Buying a house in Union County’s Fanwood, Kenilworth, Garwood, or Mountainside involves a substantial amount and is perhaps one of your life’s most significant decisions. But if you’re buying your first house, you may get caught up in trying to buy your dream property and end up overpaying for it. Whether you’re buying it from a direct seller who’s ready to ‘sell my house in NJ fast’ or a company that buys properties for cash to sell them quickly and promises that ‘we buy houses in NJ as-is’, you should exercise due diligence. Not sure how you can steer clear of overpaying on your dream home in Fanwood, Kenilworth, Garwood, or Mountainside? Here are five tell-tale signs.

5 Warning signs that you’re overpaying for your dream home

1. Listing price isn’t aligned with recent home sales of similar properties in the area: You should pay attention to the current housing market in the region and the community forecast to find if the listed price doesn’t line up with the recently sold comparable houses in the region. Instead of looking at what comparable houses are being valued at, you should focus on the amount people actually paid to buy similar homes most recently.
2. The price is higher than the home valuations of online tools: If one or more reliable online valuation tools show the property value to be lower than its listing price, it could be a red flag. However, you should confirm it with your real estate agent as the latter could catch something that’s beyond the scope of an online valuation tool’s algorithm.
3. It’s a stale listing: If your chosen house has been on the market for a significantly longer time than comparable houses in the area, it could be overpriced. And if it has spent a long time in the market, you could avoid overpaying by negotiating the price or get other valuable concessions, which the seller might be willing to offer.
4. The price is similar to comparable unsold homes: If your chosen home’s asking price is similar to comparable homes that were unsold and taken off the market, there’s a good chance the property is overpriced. It’s important for you to know these numbers and avoid your emotions from influencing you into spending more on a house that you think you would be comfortable buying.
5. It has home inspection issues: If a home inspector finds any issues with the house or it has some hidden maintenance issues that weren’t disclosed by the seller, you could end up overpaying to get the property habitable. For instance, buying a home with a badly-build foundation or one that needs you to overhaul the entire plumbing system could cost you significantly.

What can you do to avoid overpaying for your dream house?

Working with a buyer’s agent would be a good way to avoid overpaying. Such an agent would look after your best interests and will have an adequate understanding of the local housing market as well as the necessary inside information to gauge if the home has been priced fairly.

Another way to avoid overpaying for your dream house is to have an appraisal contingency in your contract. This is a clause included in your purchase offer that clearly mentions in case the home isn’t appraised for the price that has been agreed upon, you’ll be able to quit the deal with your deposit.

Whether you’re buying from someone who’s ready to ‘sell my house in NJ fast’ or a cash buyer that says ‘we buy houses in NJ for cash and sell it fast’, you should remember the pointers above to steer clear of overpaying on your dream house.