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INFORMATION FOR BUYER
- GLOBAL
HERITAGE REALTY -
Buying a
home can be one of your most significant investments in life. Not only
are you choosing your dwelling place, and the place in which you will
bring up your family, you are most likely investing a large portion of
your assets into this venture. The more prepared you are at the outset,
the less overwhelming and chaotic the buying process will be. The goal
of this page is to provide you with detailed information to assist you
in making an intelligent and informed decision. Remember, if you have
any questions about the process, we are only a phone call or email
away!
Common Mistakes First-Time Home Buyers Make
Buying a
residence can be a hair raising experience. You will experience a
roller coaster of emotions while finding the right place, securing
the loan and finally moving in. For most of us, the first time home
purchase is the largest investment we’ve ever considered. The
emotions of purchasing something so expensive and personal can often
cloud our business judgment.
Most home purchasers do little or no
research before they invest their nest egg. Doesn’t it make sense to
become as completely informed as possible before you buy your first
home? This special report is designed to help you avoid 10 common
and crucial mistakes. The right real estate professional can help
you make good sound business decisions based on your personal
situation.
Inspect, Inspect and Inspect -
Go over the inspection report with a fine tooth comb. Make sure the
report was done by a professional organization. For condo purchases
go over the CC&R’s, By-Laws, and Association Fees. Don’t take
anything for granted... inspect everything!
Imagine the
Property Vacant -
Your furnishings and decorations will be the ones filling this new
residence. Don’t be swayed by beautiful furniture; it leaves with
the owner.
Income + Lifestyle = Mortgage Payment - Sit
down with your professional real estate agent and honestly discuss
your income level and living expenses. Take into account future
considerations, children, add-ons, amenities, and fix-ups. Your
dream home is certainly worth a sacrifice but don’t mortgage your
entire future.
View Several Homes - See at least few
properties. Don’t move too slow but don’t move on the first property
you see. With your agent’s help you should be able to view enough
properties to get a good overall perspective of the home market.
When you find the right property all the leg work will be worth it.
Utilize Your Team - By aligning yourself with the right real
estate professional you will have an entire team at your disposal.
Utilize your lender, title rep and agent. Each of them should work
hand in hand for your benefit. Explore all the options before you
sign.
Be Det. - Check out all costs and expenses
before you sign. Utilities, taxes, insurance, maintenance and home
owner dues if applicable. Make sure all utilities (gas, electricity,
and water) are on during tour walk-through so you can inspect
everything in working order. Ask lots of questions and be very
detail conscious.
Do a Final Walk-Through - Visit the
property after all furnishings have been moved out to be sure there
are no surprises. Be absolutely positive the property was left
exactly as you had agreed upon in the contract. Things that could
have been spotted in a final walk-through are often unintentionally
overlooked.
Plan For Flexibility - Closing dates are
not written in stone. Allow for contingencies and have a back-up
plan. If you or the sellers need a little more time to conclude the
final arrangements, don’t let these delays upset or frustrate you.
These types of circumstances are not uncommon in a real estate
transaction.
If It’s Not In Writing, It Doesn’t Exist -
All promises and discussions should be in writing. Don’t make any
assumptions or believe any assurances. Even the best intentions can
be misinterpreted. Have your professional keep an ongoing log in
writing of all discussions and get the seller’s written approval on
all agreements.
Loyalty Breeds Loyalty - Be open,
honest and up front with your team. Hard feelings and disloyalty
will cause head aches, delays or may even keep you from getting into
the home you worked so hard to locate. Take the time to select the
right team in the beginning and your first home purchase will be a
pleasing and memorable experience.
POWERFUL BUYING STRATEGIES
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In
a perfect world, it would be easy to always be objective and make
rational decisions based on sound information. In reality, emotions
and timing often have a big effect. Sometimes the best you can do is
try to set the stage so that you minimize the subjective influences.
Give yourself power and control. Don't find yourself in the position
of "having" to buy and doing so in haste.
1 -
Work out the finances first.
Paying cash? Getting a mortgage? Find out what you can afford and
check out all your various options.
Meet with whatever experts you need to in order to have all your
facts - a lender, your tax advisor, etc. Knowing exactly what you
want to spend and can spend will eliminate time spent looking at
properties you can't have.
Not only that, when you find the right property you can make a
"clean" offer without a financing contingency. Sellers are more
likely to respond favorably to clean offers.
2 -
Unless you really want to own two properties, sell first. Then
buy. First of all, the property you want will probably not take a
contingency offer. So unless you are prepared to own both (and you
have to plan for a worst case scenario) you are wasting your time
with the offer.
Second, if you are emotionally attached to what you want to buy you
won't be as objective on selling your home. You may take less than
it's worth so that you don't lose the other home. There's nothing
wrong with that as long as you understand the financial
implications.
3 -
Use a realtor who knows the market. That may sound too simple in
this age of the internet, when buyers have access to the same data
the agent has. The difference is the ability to interpret that data.
Full-time realtors do more than show homes and write contracts. They
study market trends and observe area fluctuations. You are thinking
about your needs now. But your agent is thinking about both now and
in the future when you are ready to sell again and looking for your
future resale opportunities.
In addition, the internet is an increasingly non-objective source of
information. Many websites do not display all the properties that
are for sale in a given area because of contractual conflicts. And
most new communities are not listed at all in any search vehicle. A
professional realtor should be able to show you all the homes that
fit your needs.
That doesn't mean look at 200 homes before you make a decision.
Sometimes it's the first home you see. But don't let an agent, a
seller, or a spouse, push you into something you don't feel good
about.
5 -
You can't have it all.
Decide what is most important in your next home and put it into
perspective. If it's location, or price, or view, or square footage,
or school districts, or amenities, or whatever.
Remember that some things can be changed. Floors, kitchens,
landscaping, etc. are all changeable. So if they are not perfect,
they can be. But location, view, amenities, etc. are there forever.
No matter what your budget, the good fairy of real estate did not go
- poof! There it is. It simply doesn't happen. Everyone has to make
compromises. So decide what truly matters to you and put that at the
top of your list. Give in on what doesn't matter as much.
If you Follow these guidelines and you'll get the home you desire.
Buying the Best House for Your Money
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1.
Get "Pre-Approved" - Not "Pre-Qualified!"
Do you
want to get the best property you can for the least amount of money?
Then make sure you are in the strongest negotiating position possible.
Price is only one element in the negotiations, and not necessarily the
most important one. Often other terms, such as the strength of the buyer
or the length of escrow, are critical to a seller.
In
years past, I always recommended that buyers get "pre-qualified" by a
lender. This means that you spend a few minutes on the phone with a
lender who asks you a few questions. Based on the answers, the lender
pronounces you "pre-qualified" and issues a certificate that you can
show to a seller. Sellers are aware that such certificates are
WORTHLESS, and here's why! None of the information has been verified!
Many
times unknown problems can come to the surface! Some of the problems
I've seen include recorded judgments, alimony payments due, glitches on
the credit report due to any number of reasons both accurately and
inaccurately, down payments that have not been in the clients' bank
account long enough, etc.
So the
way to make the strongest offer today is to get "pre-approved". This
happens AFTER all information has been checked and verified. You are
actually APPROVED for the loan and the only loose end is the appraisal
on the property. This process takes anywhere from a few days to a few
weeks depending on your situation. It's VERY POWERFUL and a weapon I
recommend all my clients have in their negotiating arsenal.
2. Sell Your Property First, Then Buy the
House
If you have
a house to sell, sell it before selecting a house to buy! Contingency
sales aren't nearly as strong as one that comes in with a ready, willing
and able buyer. Consider this scenario: You've found the perfect house -
now you have to go make an offer to the seller. You want the seller to
reduce the price and wait until you sell your house. The seller figures
that this is a risky deal, since he might pass up a buyer who DOESN'T
have to sell a house while he's waiting for you. So he says OK, he'll do
the contingency but it has to be a full price offer! You have now paid
more for the house than you could have because of the contingency, and
you have to sell your existing house in a hurry! Otherwise you lose the
house! So to sell quickly you might take an offer that's lower than if
you had more time. The bottom line is that buying before selling might
cost you THOUSANDS of dollars.
If you're
concerned that there is not a house on the market for you, then go on a
window-shopping trip. You can identify possible houses and locations
without falling in love with a specific house. If you feel confident
after that then put your house on the market.
Another
tactic is to make the sale ''subject to seller finding suitable
housing''. Adding this phrase to the listing means that WHEN YOU DO FIND
A BUYER, you will have some time to find the new place. If you don't
find anything to your liking, you don't have to sell your present home.
3. Play the Game of Nines
Before house hunting, make a list of things you want in the new
place. Then make a list of the things you don't want. You can use
this list as a guide to rate each property that you see. The one
with the biggest score wins! This helps avoid confusion and keeps
things in perspective when you're comparing dozens of homes.
When house hunting, keep in mind the difference between ''STYLE AND
SUBSTANCE''. The SUBSTANCE are things that cannot be changed such as
the location, view, size of lot, noise in the area, school district,
and floor plan. The STYLE represents easily changed surface finishes
like carpet, wallpaper, color, and window coverings. Buy the house
with good SUBSTANCE, because the STYLE can always be changed to
match your tastes. I always recommend that you imagine each house as
if it were vacant.
Consider each house on its underlying merits, not the seller's
decorating skills.
4. Don't Be Pushed Into Any House
Your agent should show you everything
available that meets your requirements. Don't make a decision on a house
until you feel that you've seen enough to pick the best one.
A decade ago, homes were selling quickly,
usually a few days after listing. In that kind of market, agents advised
their clients to make an offer ON THE SPOT if they liked the house. That
was good advice at the time. Today there isn't always this urgency,
unless a home is drastically under priced, and you'll know if it is.
Don't forget to check into the SCHOOL
DISTRICTS of the area you're considering. Information is available on
every school; such as class sizes, % of students that go on to college,
SAT scores, etc. You can get this information from this web site.
5. Stop Calling Ads!
Please note - ads are sometimes created to
make the phone ring! Many of the homes have some drawback that's not
mentioned in the ad, such as traffic noise, power lines, or litigation
in the community. What's not mentioned in the ad is usually more
important than what is.
For this
reason, I want you to be very careful when reading ads. Remember that
the person writing the ad is representing the seller and not you! The
most important thing you can do is have someone on your side looking out
for your best interests. Your own agent will critique the property with
an eye towards how well it meets your needs and will point out any
drawbacks you should know about. So whether you decide to work with me
or not, pick an agent you feel comfortable with and enlist the services
of that agent as a buyer's broker. Then you become a client with all the
rights, benefits, and privileges created by this agency relationship,
and you're no longer just a shopper. Did you know that many homes are
sold WITHOUT A SIGN ever going up or an AD EVER BEING PUT IN THE PAPER?
These "great deals" go to those people who are committed to working with
one agent. When an agent hears of a great buy, who do you think he's
going to call? His client, who he has a legal obligation to work hard
for you, or someone who just called on the phone and said "keep your
eyes open"? So to get the best buy on a property, I always recommend
that you hire your own agent and stick with him or her.
SCHOOL ZONE NYC
Contact:
RAJEEV R. SHARMA ( RAJ)
Licensed Real Estate
Broker
Submit
Your Info. Here
Email:
Raj@GlobalHeritageRealty.com
Raj@Rajhomes.com
WWW.GHRNY.COM
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WWW.GLOBALHERITAGEREALTY.COM
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WWW.RAJHOMES.COM
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