Buying a Home in Chattanooga TN

No matter whether you are looking for a new home, vacation home, or an investment property, Chattanooga is great market for some incredible values and is also very stable. Chattanooga offers a real bargain when compared other neighboring metro areas such as Nashville or Atlanta. Chattanooga is perhaps one of the most scenic cities in all of the South offering homes with some remarkable vistas of the Appalachian Mountains and stunning lakes such as Nickajack and Chickamauga. If you are serious about buying a home or condos in Chattanooga TN, take a minute to read a few of the tips below. Then set up an automated search for listing updates on our daily updated and reliable site.

Chattanooga Home Buying Tips

1. Consider state income taxes. Chattanooga rest on the border of Tennessee and Georgia. Tennessee has no state income taxes while Georgia’s is significant.

2. If you can afford a home with a nice view, it will be worth the extra cost.

3. The majority of the homes in the Chattanooga area are built on crawl space instead of a slab due to the hills in East Tennessee. Although the construction cost is higher, many home owners prefer homes on a crawl as they are easier to remodel and repair any plumbing issues. Do not be deterred from buying a home on a crawl as they are just as solid and do not require any additional maintenance are not any more prone to issues than a slab.

4. Get qualified to know exactly what you can afford.

5. Do not look at too many homes. Search through as many homes as want online, but only preview homes that you actually might purchase. Walking through too many will make the homes start to blur together and perhaps frustrate you into compromising and purchasing home you otherwise might not.

6. Stay away from lease purchase or rent to own homes. With all of the options available today to purchase a home with little to no money down, there is really no reason to consider a rent to own. In most cases this type of purchase offers little to no benefit to the buyer. In most cases, they are means for a upside down or greedy owner to sell the home for more than it is worth as they cannot sell it through conventional means. Likewise buyers with poor credit are drawn to this type of sale as they can essentially buy while they are working on their credit. This is a horrible idea as there is no guarantee that borrower is unable to get approved now will be able to later. A lease purchase buyer might loose any earnest money if they are not able to buy by the agreed upon date.

7. Use an experienced agent. There is really not reason to not use an buyers agent as the seller pays the commission. A seller’s agent is working for the seller and will always try to get top dollar for their clients. If you use the seller’s agent you will likely pay more and most seller’s agents will not reduce the commission because you do not have a buyer’s agent as most brokerages will not allow it. In the same way a builder’s agent works for the builder and they definitely will not give you a better deal as it might compromise a appraisal of a future deal with an agent or worse give them a bad rap in the Realtor community.

8. Be ready! Often good deals go quick so if you find one you need to be ready to jump on it. So be financially prepared at all times once you begin your search.