Fremont · First-Time Buyers
Buying Your First Home in Fremont
Every step explained before it happens, including the well and the septic nobody warns you about.
This Is Where Your Money Goes Furthest
Fremont is the one town I cover that is not on the lakeshore, and for a first purchase that is mostly good news.
The same budget that buys a modest cottage on the water will generally buy a house here with real room around it. People who start out searching the lakeshore, run the numbers, and look at what they would be giving up inside the house often end up on this side of the map.
My office is here, so this is not a town I visit. The trade-off is honest in both directions, and the part first-time buyers underestimate is the second half.
Land Has Costs You Have Never Had to Think About
Renting teaches you nothing about any of this, which is not your fault and is exactly why it catches people.
A well and a septic system have no monthly bill and do have a replacement cost with a rough date on it, so their age and condition matter more than their presence. The road may be county maintained or private, and private means somebody pays to plow and grade it, and that somebody may become you. The drive that looks fine in June behaves differently in a wet spring.
Outbuildings look like free value and are only worth what they can honestly still be used for. Acreage brings upkeep: mowing, trees that come down, fence lines.
None of that is a reason not to buy here. All of it is a reason to price it before you own it rather than discover it in your first year.
In their words
In their words
Tamara was absolutely the best and easiest Realtor to work with. First time buying a house and she made the process easy to understand and simple. Would highly recommend to anyone in the market!
What I Do That You Should Expect
I walk the property properly, including the back of it, and tell you what the ground, the buildings and the access are actually going to ask of you.
Then the monthly picture rather than the asking price: taxes, insurance, and what a well, a septic and a private road realistically add over time. If a place is wrong for you I will say so, including when it is the one you have already fallen for.
More than $4 million in closed sales over my last twelve months, up from under a million the year before. I hold the Accredited Buyer's Representative designation from the National Association of REALTORS®, and I work the lakeshore and inland both, so I can tell you honestly what you are trading.
Start Before You Are Ready
The best conversation is the early one, when nothing is decided and you can still change your mind about all of it for free.
More about the town, Fremont Lake and the drive across M120 is on the Fremont area page. The full first-time process is at first-time buyers, and if you are weighing this against the coast, there is more at waterfront in Fremont.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a well and a septic actually cost me?
Nothing monthly, and something eventually, which is the opposite of what renting teaches you to expect. Both have a rough working life and a replacement cost, so age and condition are what matter rather than whether the house has them. It belongs in your numbers before you buy rather than as a surprise in year two.
Is more land always better value?
Only if you will use it, because land asks for upkeep whether or not you do. Mowing, trees coming down, fence lines and a drive that behaves differently in a wet spring are all real. Plenty of people want exactly that and are delighted. The mistake is buying acreage because it came free with the house.
Am I giving something up by not buying on the lakeshore?
You are trading, and it is worth being clear-eyed rather than talked into either side. You give up being minutes from the water and you generally get considerably more house and land for the same money. I work both, so I will tell you honestly which trade fits what you have said you want.
Fremont
What first-time buyers looks like in Fremont
Inland in Newaygo County, where Gerber started in 1927 and where the same money buys land instead of frontage. My office is here.
Fremont is the one town I cover that is not on the lakeshore, and I would rather say so plainly. It has Fremont Lake by town with a public beach, a campground and a boat launch, and M120 runs across to Twin Lake and on toward Muskegon.
The trade is the point. The same budget that gets you a modest cottage on the water will generally get you a house with real acreage here, which is why people who start out searching for lakefront often end up looking at this side of the map.
First-Time Buyers: keep exploring
Ready to make your move with Tamara Hekkema?