You and the Seller Must Agree Buying a home does not occur in a vacuum, involving only you and the seller. There are all kinds of people and services involved behind the scenes to make it happen. Since some of these services affect both you and the seller, there will have to be an agreement…
If you are obtaining a VA or FHA loan in order to finance your purchase, you must include that information in your offer. This is because government loans place additional financial and performance obligations on the seller. Non-Allowable Fees First, VA and FHA loans prohibit buyers from paying certain types of fees that are often…
Disclosures From the Seller Although you have toured the property, looked at the walls and ceiling, turned on the faucets and played with the light switches, you have not lived in it. The seller has years of knowledge about his or her home and there may be some things you want to find out about…
Introduction and Overview Once you find the home you want to buy, the next step is to write an offer – which is not as easy as it sounds. Your offer is the first step toward negotiating a sales contract with the seller. Since this is just the beginning of negotiations, you should put yourself…
How Property Condition Affects Your Offer Since you have toured the property you are interested in, you should know how it compares to the general neighborhood. All you have to do is put the home in one of three categories – average, above average, or below average. When evaluating a home’s condition, there are a…
Determining Your Offer Price When you prepare an offer to purchase a home, you already know the seller’s asking price. But what price are you going to offer and how do you come up with that figure? Determining your offer price is a three-step process. First, you look at recent sales of similar properties to…
Recession and Expansion There are times when the economy is brisk and everyone feels confident about his or her prospects for the future. As a result, they spend money. People eat out more, buy new cars and they buy new homes. Then, for one reason or another, the economy slows down. Companies lay off employees…
When Income Grows and You Want to Buy “Stuff” When an individual’s income starts growing and they manage to set aside some savings, they commonly experience what may be considered an innate instinct of modern civilized mankind. The desire to spend money. Since North Americans have a special love affair with the automobile, this becomes…
Don’t Move Money Around When a lender reviews your loan package for approval, one of the things they are concerned about is the source of funds for your down payment and closing costs. Most likely, you will be asked to provide statements for the last two or three months on any of your liquid assets.…
As a fairly general rule, homes appreciate about five percent a year. Some years will be more, some less. The figure will vary from neighborhood to neighborhood, and region to region. Five percent may not seem like that much at first. Stocks (at times) appreciate much more, and you could earn over six percent with…