9 Common Buyer Traps

9 Buyer Traps and How to Avoid Them   Buyer Beware   No matter which way you look at it buying a home is a major investment But for many homebuyers, it can be an even more expensive process than it needs to be because many fall prey to at least a few of the many common and costly mistakes which trap them into either: paying too much for the home they want, or losing their dream home to another buyer or, (worse) buying the wrong home for their needs. A systemized approach to the homebuying process can help you steer clear of these common traps, allowing you to not only cut costs, but also secure the home that’s best for you. This important report discusses the 9 most common and costly of these homebuyer traps, how to identify them, and what you can do to avoid them. Find out if your agent offers a Buyer Profile System or “House-hunting Service,” which takes the guesswork out of finding just the right home that matches your needs. This type of program will crossmatch your criteria with ALL available homes on the market and supply you with printed information on an on-going basis. A program like this can help you to affordably, move into the home of your dreams. 9 Buyer Traps 1. Bidding Blind What price should you offer when you bid on a home? Is the seller’s asking price too high, or does it represent a great deal. If you fail to research the market in order to understand what comparable homes are selling for, making your offer would be like bidding blind. Without this knowledge of market value, you could easily bid too much, or fail to make a competitive offer at all on an excellent value. 2. Buying the Wrong Home What are you looking for in a home? A simple enough question, but the answer can be quite complex. More than one buyer has been swept up in the emotion and excitement of the buying process only to find themselves the owner of a home that is either too big or too small. Maybe they’re stuck with a longer than desired commute to work, or a dozen more fix-ups than they really want to deal with now that the excitement has died down. Take the time upfront to clearly define your wants and needs. Put it in writing and then use it as a yard stick with which to measure every home you look at. 3. Unclear Title Make sure very early on in the negotiation that you will own your new home free and clear by having a title search completed. The last thing you want to discover when you’re in the back stretch of a transaction is that there are encumbrances on the property such as tax liens, undisclosed owners, easements, leases or the like. 4. Inaccurate Survey As part of your offer to purchase, make sure you request an updated property survey which clearly marks your boundaries. If the survey is not current, you may find that there are structural changes that are not shown (e.g. additions to the house, a new swimming pool, a neighbor’s new fence which is extending a boundary line, etc.). Be very clear on these issues. 5. Undisclosed Fix-ups Don’t expect every seller to own up to every physical detail that will need to be attended to. Both you and the seller are out to maximize your investment. Ensure that you conduct a thorough inspection of the home early in the process. Consider hiring an independent inspector to objectively view the home inside and out, and make the final contract contingent upon this inspector’s report. This inspector should be able to give you a report of any item that needs to be fixed with associated, approximate cost. 6. Not Getting Mortgage Preapproval Preapproval is fast, easy and free. When you have a preapproved mortgage, you can shop for your home with a greater sense of freedom and security, knowing that the money will be there when you find the home of your dreams. 7. Contract Misses If a seller fails to comply to the letter of the contract by neglecting to attend to some repair issues, or changing the spirit of the agreement in some way, this could delay the final closing and settlement. Agree ahead of time on a dollar amount for an escrow fund to cover items that the seller fails to follow through on. Prepare a list of agreed issues, walk through them, and check them off one by one. 8. Hidden Costs Make sure you identify and uncover all costs - large and small - far enough ahead of time. When a transaction closes, you will sometimes find fees for this or that sneaking through after the “sub”- total - fees such as loan disbursement charges, underwriting fees etc. Understand these in advance by having your lender project total charges for you in writing. 9. Rushing the Closing Take your time during this critical part of the process, and insist on seeing all paperwork the day before you sign. Make sure this documentation perfectly reflects your understanding of the transaction, and that nothing has been added or subtracted. Is the interest rate right? Is everything covered? If you rush this process on the day of closing, you may run into a last minute snag that you can’t fix without compromising the terms of the deal, the financing, or even the sale itself.

"You Will Love Your New Home Or I'll Buy It Back"

SPECIAL REPORT:EXCLUSIVE Buyer Protection Plan Buy Any One of Our Listings and if YOU Are Not Satisfied in 18 Months WE’LL BUY IT BACK! Buying a home is a huge decision - one you literally have to live with! The trouble is, depending on market conditions, sometimes you’ll find yourself buying a home even if the fit isn’t perfect. There are several possible reasons why this might occur: the commute is too long, you can’t control your neighbors, or simply that the house isn’t what you thought it would be. When you buy a home through our Team, we strive to find you the perfect home — one you’ll be happy with for years to come. You see, we have many unique systems especially for our buyers which allow us to quickly zero in on exactly what you’re looking for and help you beat out other buyers to the best new listings. We give you a commitment in writing that if your home doesn’t sell within the timeframe promised, we’ll put our money where our mouth is. If your home sits on the market for longer than the promised timeframe we agreed on, we will continue to market your home aggressively but pay you a previously agreed cash amount, out of our own pocket, upon its sale. We go the extra mile for our buyers... even AFTER you’ve purchased your home! But if it doesn’t work out, your satisfaction is still guaranteed. We set ourselves apart from other agents by offering our buyers our unique and unparalleled Buyer Protection Plan. If, for whatever reason, you become dissatisfied with the home you purchased within 18 months, we’ll buy it back from you and help you find another home that’s a better fit. You see, the typical real estate agent disappears after closing. In fact, a recent poll from NAR (The National Association of Realtors) indicated that many home sellers and home buyers do not use the same agent when they buy or sell a home the next time. You have to ask yourself why that is. We want you to be a client for life We want you to be so happy with the service we provide you that you’ll want to be a customer of ours for life. To ensure your satisfaction, we stand behind YOUR decision to buy by offering you our exclusive Buyer Protection Plan. We offer it (in writing) to help maintain, and protect, your investment. We want you to know how committed we are to helping our clients find their dream home. Here’s how it works: When you buy a home through our Team: If, for whatever reason, you become dissatisfied with your home purchase within 18 months, we guarantee to sell your present home before you take possession of the next home we’ve found you, or we will buy it ourselves for an upfront guaranteed price which we’ll give you in writing. If you receive an offer that is higher than the guaranteed price from an outside buyer, you get the higher offer, not us. This means that when you buy through our Team, you can do so knowing there’s a safety net under you. If you’re not happy with your home purchase within 18 months, we’ll buy it back!

Best Financing Rates

Best Financing: A 3-Point Plan   Buyer Beware When you’re looking to buy a home, the first thing most homebuyers do is start the process of househunting. However, experience proves that this is one of the last steps you should be taking if you want to get the most home for the least amount of money. In fact, shopping for the best financing should start long before you start shopping for a home. This report outlines 3 important steps you should take to obtain the best financing rates when you buy a home. Read on to find out where you can enquire, what questions you should ask, and how to manage the process to your personal advantage. 3-Point Plan 3 Critical Questions to Ask When you’re looking for an agent to assist you in finding a home, make sure you find out the answers to these important questions: Can you get me quick, easy and FREE mortgage preapproval? Can I get preferred access to special low down payments, monthly payments and interest rates? Can I get special advance notice of listings that computer-match my homebuying criteria? You owe it to yourself to benefit from these cost saving benefits. 1. Get Preapproved for a Mortgage . . . Getting preapproved for a mortgage will give you a number of important benefits including emotional security in the house-hunting process, and insurance against rising interest rates in the market place. Preapproval is easy, and can give you complete peace-of-mind when shopping for your home. Mortgage brokers can obtain written preapproval for you at no cost and no obligation. More than just a verbal approval from your lending institution, a written preapproval is as good as money in the bank. It entails a completed credit application, and a certificate which guarantees you a mortgage to the specified level when you find the home you’re looking for. Preapproval means no last minute shopping around for money and rates. With a preapproved mortgage, if rates go up, you still get the preapproved rate, but if rates go down, you receive the lower rate. 2. Receive Preferred Access to Special Low Financing . . . Agents that conduct hundreds of real estate transactions every year may be able to offer you certain negotiating advantages with lending institutions. These lenders are often anxious to do business with such agents and their clients, and may be willing to extend better than average rates. This can make purchasing a home much easier and more affordable for many buyers to qualify for a minimum down payment, and low monthly payments. Therefore many more buyers can own the home of their dreams much sooner than they ever thought possible. 3. Househunting Service... Most agents offer a house-hunting service to make it easier for you to find the home you want. Through these programs you can find out in advance which homes on the market match your homebuying criteria. To do this you simply provide your agent with a brief description of the type of home you’re looking for, for example, number of bedrooms, price range, neighborhood and so on. Then you should receive advance notice (including pictures) of all the homes for sale that match your requirements. This will give you the competitive edge to find out before other buyers which homes that are likely to be of interest to you. Because you are there before most other buyers, perhaps you can even negotiate a better price. You can then drive by these homes, without the assistance of an agent, to see which ones you want to view. Then it’s simply a matter of you advising your agent about which homes you like and want to see.