Best Real Estate News and Advice for Spring 2019

Spring has sprung and we're almost into summer and nothing announces the start of the home buying season like hundreds of new listings hitting the market. Just a couple of weeks ago there were a small smattering of listings and now it seems there is one on every block. Is that good? Well, it could indicate a buyer's market as the same home a month ago could have sold for higher and faster than today. But for buyers, this is great news!

Regardless, here are some of my favorite real estate articles for both buyers and sellers this spring.

If you're self-employed, you need to know the benefits of a bank statement loan

Back in 2007 and 2008 during the subprime mortgage bust, stated income mortgages were a thing, but they tended to get people into a lot of trouble and made it possible to buy homes they really couldn’t afford. But, with a little bit of finesse, revising, and a lot of experience, we’ve now developed a new program called the bank statement home loan. Lenders will take a look at your bank statements to determine how much income you actually have. This is a better way to determine eligibility for a home loan as it’s the actual money coming in and out of your checking account, not necessarily through W-2s, 1099s, or tax returns.

5 Things You Must Do Before Moving In

Finalizing documents after closing or signing is one of the most exciting and sometimes terrifying things in the buying process. However, there are some things you don’t want to miss when buying a home. Before grabbing the keys from your agent you want to make sure you do these five things, which most reputable real estate agents will verify ahead of time but it’s important to understand them on your own.

How Important is an open house when selling or even when buying?

Are open houses even a thing anymore? Do they really sell a house? Are they just setups for nosy neighbors and burglars? These are just some of the questions I often get asked when it comes to open houses, so let’s break this down. Should We Really Have an Open House?
Open houses were really a way to make the public aware of a new listing. We can put a sign in the front yard but the open house draws more people in for a certain amount of time. Does it really make a sale? Honestly, open houses are more for the agent than for the owner, Yep, I said it. Open houses are a good way to showcase a new listing, but usually, the agent that sits the open house is looking for potential buyers, and not necessarily for this one home. Buyers may be looking at open houses throughout the day but if they don’t have a buyers agent representing them, this is a good way to solidify that relationship.

Can Sellers Give Money to the Buyer for Repairs at Closing?

After an accepted offer, my sellers received the inspection report back from the buyers of their house. The inspection report stated that the property needed a new roof. They asked my sellers to pay for the entire roof but we negotiated down to about half the quoted amount.

Can I Give Money to the Buyers at Closing for Repairs?How do those funds get transferred? Do they get credited to the buyer at closing? Does the seller hand over the cash at closing? How do sellers give buyers money for repairs or replacements found in the inspection? How exactly do seller credits to buyer work?

Do buyers really need their own agent when buying? And does it cost the buyer?

When purchasing a home many buyers simply talk to the listing agent of a particular property this is actually one of the worse ways to go about buying a home. While any agent can be the representative for the buyer and the seller, buyers need to realize that the seller found the real estate agent first and that agent is technically working for the seller above the buyer. The main priority is to get the home sold for the most amount of profit so it can be very difficult and sometimes unethical for an agent to work for both sides having both sides interests at heart.

Home buyers checklist of what to look for in a home

You may know the basics like how many bedrooms you need but what about all the other details like school zones, fenced yard, quiet cul-de-sac, and dozens of other attributes you may want in a home? Here's a good checklist of items to keep in mind.

20 Added Costs to Buying a Home You May Not Know About

Buying a house, especially your first house, can be exciting and a little overwhelming. While you may have heard about advertisements touting zero down home loans and no money out-of-pocket, buying a house is just plain expensive, and there’s really no other way around it. You can buy a house with very little down payment or you can roll down payment into the cost of the house as long as the home appraises for the higher or inflated cost, but buying a house is not cheap. I don’t want to deceive you thinking you can buy a house with less than $20 in your bank account, because you can’t. And, do you really want to? Think of it, if you’ve been renting for a long time and suddenly you become a homeowner, now you are responsible for anything and everything that breaks or needs repair in the house and if you don’t have a lot of money in the bank, you could be racking up some credit card debt fairly quickly. I don’t want to scare you away from buying a house but I do want you to be prepared.

4 Simple Steps to Buying a House

You’re ready to do it! Maybe you’re just thinking about it? So now you’re doing your research about moving and buying a home. Here are the easiest and most basic steps of how to buy a house or property.