a happy hour but maybe not the best guide or negotiator for you in the biggest purchase you are ever going to make in your life. A trusted team is going to help you with all the other top tips.
The rest of the things that didn’t get mentioned on those lists that get to the top of the search engines are going to ask questions about you and make your specific top 5, top 10 or top 50 things that you want to do for buying your first home. It’s the most important thing that you guys worry about, not anyone else’s. They are going to help you with the deep-dives on the research and the market history. They will know it all but here is the thing about them. Maybe they will know most of it. To help you make sure that you are going to make an informed choice if they don’t know it, they know who to ask.
Here is a little secret for you. Any good realtor can put three things that you should or should not do online on TikTok, Instagram, a blog or a YouTube video anywhere. I have told you this before. When I first started, they handed me a list of 180 things that can go wrong in a real estate transaction. Any good agent can pick three always-and-never from that list. Do you know who else can? Any bad realtor. There are 180 things to choose from. How hard is it to pick three? It’s any bad realtor, new realtor or part-time agent. They are not the best choice for you when you are hoping to buy your home.
They are not the best choice for you and your family, pets or plants when you are trying to buy your first home, no matter how intriguing their clickbait was to you. A trusted guide doesn’t mean that they seem cool with you. It doesn’t mean that they vibe with you. Trusted means that they have been trusted and succeeded with other people. A lot of people think that trusting your real estate team means that they feel trustworthy to you.
Understand your goals, not the realtors, not the lenders, or anyone else. Your goals.CLICK TO TWEET
What it means is that the person that you are working with or the team has been trained well and they are experienced. They are experienced, so they worked with several other clients and those clients trust them. They have been entrusted with the biggest decision of several other people’s lives. That’s the true definition of a trusted team. Trusted doesn’t mean you trust them. It means they are trusted. They have a track record of helping first-time buyers and others have trusted them in the past, so you can trust them now.
There are 3 million agents out there and only 1 million homes for sale. That’s a lot of people who shouldn’t be selling or helping people buy real estate. Trusted means someone who doesn’t need to flex to show the world they are a pro. Their clients from years past flex for them. Trusted means they have been properly trained or they are working with a professional team that takes the process seriously with hands-on leadership and team efforts. Trusted means they focus on people. They are a people business, not a transaction business or, even worse, a call center.
The Business Of Real Estate Is Broken
The business of real estate is broken. I will say it and I don’t care. I don’t give a damn what anybody thinks because I’m confident that enough people knew the way this worked. The public would go all GameStop on the real estate game and crash the industry with a Reddit sub-thread as they did in the stock market. I only wish that would happen. Seriously, I encourage it because you deserve better. The problem is there isn’t a community of real estate enthusiasts online with the passion of the gamer community, ready to come all together online and take down the establishment that’s deceiving them and ripping off every new generation of buyers that shows up.
Since we can’t do it instantly online like that as the stock market could in GameStop and Reddit took down, I started this little show because I realized the revolution was going to have to happen one by one. I have been doing it locally for my clients for sixteen years in Southern California. I saw the battle these people were having. I wished that I could help more than one of them at a time and so here I am with the show. If you don’t understand the GameStop reference, google GameStop stock market. It’s tough to say but easy to google. You can see how the masses took down a bunch of heavy hitters. It’s the one-percenters.
I’m not calling for anarchy. What I’m calling for in a bigger way is transparency from the real estate business. They have set the bar way too low for what they call service to the consumers. It’s not about the consumers or making sure that they get the highest level of service, especially for first-time homebuyers. They are archaic and have been encouraging consumers to use under-qualified people on a decision that is far too important.
I know a lot of you reading out there are those new agents or part-time agents. I’m going to be honest with you and you will be honest with yourself. I can tell you that in my first year I did all the extra training I could and still, I didn’t have enough training to help people buy a home. I went into it expecting to get far more support, training, education and all that stuff that they told me I was going to get from a mentor.
First Time Home Buyers: Implore everyone out there to dive deeper than just a generic one-size-fits-all list for the biggest financial decision of your life.
I remember being there and thinking, “They can’t possibly think that with the level of training that I have had, I should be entrusted to handle all the responsibilities they are giving me.” They sure did. I can tell you for sure that in my weekly mentor meeting, there were ten new agents there, all asking questions to one mentor for one hour a week. I’m positive 8 of them were lost since all they got was 1 hour a week to ask questions to 1 dude. Do you know what they were told at the end of the meeting? “You are all going to be fine. You will figure this out. Go out there and get some clients.” It was specifically, “Go get first-time homebuyers.”
The system is broken. Don’t listen to lists. There’s no way that I alone should have been in my first year giving the guidance to the buyers that I did. To you newbies and part-timers reading this blog to learn, you should be thinking the same thing. If you don’t think that, then you are the exception to the rule and you have put in the work. Congratulations. Maybe you have a team supporting you and training you correctly. It’s the exception to the rule but it can happen. If you don’t think that even a little bit, then you are oblivious to how important what you do is. You are the reason the rule should be changed.
You Deserve Better
Back to you because remember I’m all about the readers and buyers. I want to give you some insider secrets on what is going on because you deserve better and this will help you make the right choice. I want that for you. I went rogue and decided to pull back the curtain here on my show. Since everyone is so into lists, do you know the top five I gave you? I’m going to boil it down to a top three. How about that? We are going to make it easy for you. The real top 5 never-and-always list is the top 3 list. Here we go. 1) Do your research. 2) Find a trusted team to guide you. 3) Buy a home for your specific long-term goals.
These lists lead me to an addendum to a topic discussed in the last episode. I want to add this to something that I talked about in episode 79. As an experienced realtor, a longtime champion and a first-time homebuyer, I get asked a lot of questions by smart people who are looking for those tricks, tips and hacks beyond the process of what we call buying a primary residence. A primary residence is a home that you are going to live in.
After the last episode, I was talking about investment properties. I was driving the next day in the car, heading to a home inspection. I was listening to an entrepreneur guru, one that I have mentioned before, Gary Vee. Like everybody in everything, take what works. If it doesn’t work for you, you don’t have to do it. I found out some interesting stuff listening to him because he was asked a question and his answer was exactly how I feel when my readers ask me for advice on topics beyond the scope of buying their first home.
It’s deeper questions. It’s slightly or perhaps maybe way off the topic. Usually, it’s involved with how to buy a home if you are talking about buying something for your primary residence, for instance, buying your first home as an investment to build an empire, which I addressed in episode 79. I wanted to bite what Gary said and twist it in a way the reason why I talk about investing, maybe not as much as you would like if that’s the information you are here to look for.
You have to understand the math of renting versus buying.CLICK TO TWEET
What I try to do is I try to help people the most by staying in my lane. I listen to people and only answer the questions that I can speak to with absolute authority. Before I answer anything, first of all, I ask you what you are looking for. It’s called listening. We figure out your needs, wants and questions. If they fit in my jam, I’m going to speak to it. If you read the blog regularly, you know that I will speak to it at length with passion and crappy jokes so I can try to keep it entertaining. I will get deep into the facts and the research that you want to be summarized.
I will also rely on my experience and the combination between me researching the facts and regurgitating some of that to you and using my experience from real-world experience. That’s going to give you clarity on the topics that I am very clear on. As Gary Vee said, I’m going to bite it because it resonated with me. It’s a message for you so that you can understand exactly what you are going to get from me in the show because, in the end, you and your journey are what matter. That’s the reason you are reading.
Since he gives guidance for businesses and entrepreneurs, someone asked him if he had thoughts on macroeconomics, the big picture stuff and how that might affect people. It’s things like oil prices, global commodities market, terrorism, politics, government regulations, China and global conflicts. I had someone who asked me if they thought that the whole Russia-Ukraine war was going to affect things. His answer to that question was this. He said exactly what I think when I’m advising on this one narrow topic for how to buy a home.
He said, “I have opinions on macroeconomics. Sometimes I take them into account for the personal things in my life and my decisions but I don’t often, if ever, share my opinions on them.” Sometimes because he talks so narrowly, people think that he is cocky. He might sound cocky but it’s because he is uber-confident. He only speaks publicly about what he knows well.
We have been doing this show for years and I get people asking me questions all over the map about all different places about homes. I tell them, “I’m trying to help people buy the home that they want to live in.” The rest of that stuff gets pretty complicated. I don’t want to be the person to give people advice on multiple different layers of financial aspects, have you come back to me and go, “You should never have done that.” I wrote down these notes because I wanted to be sure that I articulated why I don’t go into details of other aspects of real estate.
That comment made perfect sense to me. “Why don’t I share my opinions on broader topics in real estate like most other real estate podcasts out there?” Some people think, “Maybe you are not that bright, Sidoni. Maybe you are a one-trick pony who can’t hang with the big boys.” I talk about this. It’s the thing that nobody else has chosen to talk about on the internet. Do I have thoughts and opinions on the other different ways that you can purchase a home and other ways that you can utilize that purchase? Sure, I do. Until I heard Gary Vee say that, it made me realize he only speaks publicly about what he knows well. That helped me to be able to articulate to you that’s what I’m doing too.
First Time Home Buyers: There are a lot of first-time buyers out there that end up second-guessing their realtor and lender and anybody else involved in the transaction because they treat buying a home like they’re buying a car.
That’s what Gary said and I love it. “I don’t have the audacity to speak on things I don’t know.” He is a smart dude and I’m pretty darn sure he could talk on several different topics. By being single-focused, that’s why he can help so many people do what he does and why I didn’t go deep into how to invest with your primary residence. It’s possible. There’s a lot of math. You can do it but my vision goes like this, “I want to help you buy your first home.” Do I sound confident or even cocky sometimes? Maybe I do because I’m staying in my lane. I can talk about the process of buying your first home.
It’s up to other people to interpret how I sound. It’s up to other people to interpret if I have a good sense of humor because the answer is emphatical yes. I don’t speak about my dad’s jokes. I do my best to speak from a place of an expert. That expert is living in that single lane that I know well. What is your topic? Maybe you are not as super excited as I am and chose to pick a topic about buying your first home. Whatever it is you do in your life, you could talk about it all day long.
I got in front of a microphone because I was pissed off and I was seeing you get screwed. I honestly have empathy for you. I want you to get the correct information because you can beat the crooked system by getting yourself great guidance in your area if you know what you are looking for. I saw some of the most-viewed videos when I started the show, trying to give you the right guidance for buying your first home. It was either from professionals who were talking about a multitude of real estate topics. In 1 or 2 episodes of the many that they had, they dropped 1 single nugget or 2 for first-timers.
I saw something even scarier. Shockingly some of the highest-viewed videos on YouTube were from someone who is a buyer like you. It’s non-professional consumers who had popular vlogs and blogs all on ways to live their best life. They bought 1 or 2 homes, so their video was being viewed by other real people. They were talking about eating something and making a Yelp review. It’s so funny. It’s not a Yelp review. They are telling you how to make the dish, not what the dish tastes like.
Smart people were out there researching these wannabe experts who were homebuyers like you. They were cranking up the views and giving people all kinds of advice. These are consumers. They are no more than the people who are watching them. They have got minimal experience. They drop their how-to-buy-a-home knowledge right into their blog of all things lifestyle. It’s right between how to host the perfect Thanksgiving and how to properly house-train your dog. I don’t have the audacity to speak on multiple different topics like that.
I don’t spread myself so thin on the show that you, A) Don’t get specifically what you are looking for or, B) Trust that I’m an actual expert on this one topic. I’m not skimming over 50 different real-estate-related ideas so I can get multiple clicks, views and subs. I don’t give tips and life hacks on financial consultation, multiple streams of income, flipping houses, buying investment homes, trusts and probate, state income taxes, 1031 deferred exchanges, commercial real estate, real estate investing and purchasing multiple properties. In many ways, I don’t even speak in-depth about things like holding title on your home, getting a home loan or credit scores. I ask the experts to weigh in on those topics.
The business of real estate is broken.CLICK TO TWEET
Everything I mentioned, could I speak relatively intelligently on all those topics? I could. As Gary Vee said, “I’m not trying to boil the ocean here. I want to speak about what I know inside and out.” Does it sound like I think I know what I’m talking about? I should because I do. Imagine you are at a party. Someone asked you the thing that you have been working on for sixteen years and you know you can help them. Would you say, “I read an article about that once. Let me tell you about it. I heard this,” or would you say, “That’s what I do?” You would. Come on.
Can you talk about other related subjects at the party? Sure, you can. My thing is I won’t expand into things that I’m not an expert on, even if I’m pretty sure that I know more than 90% of the population because they are closely related to the thing that I do every single day. For you, I choose to stay in my lane. That’s why I’m confident I can help you with the information that you need to find the best path for your specific needs to help you beat the crooked system and buy a home. I know my intimate knowledge and expertise in this one specific area. It can help more people by talking directly and deeply about this topic.
I would love to get into investing in multiple streams of income but it’s not what I’m trying to do. I’m not going to be able to sell seminars or workshops on how to buy investment homes. You are not going to call me to be your representation on multiple different investment deals. It would be nice but that’s not going to happen. I’m going one buyer at a time. You will reach out to me for help with your one deal. It’s the single most important deal of your life. The goal is we do that correctly and it sets you up for other things in your life. That’s why I stay in my lane and why maybe sometimes I even sound a little confident in my delivery. Why? It’s because I know this.
Thanks for reading. If you are getting anything from this, share the show. Come on. It’s all free. Rating or reviewing helps me big time. It gets the word out so more people out there will know what is going on and we can start our slow GameStop revolution to serve the people, not the industry. Find me at HowToBuyAHome.com. Drop me a line with your questions. Don’t be offended if I refer you to someone else because you are asking for something beyond the scope of my expertise. Remember, if it’s not my jam, I’m not doing it.
Speaking of my jam, I’m about to break the golden rule in podcasting. I heard this on West Wing once. They were talking about speech writing. Never use a topical reference because the goal is that you are creating this masterpiece and piece of art. That information is to be used for long periods over history. I’m going to stay in my lane and stick to my unfiltered, uncensored and uncut jams. You can do this.
Important Links
- YouTube – How to Buy a Home Podcast – David Sidoni
I hope you are getting your questions answered about this crazy process. I know there’s not a lot of clear information out there on the internet, so that’s why I started this podcast. To demystify the whole thing and get you first timers the help you deserve! Help me spread the word to other people just like you, dying for answers. Tell your friends, family, and perhaps that random neighbor you REALLY want to move out about How to Buy a Home! A really easy way is to hit the share button and text it to your friends. Go for it, help someone out. And if you’re not already a regular listener, please subscribe. If you are a regular and learned something, help me help others – give the show a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Let’s change the way the real estate industry treats you first time buyers one buyer at a time – and make sure your favorite people don’t get screwed by going into this HUGE step blind and confused. Viva la Unicorn Revolution!
Instagram @DavidSidoni