Comments on: Common new home buyer mistakes

By: Diana

Diana — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:05:47 +0000

When we bought our first and only house 4y ago, the seller paid the agent’s commision. So it made sense to us not to skip the realtor (separate one than the seller’s agent).

Yeah, scope the location at different times – this is very very important. Also, if you feel something in the house is not to your liking and is “bugging” you, ask yourself – when you buy it and look at it every day, can you live with it?

By: DDFD at DivorcedDadFrugalDad.com

DDFD at DivorcedDadFrugalDad.com — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:36:12 +0000

Nice tips! People need to go into a home purchase with their eyes wide open . . .

By: Julie

Julie — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 13:19:40 +0000

In response to Tyler, as a realtor I can offer you a few points..
#1: The buyer’s agent represents you and your interests, making sure you see all documents pertaining to the home..some of those docs come from systems you won’t have access too, such as MLS systems.
#2: When there is a buyer’s agent and a seller’s agent involved, there is a split of the commission..why would they split the commission when there isn’t another agent involved? You would just be the lowest offer…No incentive there.

In response to Myjourney..in our state, our contracts through our statewide system, the ones we MUST use are drawn up by attorney’s and approved by the Board of Realtors. They have spaces that have to be filled in,such as address, amount of sale, closing date, etc.. If it is the same in your state, it would save you the expense of having an attorney look at the contract.

By: Tips for First-Time Homebuyers - Mortgage Rate News

Tips for First-Time Homebuyers - Mortgage Rate News — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 17:18:03 +0000

[...] The government is really hoping that you will buy a home — especially if you are a first-time homebuyer. Not only is there are generous tax credit available, but you can use it now to put toward the down payment on your home. Some state governments are also offering special first-time home buyer programs, like the Illinois plan to provide interest-free loans that can be used toward a down payment. If you’re ready to buy, now is a great time to do it. But you should be careful. Gather Little By Little offers some helpful tips for first-time homebuyers: [...]

By: Dramon

Dramon — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:07:18 +0000

Good post. I would add from mistakes we have learned from:

1. I would add to the resell to think about location aspects that would make resell more difficult. This is one area that a realator can help. For example, too close to a school, backup up to a road.

2. Schools – make sure they are good even if you don’t have kids now. Makes resell better and if you do end up having kids you don’t have move or pay for private schools

3. If part of an HOA, check it out as some are difficult and have special assessment

4. Talk to neighbors – a bad neighbor can make your life miserable

5. drive the neighborhood at different times of day

6. make sure you can handle the drive times during rush how. We once based our estimates of if it is livable during weekend looks at the house. Only to find our Rush hour traffic was miserable.

By: MyJourney

MyJourney — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:16:17 +0000

GLBL,

The only one you are missing is have an attorney look at your real estate contract. They are usually lengthy and written in an archaic language with reference to warranties and such not even in the contract.

Also, I don’t think $500 qualifies as expensive when purchasing a home. Even if the home is $200,000 (impossible to find where I live) that is 25 of 1% or .0025 of the purchase price for the knowledge that you had the whole house looked at. PLUS it gives you negotiating room for seller’s concession.

By: Tyler@Frugally Green

Tyler@Frugally Green — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:04:13 +0000

I’m a younger guy starting to gear up for my first home purchase and have been doing TONS of research. So far, I couldn’t agree more about the points you make, but I have been slowly leaning away from the idea of using a realtor.

I have done a lot of reading about representing yourself and have even met with a few realtors to see what they can offer me, and I haven’t been blown away by anyone. When I mention that I had considered representing myself, the most common response is, “Would you represent yourself in court, or would you hire a lawyer?” This comparison really annoys me.

Do you really always need a realtor? My strategy without one would be to make offers that would force the sales agent to drop their commission to a standard fee for a two agent transaction in order for the owners to accept. It seems like with the current state of the housing market, this might take a few tries, but could net me a fair chunk of savings.

What do you guys think? Can a determined and studied first time buyer get ahead without a realtor? I would still be hiring an attorney to review contract documents.

By: Thankful

Thankful — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 14:26:21 +0000

Great list! One thing to note is that getting pre-approved is a hard pull on your credit, and the pre-approval usually only lasts a certain amount of time, in our case three months. For us, it was almost two years from first pre-approval to actual purchase. Since we re-upped our pre-approval 4 or 5 times, it affected the interest rate on the mortgage as each of those hard pulls dinged our credit scores a little. For many buyers with longer credit histories, it might not have such an effect, but my husband’s credit still had some long-ago problems. Definitely do it when you start looking, but know that you don’t have to always have one throughout the process if you’re picky about the house you want like we were!