Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Eights Steps Toward The Front Door of Your Beautiful New Home!



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We know how exciting it is to be planning for a new home. Everything should be perfect and there is no room for anything to go wrong. Armed with the expert knowledge of your experienced and friendly Realtor, following the eight steps mentioned below, in conjunction with our previous blog post “Five Things You Need to Know When Buying a Home”, you will be in the best position to be in the best home for you and your family.

Work Up Your Wish List

Understanding exactly what it is that you need in a home is a huge step. Without realizing it, many potential new homeowners have no idea what they want or need when it comes down to looking for the perfect home. Through working with your Realtor on a needs breakdown, you are shown the areas that are most beneficial for the needs of your family and lifestyle. Finding the perfect home can only be done if you know what the perfect home for you is.

Do Some Home-Searching

Looking for the home of your dreams is not a matter of poring over real estate magazines or searching endless Google searches; it’s a matter of having access to the latest and greatest listings that are relevant to you and your needs. We provide you exclusive access to our MLS system that will accurately and quickly show you the results with hundreds of potentially perfect homes. The information remains updated, with current property listings maintained on a regular basis.

Let Them Know You’re Interested

Once you have identified what your perfect home is, have searched high and wide for the one that fulfills your dreams and have centered on the ideal property – the next step is to make an offer on the property. With our guidance, you will be shown the best ways to manage this aspect of your transaction. Important advice will be administered that will help you to be sure of your decisions and then the proper assistance will be given to follow through with the decision and offer-making process.

Dilly Dally With Dollar Amounts

Unless hardcore buying and selling transactions come naturally to you, it can be difficult to negotiate with the existing homeowners. Using your agent as a buffer, the negotiation process can and does become an easy one, managed entirely through liaison communication, putting the burden of results on the agents negotiating the sales on their clients’ behalf.

Ensure Smooth Sailing Within All Services

As soon as your offer is accepted, there are the tedious procedures that involve vendors. For services from anything from termite inspections and building code checks to title insurance or other vital steps along the way, having someone who is experienced and has managed hundreds if not thousands of such transactions, is ideal. Not only will this remove the burden of the stressful aspect of a new move from you, it will clear up the way for you to start planning on the fun stuff like registrations in neighborhood schools, signing up for utilities and getting to know your potential neighborhood.

Get The Documents Lined Up

One of THE most daunting aspects of buying a new home is the mountains and mountains of paperwork. Ok, so it may not be that much, but it seems that way for people who are unfamiliar with the language in those documents and the meaning behind what is written. Preparing documents prior to the closing process is an important part of the entire thing and it requires meticulous attention to detail and a working knowledge of the contracts.

Finalize Everything Flawlessly

While closing on the sale of your new home is the most exciting part – especially after having gone through weeks and sometimes months of getting to this point – the closing step is a crucial one and has the potential to slow things down if not handled flawlessly. Your Realtor will work to ensure smooth sailing during this stage so that you can focus on the prize – your new home!

Wrap the House Up In a Neat Bow

Now that everything is said and done, the real fun begins. During post-closing time, it’s time to move in your furniture, acquaint yourself with the ins and outs of your new area and complete the package. The support and assistance you will get from your partners in real estate will be pivotal at this junction since they will have seen you through all stages of this exciting venture. Being the biggest purchase in their lifetime for most people, this last step is the most fun.
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When you trust an agent to help you with all the steps mentioned above, you KNOW you can focus on the more exciting parts of moving in to your new home. By leaving the tedious things like poring over long documents and tiny fine print, you can enjoy the process of looking for your home using our services such as exclusive access of the latest listings. At the end of the day, you can look forward to years of lasting enjoying in your new home!

Monday, April 18, 2011

Five Essentials Home Buyers Should Know When They’re In the Market for a New Home



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With all this talk of the real estate market being down and homes sitting on the market for months and months, it’s no wonder that this is a buyer’s market. So if you and your family are considering moving into a bigger, better home or if this is finally the right time for you to step up to the plate and get into your first home, then you should know the essentials.

Keep Your Eye On the Bucks

Homebuyers these days have a lot of temptations to contend with. Since there are so many homes on the market and relatively fewer buyers, the choices are myriad but then that leaves another problem that must be dealt with – keeping within their means. It can be so tempting to want ‘more house’ when touring all the neighborhood homes you imagine living in, but unless you’re careful, you run the risk of significant consequences later on. If you’re not careful, going outside your budget can mean monthly payments that are too high to handle.

Step 1: Make a budget and stick to it.

Save Now, Relax Later - Everyone knows that buying a home entails putting down a significant amount as a down payment, up front. This is often the largest sum of money that most people have to come up with and also part with, in their lives. One of the best ways to manage this sizable expense is to save it up as you lead up to the purchase of your new home and enjoy smaller payments based on the amount of down payment you are able to secure. The more of the up to 20% of your home’s price that you can, the better.

Step 2: Better to be safe, than sorry – by saving.

Strengthen That Credibility - Gone are the days when you can just walk into a lender’s office or log online and get an instant loan approval. Now, more than ever, your credit profile is essential in yielding the best rates, under the solid most of terms and in the most hassle free process possible. The better your credit score, the easier it will be for you to be taken seriously as a homebuyer.

Step 3: Pay attention to your financial reputation.

Secure Those Funds - Advance approval on the funds to purchase your home will give you a wide range of opportunities as a buyer. Imagine knowing in advance exactly what you have to work with, where your bargaining power lies and how much leeway you can give or take when negotiating a closing. By securing preapproved loans by mortgage loan officers or lenders, you are taking away the hassle of the unknown when bidding on a new home.

Step 4: Lay solid financial groundwork before you begin.

Rely On Your Realtor - Even though most people realize the value of having a trusted Realtor in your corner, walking you through each of the steps of the home buying process, there are some who feel circumventing this step is beneficial. The truth is that when a professional Realtor who has experience dealing with all the ins and outs of the real estate business is on your team, you can focus on the less arduous tasks of the process while relying on your Realtor for the technical stuff.

Step 5: Don’t sweat the technical stuff; find the home you love and let your Realtor make it happen.

It doesn’t take much other than buyer-savvy to realize the best home buying experience. With these five key steps, the buying process will undoubtedly be a smoother one, making the entire process an enjoyable one for you and your family!