To buy a home or refinance your mortgage you have to have good credit. To build good credit you need to have good personal finance habits such as paying your bills on time. What can you do in 2009 to build good credit so you can buy a home or refinance a mortgage? Read Ilyce's personal finance resolutions so you can build good credit and be ready to buy a home.
A real estate agent wants to build his real estate business as a buyer's broker. Ilyce tells the agent that in order to get interested in your real estate business, you have to give back first. Ilyce suggests the agent volunteer with local organizations or sponsor a kids little league team to get his real estate business name out in the public.
An owner of a new construction home is wondering if they need an independent inspector. Ilyce's answer is yes, you should have your new construction home inspected by an independent home inspector at various points during the construction. You should make the builder aware that you are going to do this, and, if you haven't finalized your contract yet, put it in the contract that you will have an independent home inspector in to your new construction home as a rider that both you and the builder will sign.
It costs a lot of money to buy a home today, and using a buyer broker can save you more than 5 percent on the purchase price. Buyer brokers represent the buyer's interests in a home purchase rather than the sellers. Buyer brokers can help you find out the seller's motivations and look up what homes in the neighborhood have sold for recently.
A prospective home buyer looks at several new home developments without an agent and then wonders if they will have trouble using an agent when they buy property. The buyers can tell the developer that if it will not recognize a buyer's agent, they will not be buying a home there. Most developers won't want to see a potential sale fall through over the buyer's sale of the commission.
A buyer is purchasing a piece of property that has been foreclosed upon, and his attorney represents both the seller and himself. It's possible that the attorney is representing the bank and not the buyer. In some states, attorneys act as closing agents and don't represent either party.
When you're looking at homes to buy you may find that some have radon in the basement. Should you buy a house with a radon problem? It may be OK to buy a home with a radon problem so long as it has been corrected. But when you go to sell a home with a radon problem you need to mention it as part of seller disclosure.
There are several things to be aware of when buying a home that is for sale by owner. One of the first things to do when considering whether to by a home for sale by owner is to make sure the house is fairly priced. But one of the most important things when considering whether to by a home for sale by owner is to get a real estate attorney early to make sure the contracts are ready and everything is done properly.
Should you wait on buying a home until the housing market cools?. Just because the housing market cools, doesn't mean that property values drop, and buying a home may cost more. If you know where you want to live and can afford to buy a home, there's no reason to wait for the housing market to cool.
Purchasing foreclosure homes can be a smart move but there are some drawbacks. People typically don't buy foreclosures because they're tough to find in the neighborhood in which you might live and because they typically need a lot of work. Buying a foreclosure home can also be a long process, and you must go in with financing already in place.
