Skip to main content

What Professionals do You Need to Buy a House?

Most likely, buying a piece of real estate is going to be one of your biggest investment in your life. You will certainly want to have a team of professionals working with you throughout the buying process. After all, you wouldn’t want to cut your own hair or hire the cheapest doctor when you really need the best… Let’s see who needs to be on the bus.

The Real Estate Agent

Your Realtor will play the most important role in helping you to find the right home. His job is to be the quarterback in the game. Some of the main parts of his responsibilities are:

•Discover what’s important to you. I.e.: price, location, size, upgrades, etc.

•Help you to find the right home.

•Draft up an offer that is favorable to you.

•Negotiate on your behalf to get the best price and terms for you.

•Provided you with important information about the community that may be imperative to your decision making.

•Supervise the home inspection and to save you time where ever he can.

Be sure to ask plenty of questions before settling for a Realtor to represent you. If you can, why not compare one Realtor to another? Find out their previous track records, how long they have been in the business and most importantly, how do their sales number compare to the average Realtor? Once again… I am sure that you wouldn’t want to hire the average brain surgeon if you would need it, look for the best and minimize your risk.

When you are buying real estate, typically it won’t cost you anything to have a Realtor represent you. However, before signing any piece of document, find out or read the print to discover if there are any obligations on your behalf.

The Bank or the Mortgage Broker

One of your initials steps is to get a mortgage pre-qualification in place. This piece of document will assist you a couple of ways. Firstly, you will know how much you can afford exactly and you won’t be wasting anyone’s time, including yours if the bank won’t approve you for the mortgage.

Secondly, you can use it as a negotiation tool once you find the right property. Many home sellers are very skeptical of removing their properties from the market for a period of 1-2 weeks for you to complete your due diligence. If you have proof in your hand that you are very much so pre-qualified, than it helps to ease the edges during the negotiation process, and allows you to focus on things that might be more important to you.

You should definitely shop around a bit to find the best lending institution as there are many of them. As an example, here is a few of them: banks, trust companies, credit unions, pension funds, insurance companies and finance companies. Be on the lookout for the terms and the options they will provide.

Getting in touch with a mortgage broker may be a wise decision for you in order to save a lot of time. Mortgage broker don’t work for a specific bank, rather they work for you and the best part is that the banks pay them. Their job is to find you the best lender with the terms and rates that will best suit the buyer.

The Lawyer

Many times there could be legal issues attached to the particular property that you are looking at buying. Your lawyer will make sure that before the purchase is completed that you are not going to have any building or statutory liens or charges or work or clean-up orders associated with it that you may inherit. Having a lawyer to compete the transaction sure gives you a piece of mind.

The Home Inspector

Home inspectors are doing this everyday for a living – identifying problems that may cost you a lot of money in the future. It’s not even a question of you should do a home inspection on the property that you are going to purchase. Just like in any other profession, experience and reputation makes a huge difference when selecting the home inspector.

The home inspector’s job is to point out any defects of the property and inform you of its current condition. He will inspect the following areas:

•Doors and windows

•Foundation

•Attics

•Roof and exterior walls

•Plumbing and electrical systems

•Heating and air conditioning systems

•Ceilings, walls and floors

•Insulation

•Ventilation

•Septic tanks, wells or sewer lines

•Overall opinion of structural integrity of the building

The Insurance Broker

Lenders will insist on having current property insurance in place prior to them advancing the mortgage funds. Your property will be their collateral for their investment or your mortgage. Property insurance will cover the replacement cost of your home, so premium may vary depending on its value.

The Appraiser

Quite often your lender will order an independent appraisal report to make sure that their mortgage is well protected. You may also order an appraisal’s report in order to find out how much your property is worth and helps you to ensure that you are not paying too much.

For information about the Sarasota real estate market, visit www.PremiumPropertiesSarasota.com.


Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Basics of Buying Real Estate Short Sales

Over the last several years, short sales have received a substantial amount of attention. This type of transaction is done when the seller owes more on his or her mortgage than the value of the property. The lender essentially agrees to accept less than the balance owed as an alternative to foreclosure . On the surface, a short sale (SS) seems attractive for all parties involved. The buyer is able to purchase a property for a price that is below market value ; the seller is able to sell their home without losing it to foreclosure; the lender is able to recover a portion of the mortgage that would otherwise be lost. However, these deals are often more complex than they seem. Some require up to six months to close, and often fall through beforehand. In this article, we’ll explain the basics of buying real estate short sales, starting with the importance of working with an experienced real estate agent . We’ll describe the process and explore some of the factors you shou

SAR Monthly Statistics Released for May 2010 - Sales Again At Highest Level in Almost Five Years!

Sarasota real estate market at highest level since 2005 Property sales in May 2010 in the Sarasota market once again hit the highest total since 2005 and median sale prices continued the steady pace observed in recent months. The 766 sales were the highest for the year, topping the April 2010 total of 757, and were the highest total since December 2005, and 51.3 percent higher than the May 2009 total of 506 sales. Pending sales were once again strong, hitting 857, but were slower than April 2010. The March and April pending sales figures both topped 1,000, and reflected a last minute rush to beat the federal homebuyer tax credit deadline. "The May 2010 statistics continued to show that the Sarasota real estate market is continuing a steady recovery," said 2010 SAR President Erick Shumway. "We saw a slight dip in the pending sales, which will likely be reflected in the sales numbers over the next 30 to 60 days. But median sale prices are higher