Diving into the Maui real estate market can be joyful, rewarding, exciting, and sometimes a bit overwhelming. If you’re bursting with excitement to finally get your Maui dream home, that’s a good sign! You just need to make sure to focus on making savvy choices in the process to ensure that living in your new Maui home is everything you hoped it would be. Here are some tips to keep in mind.
Get Pre-Approved – Always get pre-approved so you know exactly how much home you can afford. This way, you can shop with confidence, and most importantly, you won’t fall in love with a particular home or condo only to find that your lender won’t approve you for the total price.
Know When to Compromise – Buying the right home is often a balance between cost and quality. While one home might be move-in ready and look perfect, you can expect a higher price tag. If you don’t mind flexing your DIY skills, or learning some new ones, you might find that you have a rewarding experience fixing up a home that you got at a more affordable price. Besides, you might find that you end up wanting to change the style of that seemingly perfect home anyway.
Explore Thoroughly – While a home might charm you from its external appearance, it’s always a good idea to really explore a home. A good way to do this is to pretend you already own it in your mind’s eye. Then you’ll feel more comfortable about opening the cupboards, strolling across the lanai, and testing out the lights and plumbing. Getting a sense of the broad strokes is easy, but make sure you take time to pay attention to the details that make one home more appealing to you than another.
Compare Neighborhoods – When you choose a home, you’re choosing a neighborhood, too. There are plenty of fantastic communities here on Maui, and quite a lot of variety. If you’re really going to feel at home, you’ll want to feel comfortable with the feel of the neighborhood, too. For example, if you like to go out for walks, look for well-maintained sidewalks. If you’re concerned about the safety of your kids or pets near the street, maybe look for small streets, or a home on a cul-de-sac where no one is speeding by. If you value privacy, a home in a gated community or rural area might suit you best. Just make sure to take some time to really get to know the area around the homes that you’re considering.
Ask For Utility Bills – Here’s a tip you won’t hear every day. Ask the seller for their recent utility bills. Try to get a record of the past year, if you can. This will tell you how cost effective it is to keep the home functioning on top of the price tag for the home, and your other living expenses. Once you know what the utilities cost, you can evaluate whether those bills are affordable, and whether it’s worth it to invest in ways to reduce them.
Learn Maui Real Estate Terms in Our Glossary – Even if you’ve purchased real estate in the past in another state, the Maui real estate market is going to be a little different, with a number of terms and concepts that are unique to Hawaii’s market. If you run across an unfamiliar word, you can ask your realtor later, or save time and look it up in our Maui real estate glossary.
Balance Your Head, Heart, and Gut Instinct – Some realtors will say that if you fall head over heals in love with a home, you should trust your instincts, move fast and buy. The problem is, falling in love is not an instinct, it’s an emotion. Others will say that if you feel the choice is solid from an investment standpoint, the rest will fall into place, but buyers who make decisions based mostly on math end up feeling like there’s something missing. And sometimes, you’ll like the home, and it’ll look good on paper, but for some odd reason that you can’t put your finger on, something just doesn’t fit. That’s instinct, and a good realtor won’t urge you to ignore it. The best recipe for long-term success in buying a home on Maui or anywhere else is balancing your head with your heart and your gut instinct. When each vital part of you is allowed to do its job, you’re most likely to make a decision that you can trust in the long run.
We hope that these tips serve you well as you search through the many magnificent Maui homes for sale, and that you’ll reach out to us if you need our assistance through any step of the process. You’ll find our contact information at the bottom of the page if you need us. Mahalo!
