Tag Archives: Buying

Renting Versus Buying a Home – Four Questions

Posted on by

When considering renting versus buying a home, forget the biased advice of those who think it is always better to buy. Instead, consider the important questions you need to ask. Here are four of them.

1. How long will you be there?

Generally, if you will be moving in the next few years, you’ll be better off renting. Of course this wasn’t true during the last real estate bubble, when home values in some areas were going up 20% or more annually. But then some of those who timed it wrong and bought in the summer of 2006 saw a 20% decline in value in the following years. How would you like to be facing a move when you owe more on your home than it is worth? Unless you want to gamble, consider buying only when you’ll be in the home for a while.

2. What will the cost of owning the home be?

Add up all the various costs. Include the mortgage payment, taxes, insurance, utilities (guess if you have to), any immediate updates or improvements you’ll be making, and a reasonable amount for maintenance. Figure the total average monthly cost of owning the home. Once you have that, you need to answer the next question.

3. What is the cost of renting a home?

Include rent plus renters insurance (if you’ll buy it) plus utilities (guess). Now you have a basis for comparison. If it’s dramatically more expensive to buy, it may be better to rent for now and bank the difference. For example, a few years ago we lived in a city where a home that was worth $160,000 could be rented for $750 per month. Utility costs would be the same in either case, and the total cost of owning worked out to about $1,250. Had someone bought the home then, they would be in a home today that is worth about the same $160,000 (that was the top of the market). Had they rented and banked the $500 per month difference, they would have almost $20,000 saved today, meaning they would be that much further ahead if they bought that home (or a different one) now.

There are a few more things to note here. Some of that mortgage payment is principle, not interest. In other words some equity would have been built up even without a rise in value – but not much. Of course if the home were sold now, there would be expenses associated with that sale, eliminating any equity gained. On the other hand, rents can rise, while a fixed rate mortgage payment will remain the same. All of this gets back to the first question about how long you’ll be living there. The longer the time, the more likely it is that buying makes more sense, at least financially. But don’t skip the next question.

4. Do you want the responsibility?

As you can see from the example above, renting versus buying a home can be the smart move at times. But even when buying puts you further ahead financially, that is not always the final determinant. I like owning a home, and in large part because of the financial advantages. But my wife and I also plan to stay here a long time. If not, we might be renting, because I don’t actually like taking care of a house.

It is something to consider, especially in those situations when buying may have such a clear asset-building edge over renting. A landlord takes care of the roof, the heating system, the painting, carpeting, and even the yard work in many cases. With your own home, all of that is in your responsibility, along with buying and repairing large appliances, resurfacing the driveway and spraying for bugs. Do you want the work of being a home owner?

Eventually most people probably should buy a home. The cost of owning a home usually won’t go up as fast as rents, at least if you have a fixed-rate mortgage. Nobody can tell you to leave. A house is a great way to build assets too. After all, even when renting versus buying a home costs less each month, how many renters really do bank the difference? But as you can see from the questions above, there are times and situations when renting makes sense.

 

Copyright Steve Gillman. To see a photo of the house we bought for $17,500, get a free ebook on how to buy Inexpensive Homes, and a free real estate investing course, visit: http://www.HousesUnderFiftyThousand.com

Maximizing Profits in the Home Buying Season

Posted on by

Spring is the traditional time to buy and sell in the real estate business, and while the housing market has not been at its best, this just allows people to take advantage of excellent deals. Whether you are trying to buy property or sell your home, learn how to maximize your profits during this home-buying season.

Maximizing Profits From Home Sales

Those looking to sell their homes should follow a few steps before putting it on the market. Firstly, make sure you understand why you are selling or else you run the risk of spending a great deal of time and money on a project that goes nowhere. Once you are fully prepared to sell, start researching where you want to live next.

Interview real estate agents and ask for marketing plans to increase visibility of your home. Also, ask them for advice on to prepare your home for selling, home staging, pricing and the net profit. Develop a plan with the agent you choose and make sure they know exactly what you want out of your selling experience. Once your house is on the market, hold off on visiting new homes since it is usually more profitable to wait until you sell before you buy.

Getting The Most Out Of Home Buying

Real estate online is the easiest way to begin researching neighborhoods and prices. Determine what you can afford first, then start looking at all the places you would want to live. Open houses are a more traditional way of looking at property without having to commit to a real estate agent. Compare prices between new homes and older ones. If you can narrow down a few choices and are truly serious about buying, then start calling real estate agents.

Mortgages rates are at a historically all-time low, so find out all your financing options before you make any bids. With the housing market flooded with sellers, now is a better time to buy than ever. If you absolutely love the house, buy it regardless of whether you think the price will drop.

Just because there are more options does not mean the best deals go unnoticed. Look for foreclosed homes that are real estate owned (REOs) or find sellers that need to move in a hurry for your best bargains.

Maximizing Profits For Both Buyers And Sellers

Hire an appraiser to determine the value of your house and fix any major repairs before putting it on the market. If you are completely ready to buy a certain house, hire a home inspector to check it out for necessary repairs or damage.

Buyers and sellers should both talk to lenders and receive loan preapproval letters, so you know how much you qualify for when acquiring a mortgage. Do some comparison shopping for lending companies and mortgage types before settling on anything, and be careful of mortgage frauds.

Above all, make sure that what you want is to buy or sell before you are stuck with a huge loan you cannot pay off or a house that sits on the market. Taking time to prepare yourself for selling or buying a home will help you get the most out of this real estate season.

Acreage Anywhere provides a global marketplace for vacant land ownership opportunities of all types. Featuring an easy-to-use vacant land search tool, streaming video tours of available communities and interactive mapping of many land developments. Easily find land for sale all over the country, whether you’re looking for ranches, rural properties, second homes or recreation properties.

Home Buying Tips for First Time Buyer

Posted on by

Buying a home is always exciting, but it can also be stressful and exhausting if you are not prepared. Giving yourself time to take the necessary steps can make your home buying experience a fun and relaxing endeavor.

The first step in buying a new home is deciding on a realtor. It is extremely important to hire someone who knows what they are doing, especially when you are buying your first property. Look for a good realtor with lots of experience in the area that you are surveying. A realtor who knows the area can not only give you advice on your house but on the location and neighborhood you will be moving into. Interview a couple realtors before deciding on one; take time to get to know them a little bit since you will trust them with some big decisions.

Once you have a realtor, start looking into what type of house you want. Consider size, timeline, price, and location in all your decisions. You probably want a place that can be semi long term, so think about career, children and changes in your life while searching for your house. How big does your home need to be in order for your family to grow? What type of income will you be having over the next 10 years? Where will you be comfortable living, in the city or in the country? These are all questions to consider before you begin looking at listings.

Paying for your new home can become a stressful issue if you do not plan ahead. Hiring a mortgage broker to help you with you planning is always a good idea. Letting a professional look at your finances and guide you with your decisions usually sets you in a better situation down the road. Make sure that you understand all of the issues surrounding your loan. Don’t be afraid to ask questions about any of the numerous papers you will be asked to review and sign. Make sure you get detailed answers about the amounts you will be expected to pay monthly and over the years. It is VERY important to be comfortable with your mortgage broker and be willing to spend a lot of time asking questions and reviewing options with them.

Once you have your team of professionals and your budget clear it is time to start shopping for homes. This is the fun part so don’t be afraid to take your time and look at tons of places! Try to stay in price ranges and neighborhoods that you know you will be comfortable living in. Look at all types of homes. New homes and usually more expensive but come with warranties and usually have less repair problems than re-sale homes.  Weigh your options and think about how much time, money and effort you are willing to put into home renovations. Always keep in mind the option of buying a lot to build on. This can be a little bit more time consuming, but if you finance it right you can have your perfect dream home for the same price you would be buying a re-sale property. Whatever you decide to do, make sure you love your home before you sign the papers.

This article was produced by Eric Badgley; with REMAX Bellingham specializing in Bellingham Real Estate. http://www.bellingham-realestate.net

The Home Buying Process

Posted on by

Many a home buyer has wondered in the midst of their looking chaos- Is this how it is done because this is exasperating? Well to help buyers figure out that the information overload age need not apply to them when looking for and in buying a house, we have detailed the Buying Process for better peace of mind below… less chaos. We will assume for the purposes of this article that you are buying a home, but much of the same advice might apply for any kind of property. This article is written in a state where real estate agents handle real estate transactions, so realize that in some states or counties an attorney is required. Check with you local state officials for any differences that may pertain. Information in this article is not guaranteed to be reliable regarding differences that may exist in different states.

1. Become Educated

If you don’t contact a realtor first, do at least take time to get educated both about the real estate values by shopping online and about getting pre-qualified with a mortgage lender.

Maximize your opportunities to find the right home by eventually sharing your property wants/needs and timeframe with a realtor.

Your realtor can:

Direct you to competent and reputable mortgage professionals to establish your comfortable home buying price range.

Help with advanced search methods or tools.

Help you to understand neighborhoods and home features and their value in today’s market, as well as relevance to your buying needs.

Conduct information gathering and research on specific properties for you.

Create a venue for home buying advice and counseling.

Discuss current market conditions.

Commit to your agent of choice for the best professional service because commitment reciprocates commitment and genuine service, which is maximizing your opportunities.

2. Get Pre-Qualified

Finding the right mortgage lender or bank can be trying. Often times a good realtor will give the best recommendation. While finding a reputable lender to help you establish a comfortable shopping range is always a first recommended step, you do not have to settle on a mortgage lender or bank just yet. But the sooner you know just how much house you can buy, the less time it will take to pinpoint homes that truly meet your needs and budget!!! Also, don’t forget the energy and possible long hours saved from shopping around for homes that don’t meet your needs and budget. Everyone that is sensitive to an economy based on effective use of time and information has experienced getting the ‘food yanked out of their mouth’- this may be no less painful if you completely go it on your own. Insist actually on a pre-approval to include some of the items in #4 below.

Your lender will:

Check your credit.

Determine your debt to income ratio.

Discuss which mortgage product best fits your situation.

Provide a Good Faith Estimate, showing you what your closing costs would be.

Determine what purchase price you qualify for.

Write a “Pre-Qualification” (Pre-Approval if you take extra steps) letter that strengthens your offer on a home or property.

3. Find Your Dream Home

After becoming pre-qualified or pre-approved with a lender, it is time to find a home that truly meets your needs and budget.

Use a local realtors office or internet property search solutions to access “All the Listings”. You can do this by typing into the internet the name of the city (and state, if needed) followed by the words “real estate”. Most local county boards will control how much data gets released onto the internet. Most realtor sites will “serve up” some version of the local Multiple Listing Service containing all the listings. There are also some bigger 3rd party conglomerates that are competing to serve up the data more centrally because of how the information gets withheld or released and based off referral power revenue (to agents) that can be generated. Occasionally, the question of reliability in which the 2nd or 3rd party data gets delivered up, will leave that property search less desirable. Typically, these entities get property data either direct or in a “feed” from the local Board of Realtors in that County. If it’s a direct line, then data can be deemed “real-time”. If not, usually a day or two lag time of new listings going on will be rendered at your interface point of contact search solution. Also, many entities that serve up the data do not have a very friendly search interface console. Most people search until they can find one or two solutions they like. The bigger conglomerates compete with how you as the end user will eventually be connected up with which realtor. Both realtor and conglomerate may compete with the need to withhold enough information to still be able to entice you enough to get your contact information. Often times an individual realtor’s site will give out more data on listings than the big conglomerates because they already have some security of possible representation of business. Each may be earning some of your business and this is how they hope to get to be the ones to represent your real estate interests.

Get set-up on Email Updates if that area has them. Email updates are when a new listing comes onto the market matching your criteria and you get a reference to that listing freshly emailed to you with all pictures and data relative to that new listing.

Select those homes or properties that are of interest.

If possible drive-by the listings to become accustomed to the neighborhoods, styles and curb appeal of your preference homes.

Let your realtor know which ones that you would like to see or know more about and he/she will research the homes you have selected and set appointments for those you are interested in. Please note that the realtor will have showing instructions on each listing you select, which may or may not accommodate your desires of seeing it “right now”. Depending on areas, sometimes a Key-Box will be attached to the home as a way for your realtor to access the home when an appointment was not able to be secured. If this is the case, there is usually still a courteously call to the Seller that is appreciated protocol, so give your realtor some ample time a day or two, if you can, to line things up. If in an area, likelihood abound that many homes of the homes selected are on Key-Box, then less time is required and in some cases immediate showings can be arranged.

Now, your realtor should be competent enough to guide you through getting an offer written and accepted, after which you may need to immediately start on getting a loan.

4. Getting a Loan

Since, the market has been hit hard by the sub-prime market, many people and even Lenders are in a quandary over what is going to surface as the “real deal” in Lending money. Can you look far enough forward and perhaps think about becoming pre-approved, which is stronger than pre-qualified, even before you go shopping? I hope so, because the below is what you are looking at and why do this after all that house hunting work, only to find out you have wasted everybody’s time. Not the least to mention is the seller having had to take their house off the market with no compensation… when you may have been able to save yourself and your realtor all that running around by figuring out first, if you can really get a loan. These are some of the basics you will need in order to obtain financing.

Proof of Income

Employed – 2 year tax returns or W-2, 1 month pay stubs

Commissioned -2 year tax return including 1099 or W-2 and pay stubs

Self Employed – Federal tax return, profit and loss statement, 2 years balance sheet

Retired – social security awards letter

Other income

Rental property – copy of lease

Alimony or Child support – copy of Divorce decree

2 months bank statements

Driver’s license

Social security card

Home Owners insurance information

Bankruptcy information

Proof of Earnest money check

Your lender will:

Verify your information meeting the criteria for the loan

Prepare all the required documents and verifications

Upon a valid contract, submit your package with the appraisal to the underwriters (who re-verify and give approval to release funds for this transaction)

Handle last minute conditions from the underwriters

Once all conditions have been met, the loan is released from Final Underwriting and the true lender is committed to funding the loan.Your realtor or attorney can be checking in with your mortgage lender or bank as performance dates grow close. Such dates might include making sure ny appraisal condition or loan denial deadline is on schedule to be met. Thus, you, your realtor and lender should be working hand-in-hand to ensure that the loan details are being handled and remedied as needed.

Many a home buyer can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that if you follow the “yellow brick road”, along the home buying process that it will land you a home… and there is no place like home!

Brian Habel is an active full time real estate agent with RE/MAX First Realty

in St George Utah- the fastest growing community in the U.S. for over a 5 year

period of 2000-2006. For more info go to St

George Utah Real Estate.

Effective Tips to Buying Foreclosed Homes

Posted on by

Foreclosed homes are those homes which are default homes or distressed homes which further means that they are not in a condition where one can live.

Advantage: the best advantage of buying such a home is that it will be less expensive as it is not good for anything further. Many people infact sell the homes before the notice of default is issued so that they can get better deals out of it. One should remember that default homes deals are always complicated and the sellers have rights when it is in foreclosure.

Effective Tips to Buying Foreclosed Homes:

Before buying foreclosed home, both the buyer and the seller should seek some legal advice to avoid any further problems especially the legal ones. Sellers might think that a minor problem will go away with time which is the biggest blunder they do because problems with such property dealings can pop up at any time.

There are many investors who are interested in buying foreclosures before the foreclosure proceedings are final.

Sometimes it happens that the buyer is not allowed to see the foreclosure he/she is buying so it might be possible that the interior is too much destroyed and no one knows whether the house is in a position to be brought back to the living conditions or not. So it is advisable that before entering into a foreclosure do keep in mind what kind of a deal are you getting.

As a cherry on the icing, it is even possible that you might have to evict a tenant or the owner from the premises when you receive a title and the eviction process might be costly. Do check always when you are buying a foreclosure because such things can turn out to be really costly.

Make sure that you get the property history and make sure that you ask the buyer’s agent to find out how much purchase price is on the bank’s deed and then compare from what the bank is offering.

To do a stress free deal and then to sleep peacefully do check for such small things especially the legal ones to get a fair deal.

Myself webmaster of http://www.ushomeauction.com – search for buying foreclosed home and get information on how to Buy Foreclosed Properties For Sale in US.