Posts Tagged ‘Buying’

Buying Your Own Home – Tips To Time It Right

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

All over the United States of America, there are people in millions checking places to buy a home. People are planning this either as a future buy or a current option. The past years have seen lower interest rates making it very affordable for people to go about purchasing a house. If you stop a while to give a thought, you would realize that buying a house is a lot better than renting an apartment or any property for that matter.
So when you go about your house buying plan, you would need to have enough money for all closing costs and down payment. Your down payment would be approximately 15% of your property value or the home value; whichever comes lower. As to be towards the safer end, you can keep the figure up to 20%. This is because if you think it is not possible for you to put down for that amount you could later end up paying higher installments and interest rates to mortgage companies, unknowingly.
Most of the times, the closing prices would run around 5% of the total property price. Always ensure to get an estimate before you pan to purchase. Even though any estimate never is the exact price, it would at least come closer to one. One tip would be apparent and that is to have enough money than you are told, just to ascertain you are safe. Having more than enough is always better than not having enough.
When you are aware about the money you can afford, it is the right time to go for a home purchase. You should also be fully willing to be glued to your plan. Your mortgage payment after you purchase your house should not go beyond 25% of your actual monthly income. Even in case your lender suggests of higher payments, make sure not to divert from your estimate and arrangement.
You need to know that there always is higher expenditure for your house than alone the mortgage payments. The expenditure would start from utility bill payments, property taxes, homeowner’s insurance and other maintenance costs. Caring and owning a house or any property needs a good amount of responsibility. If it is your first experience to own a house, then you would take a longer time to get used to it.
Always check your credit reports for any errors before having all the applications filled. You may start to think this is not required; however one can very well get some error on his credit report and even fail to realize it. If such errors on credit reports happen, your interest rates could go sky high resulting in higher payments from your side. Any error for that matter would decrease your score in credit rating bringing you in a much higher interest bracket than you factually ought to be. This would undoubtedly fetch you higher overall expense for the house. Hence make sure to know the credit details before approaching any lender.
If you cross check your reports as early as possible, you would have more than enough time to fix the issues and get the right entry on the track. Restructuring your credit scores can take time; sometimes even years. Give yourself plenty of time to fix matters on credit.
Ascertain to be fully committed when you are towards a home purchase. Consider your credit factor and obtain the best of all deals possible. This would also assist you in finding better interest rates too. In case of bad credit, you would simply pay off higher than ever expected. Save your money by fixing all the credit related troubles so that you buy the home you desire, with a minimal interest rate.

70 Ways for Home Buyers to Save Money When Buying a Home: Tip #17

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

Tip #17 in our series of 70 ways to save money when buying a house is to never tell your agent the top price you will pay for a house.

In our last tip, I explained to you the importance of having your own real estate agent on your side. And if you are going to but property you should have an agent on your side, especially if it does not cost you anything.

But, your agent is human, and there is no way to tell if he/she has your best interest in mind. The higher the price of the house you buy, and the more you pay, the larger the commission for your agent. So if the agent was selfish, she would try to get you to pay as much as possible. She wants you to buy the most expensive house you looked at because if you buy it, it will be the largest commission for her.

By pushing you just a little bit towards the more expensive house, she will make a few hundred dollars more. Not bad for a few seconds of work.

Or say you are negotiating with the sellers, and your agent knows you can pay more than you are offering. Will she be able to go in to the sellers and really sell them on the offer? Probably not.

That is why I suggest you never tell your agent or any real estate agent how much you can pay for a property.

Your agent will ask you how much you can afford, but do not tell. Give a range. Tell him,

We would be comfortable paying between 225- 250 thousand for a house.

There is no telling if your agent will keep your information confidential. By law, they are supposed to, but it is very hard to prove, and you do not want to take that chance. By giving them a range they have all the information they need to do their job well. They can show you all the houses that meet your needs in the price range you gave him. Then, if the agent shows you a house that is above your price range, you might want to think about getting another agent.

After giving a solid range, there is no reason an agent should show you a house that is above your range, unless there were not enough homes in your range. But if you do some homework, you should easily be able to choose a range that you will be comfortable with and that has plenty of homes to choose from.

By keeping this information to your self you protect yourself from the human tendencies that get us all in trouble. Realtors are human, and you should remember this.

By giving your agent a range of prices of homes you want to see, you are making it easier on the realtor to narrow down homes to show you and you can save yourself a boatload of money at the same time. The best thing is, that you would never know if your realtor did something that made you pay more. Do not let the realtor screw it up for you. Keep this information to yourself.

The Benefits of Buying Real Estate in a Bad Neighborhood

Monday, April 12th, 2010

When people call me, typically one of the first requests they make is for a house in a “nice” neighborhood. And this makes sense to want a neighborhood that is safe and enjoyable. But there are some benefits to buying real estate in the rough part of town or on the wrong side of the tracks. This article highlights some of them.

- There is less worry of your neighborhood going downhill because it is already downhill. Good neighborhoods can get bad and bad neighborhoods can get better. Since the price usually reflects the current condition, buying in a neighborhood that has room for improvement might be a good idea.

- If you are buying a rental, you usually get better cash flow in rough neighborhoods. If you are renting your property, there are more renters and they are more long term. It’s difficult to rent in good neighborhoods because fewer people are looking to rent and those who do are generally there short term while they look for a house to buy.

- You can look better in comparison to other landlords. Landlords in rough areas frequently don’t maintain their properties as well as people in nice areas. Therefore, if you maintain your properties, you can blow away your competition, and charge more for it.

- If you are in a rough neighborhood, you can propose that your property change will improve the neighborhood and you have a better chance of getting a different zoning. Conversely, if you are in a good neighborhood, it’s hard to make the same argument.

- You can buy more property. If you want to spend 500k, you can either buy one house in an upscale neighborhood or six or seven houses in a rougher neighborhood.

- They’re more recession proof. When the economy goes south, real estate in rough neighborhoods is less affected.

In summary, I am not saying you have to buy in a bad neighborhood. But simply that if you are looking for long term investments sometimes its a good idea to wander over the tracks and look around a bit.