25 Biggest Real Estate Mistakes

Remember that you are buying the house, not the stuff inside of it, so make sure you see beyond the decorations and look at the bones of the home. Focus on the floor plan and the square footage. You also might want to measure the dimensions and graph out how that's going to work with your current belongings.

24. Not Providing Easy Access for Showings

Make your house easily accessible to potential buyers. If there's nowhere to park or it's difficult to get into, buyers may just skip it and look at someone else's property instead.

23. Not Researching the Neighborhood

It's absolutely critical that you research the neighborhood before you buy. Check out the area, amenities and the school system to be sure that your address corresponds with the correct school district. Also attend a community meeting, if possible. You're not just buying a house, you're buying a piece of that real estate and the land around it.

22. Losing Money With Auctions

While the starting bidding price for a house on auction might be a good deal, it doesn't mean the final price will be. Make sure that you are very strict with your budget when you are bidding — do not go over your final price because you got wrapped up in the excitement of a bidding war. Another thing to keep in mind is that when you buy a property at auction, you aren't able to get any of the warrantees or guarantees, and you are not able to do a home inspection. Find out if the auctioneer is going to put those charges on top of the sale price as well as if there are any liens on the property. You could be responsible for paying the property taxes on that house you just bought, which could make what looks like a good deal into a really bad deal.

21. Trying to Make the "Hard Sell" While Showing

If you are selling your house, you really shouldn't be around at the open house. You might want to try and sell the place on all the reasons you think the house is great, but that might not translate to the buyer. If you leave, you allow the buyers to really give unbiased objective feedback to the agent, which is only going to help you in the end.

Spring is the time of heaviest real estate activity, but that does not mean that people don't buy houses 365 days of the year. That doesn't mean you can't emphasize your home's seasonal amenities.

19. Treating Real Estate Like the Stock Market

When the real estate market is really hot and is appreciating really fast, people tend to look at it like it's the stock market. But playing real estate is nothing like the stock market — when you invest in real estate, you really need to take a long-term approach.

18. Failing to Market Your Home in Different Ways

Don't market your home with just a for-sale sign. Explore other marketing tools as well. Talk to your real estate agent about the marketing that they will do. It's something that should be set up from the initial signing of a contract with an agent. Some homes have virtual tours and photographs online. If you choose to go that route, don't forget to include the floor plans. That way, people can see the layout of your home and know that if it it's right for them.

17. Not Thinking About Resale

When you are decorating and renovating your home, you need to think about what is going to appeal to a broad section of buyers when it comes time to sell it. Buying houses and being in the real estate market is like chess, you always want to look two or three steps ahead in the game.

16. Buying Without Actually Seeing the Property

It's really easy to buy a house without seeing it because of the Internet and virtual tours, but virtual tours can be deceiving. Plus, it's really hard to actually get a sense and feel of a home by only looking at it online. You need to actually walk through the place yourself. If that's just not possible, hire an inspector to go look at the property and provide you with an assessment.

15. Trusting Everything a Real Estate Advertisement Says

Don't assume every ad is fact. Learn to decipher real estate lingo. For example, cozy means small, and as-is means it's a fixer-upper. If there are a lot of exclamation points in an ad, it means they are there just to take up room because there is so little to say about the place. Follow the old adage: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

14. Picking the Wrong Agent

Treat meetings with agents like a job interview because that's really how it works — that person is going to be working for you. Talk to your friends who've sold houses and had a good experience with their agent, and go to open houses and observe how that agent interacts with other people. It's also a good idea to meet with the agent in their office. It allows you to see how organized they are, what kind of environment they work in and whether that's conducive for them being able to do a good job for you.

13. Not Hiring an Agent

There's a lot more to selling a house than just putting a sign on the front lawn. If you don't have an agent, you will not get on the multiple-listing service (MLS). That means that other agents are not going to know that your property is for sale. Another thing to consider is if you are willing to show the house each time someone wants to come by and look at it? If you do plan to sell your house on your own, always have a lawyer present at a closing. It's really important to have someone on your side who understands all the complexities.

12. Buying the Most Expensive Home on the Block

The most expensive house will only depreciate in value over time, rather than appreciate, which is what you want. Also, those houses are often not the first house to sell because they are usually overbuilt to the neighborhood. It's absolutely critical that you research the neighborhood before you buy to find out what the price point should be.