Crescent City Living

New Orleans Real Estate Brokerage

  • Home
  • Home Search
  • Communities
  • Services
    • Home Value Request
    • Buying
    • Selling
    • Renting
    • Landlords
    • Louisiana Real Estate Contract
  • The Blog
  • About Us
    • Client Reviews
    • Our Beliefs
    • Agent Pros
    • Crescent City Living Policies
    • Careers at Crescent City Living
  • Account | Login

When Family Gets Involved in Your Home Purchase

When Family Gets Involved in Your Home Purchase

September 20, 2011 By Crescent City Living

We’ve sold a lot of houses over the years.  During that time, we’ve seen families that came together to support someone during their home purchase.  We’ve, unfortunately, also seen people walk away from what they thought was the perfect home just because of something mom or dad or Uncle Charlie said. When family gets involved in your home purchase, it can makes things a little more challenging (or a little more exciting!), depending on your family’s agenda.

Before you decide to bring a family member along to view homes and share their opinion, ask yourself a few questions

Are they supportive of your decision to buy a home?  Sometimes, friends and family will throw up objections to convince you of all of the reasons to NOT buy a house.  What if prices drop?  What if rates go down more?  What if you find a better deal next week?  You need to know if they are going to be a fun and constructive part of home buying or if you just need to send them an invitation to the house warming after you move in.

Are they in agreement about where you want to live?  This can cause a lot of conflict if the family doesn’t like where you have decided to call home.  They may think the neighborhood is not nice enough. Or that it’s too much of a commute to your job. Or (horrors) that it’s too far away from their own home and not convenient for them to pop in without calling. In these cases, we often find family members making objections to homes. We know that the real objection is that they don’t want you to be so far away from them.  Knowing this in advance might determine who is invited on the house hunting trip.

Are they providing some of the money for your purchase?  Whenever a family member is giving you money towards a home purchase, they generally feel entitled to put their two cents in about what home you choose.  It’s probably best to set the ground rules ahead of time for how much input they will have on what house you decide to buy. An alternative is to forgo buying until you are able to save enough to do it without their help.

When was the last time they bought or sold a house?  The longer it’s been since someone has purchased or sold real estate, the more things have changed.  I remember when we bought our first house, no one was doing home inspections.  It was basically buyer beware and what you see is what you get.  Today, we will beg until we are blue in the face to encourage our buyers to have a home inspection done on any house they want to buy (even new construction). Building codes have changed, what’s acceptable to a lender has changed and things that can derail a home purchase today weren’t even a consideration years ago.  This is where you should rely on the expertise of your agent to guide you through the process, despite the best of intentions from your family and friends.

Get our free home buying guide

Filed Under: Buyers Tagged With: home buying

Related Posts

Please Don’t Cheat On Your New Orleans Real Estate Agent
Heads up Home Sellers! Mortgage Lenders are About to Make It Even Harder to Sell Your House
NOLA Home Buying Tip 2: How To Choose A New Orleans REALTOR®

Listings, Market Reports & Open Houses by Area

  • Algiers (West Bank)
  • Algiers Point (West Bank)
  • Audubon
  • Avondale (West Bank)
  • Bayou St John
  • Belle Chasse (West Bank)
  • Black Pearl
  • Bridge City (West Bank)
  • Broadmoor
  • Bywater
  • CBD & Warehouse District
  • Central City
  • City Park
  • Desire
  • East Carollton
  • East Riverside
  • Fairgrounds
  • Fillmore
  • French Quarter
  • Freret
  • Garden District
  • Gentilly Terrace
  • Gentilly Woods
  • Gert Town
  • Gretna (West Bank)
  • Harvey (West Bank)
  • Holly Grove
  • Holy Cross
  • Irish Channel
  • Jefferson
  • Kenner
  • Lake Shore & Lake Vista
  • Lake Terrace & Lake Oaks
  • Lakeview
  • Lakewood
  • Leonidas
  • Lower 9th Ward
  • Lower Coast & English Turn
  • Lower Garden District
  • Marigny
  • Marlyville & Fontainebleau
  • Marrero
  • Metairie
  • Mid City
  • Milan
  • Milneburg
  • Navarre
  • New Orleans East
  • Pontchartrain Park
  • River Ridge
  • Seventh Ward
  • St Anthony
  • St Bernard Area
  • St Claude
  • St Roch
  • Terrytown (West Bank)
  • Touro
  • Treme
  • Tulane / Gravier
  • Uptown
  • Uptown / Carrollton
  • Venetian Isles
  • Waggaman
  • West End
  • West Riverside
  • Westwego (West Bank)

Crescent City Living Logo

3205 Orleans Ave New Orleans, LA 70119

Telephone: +1 504.327.5303

Disclaimer: Multiple Listing Data provided at CrescentCityLiving.com is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. It is good practice to verify all information with a Real Estate Licensee before taking any action based upon this data. Listing data is made available for the use of consumers interested in the acquisition of real property only. Use of this data for any other purpose is strictly forbidden without the written consent of the Gulf South Real Estate Information Network.

Licensed by the Louisiana Real Estate Commission.

Copyright © 2023 Crescent City Living · All Rights Reserved. | Real Estate Websites by Ha Media


  • Home

  • Home Search

  • Communities

  • Services

    • Home Value Request

    • Buying

    • Selling

    • Renting

    • Landlords

    • Louisiana Real Estate Contract

  • The Blog

  • About Us

    • Client Reviews

    • Our Beliefs

    • Agent Pros

    • Crescent City Living Policies

    • Careers at Crescent City Living
  • Log into or manage your account…
    Account | Login
    • Call us…
    • Send us a message…
    • Find our office…

  • Contact Me (Dark)

    We take your time and privacy seriously. Fill out this encrypted contact form with the knowledge that we're not signing you up for endless emails.

    Contact Us

    Contact Us

    We would like to hear from you. Please send us a message by filling out the form below and we will get back with you shortly.

    Schedule a Showing

    Schedule a Showing

    Submit this secure form to request a showing. If you'd like a showing within the next 36 hours, it's best to call us after filling out this form.

    :
    Select a time for your showing

    Start the Selling Process

    Start the Selling Process

    If you're ready to sell your home, fill out this secure form to get started. One of our Specialists will contact you directly and there's no obligation.

    Sorry You Missed It!

    Sorry You Missed It!

    Looks like this property has already been claimed, but worry, not! We can help you find another. Fill out this secure form and we will get right back to you.

    Interested?

    Interested?

    Interested in this property? Fill out this secure form and I will contact you with details and availability.

    Interested?

    Interested?

    Interested in this property? Fill out this secure form and I will contact you with details and availability.

    Rent Your Home!

    Rent Your Home!

    If you've got a property you'd like to rent, we can help.
    Call us or fill out this secure form and we'll call you whenever you like.