Buying a home in today's market can be competitive, especially if you are building a new construction home with the rising costs and limited availability of construction materials. An existing home for resale is a great way to buy a home with many features a new construction home lacks, which you can use to build equity in the future. Here are some recommendations to help you through the process of buying a resale home.

Evaluate the Landscaping 

The landscaping of a resale home is usually a feature that exceeds those of new construction homes. A new build will not have mature landscaping and trees that provide the exterior appeal of a new construction home, and you won't have to worry about installing your own landscaping. 

Look for a resale home that has features that you want, such as fruit trees, mature shade trees, decorative shrubbery, and other vegetation accenting its exterior. You can also find a resale home that has a backyard deck and patio with space for a hot tub, outdoor grilling, and other activities that you can do in your own home's backyard.

Negotiate the Price 

When you buy a resale home, you are buying it from the existing owner, but the sales price is negotiable depending on the market conditions. If you want to buy a home in an existing neighborhood, you can evaluate the recent sales in the area to establish a fair offer price, which you can discuss with the seller. When you first start searching for a home, you will usually complete a market analysis of the area so you have a good understanding of the market prices and how much you can expect to spend. Use this information to help you select an area or neighborhood, home size, and type along with its age and condition so you can make an offer on a home that fits within your budget.

After you have submitted an offer to the buyer and the buyer has accepted, it is also important that you arrange a home inspection to check out the home's underlying conditions and pinpoint any problems. Because it is a resale home it has been lived in and has aged, which means its systems and components have aged as well. An inspection will check, for example, the heating and cooling, plumbing, electrical, insulation, structure, foundation, and the roof. Then, any issues found in the inspection, you can use to renegotiate your purchase price and terms.