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THESE
STEPS WILL HELP YOU SAVE THOUSANDS WHEN YOU BUY A HOME
1. Make sure you know what you want. As simple as this sounds, many
homebuyers don't have a firm idea in their heads before they go out
searching for a home. In fact, when you go shopping for a place to live,
there are actually two homes competing for your attention: the one that
meets your needs, and the one that fulfills your desires. Obviously, your
goal is to find one home that does both. But in the real world, this
situation doesn't always occur.
When you're looking at homes, you'll find that you fall in love with one or
another home for entirely different reasons. Is it better to buy the
4-bedroom home with room for your family to grow, or the one with the big
eat-in kitchen that romances you with thoughts of big weekend family
brunches? What's more important: a big backyard, or proximity to your
child's school? Far too often people buy a home for the wrong reasons, and
then regret their decision when the home doesn't meet their needs.
2. Don't shop with stars in your eyes: satisfy your needs first. If you're
lucky, you'll find a home that does this and also fulfills your desires. The
important thing is to understand the difference before you get caught up in
the excitement of looking.
3. Try to find a "Buyer Profile System" or "House-hunting Service". These
services take the guesswork out of finding just the right
home that matches your needs. This type of program will cross-match your
criteria with ALL available homes on the market and supplies you with
printed information on an on-going basis. A program like this helps
homeowners take off their rose-colored glasses and affordably move into the
home of their dreams.
To help you develop your home buying strategy, use this form:
What do I absolutely NEED in my next home: 1.
______________________________
2.
______________________________ 3. _____________________________
4.
______________________________ 5. ______________________________
what would I absolutely LOVE in my next home: 1.
_______________________________
2.
_______________________________ 3. _______________________________
4.
_______________________________ 5. _______________________________
How Sellers Set Their Asking Price For you to understand how much to offer
for a home you're interested in, it's important for you to know how sellers
price their homes. We've presented this information before from the seller's
point of view, but it makes sense to repeat it here to help you understand
what motivates the price sellers ask for. Here are 4 common strategies
you'll start to recognize when you begin to view homes:
1. Clearly Overpriced. Every seller wants to realize the most amount of
money they can for their home, and real estate agents know this. If more
than
one agent is competing for your listing, an easy way to win the battle is
to over inflate the value of your home. This is done far too often, with
many homes that are priced 10-20% over their true market value.
This is not in the seller's best interest, because in most cases the market
won't be fooled. As a result, the home could languish on the market for
months. This creates problems for the seller in that:
* the home is likely to be
labeled as a "troubled" house by other agents, leading to a lower than fair
market price when an offer is finally made
* the sellers have been greatly
inconvenienced with having to constantly have their home in "showing"
condition... for nothing. These homes often expire off the market,
forcing sellers to go through the listing process all over again.
Be wary of homes that have been on the market for a long time. This occurs
most often because the seller's asking price is too high.
2. Somewhat Overpriced. About 3/4 of the homes on the market are 5-10%
overpriced. These homes will also sit on the market longer than they should.
There is usually one of two factors at play here: either the seller believes
that their home is really worth this much despite what the market has
indicated (after all, there's a lot of emotion caught up in this issue), OR
they've left some room for negotiating.
3. Priced Correctly at Market Value. Some sellers understand that real
estate is part of the capitalistic system of supply and demand and will are
fully and realistically price their homes based on a thorough analysis of
other homes on the market. These competitively priced homes usually sell
within a reasonable time-frame and very close to the asking price.
4. Priced Below the Fair Market Value. Some sellers are motivated by a
quick sale. These homes attract multiple offers and sell fast - usually in
a few days - at, or above, the asking price.
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