| | NEWSLETTERMAY 2008from Bill Duffey   RE/MAX Excalibur 480- 585- 2904 ******************************************* Hassle-free Home Purchase Buying a home can seem like a frightening prospect. Whether it's your first home or your fifth, so much is at stake; your savings, your credit rating, and your financial freedom. It's difficult to find the courage to sign on the dotted line even if you want that home very, very badly.
How do you determine whether the purchase of a home makes sense?
What's the easiest way to examine the whole picture from emotions to economics?
I suggest that you read this entire report before you go house hunting. You'll learn how to separate whims from true needs. You'll discover how to prepare a game plan for your real estate venture, how to research effectively, choose wisely, finance appropriately, and survive the whole procedure with your smile in place.
SEVEN STEPS FOR SUCCESS
1. Get pre-qualified or pre-approved by a lender.
2. Establish your needs and your wants.
3. Determine how much you can afford.
4. Find a good real estate agent to help you.
5. Find a home that meets your needs.
6. Make an offer to buy a home.
7. Save as much as you can on the purchase.
STEP ONE: ESTABLISH YOUR NEEDS AND WANTS
Begin your search for a perfect home by making a careful assessment of the kind of home you need and want. We recommend that you write it down. Take time, right now, to be as specific as you can about your particular requirements. First, make a list of “necessities” in your home. Next, list the features that you “desire.”
STEP TWO: DETERMINE HOW MUCH YOU CAN AFFORD
Set up a budget for yourself. Decide how much you can really afford to invest and be comfortable with, for your monthly house payment. Be realistic. Most lenders suggest that your payments be no more than 28 percent of your total monthly income. Don’t forget to include taxes and insurance if you plan to escrow.
STEP THREE: GET PRE-QUALIFIED OR PRE-APPROVED BY A LENDER
You can save yourself time and heartache by meeting with a lender before you start your search for a home. A lender can let you know what specific loan programs would be best for you. He can also help you understand what it takes to qualify for the loan that you want. By taking a look at your financial situation and looking at your credit history, a lender can usually give you a good idea if you can qualify for the loan amount that you want. Many lenders call this ‘Pre-Qualifying A Buyer.’
To be absolutely certain that you can be approved for a loan, you may want to ask to be “pre-approved.” In the approval process, all of your documentation is completed and submitted to an underwriter. The pre-approval that you will receive is an actual loan commitment from a lender - your guarantee of loan approval.
It is important that you are 99.9% sure you will get the financing needed and your lender will be able to perform according to the time limits in a purchase contract. If not, you could end up in the middle of an escrow and find out otherwise. If this happens, you could lose your deposit, which could be as much as 3% of the purchase price. Ask for current references and check them. Ask references if there were any problems during escrow and did escrow close within 30 days?
In Arizona, a listing agreement is a contract between the listing broker and the seller. A standard listing agreement used by local Realtors® states that we will only bring, "READY, WILLING and ABLE" buyers. Therefore, any good agent will not show properties to anyone who has not been pre-approved!
STEP FOUR: FIND A GOOD REAL ESTATE AGENT TO HELP YOU
You can learn a lot about an agent by just letting them to you about how they helps their buyers. Within a few minutes, you will probably be able to determine if this agent’s style is in line with yours.
Ask as many questions as you can up front. Finding a good agent will save you huge amounts of time, effort, and frustration. Remember, a “Buyer’s Agent” is working for YOU!
STEP FIVE: FIND A HOME THAT MEETS YOUR NEEDS
Five tips for successful house hunting:
1. Keep an organized record of all your research data. Write down comments about the homes that you see. Keep track of your likes and dislikes.
2. Make sure that your Realtor is aware of your time schedule and your expectations. Do you like to look at one or two homes in a session? Four? Eight? Discuss all of this with your Agent.
3. Tell your agent about any homes that perk your interest and those you'd like to know more about. Include those homes you discover as you explore the area yourself or those you see advertised in the newspaper.
4. If you want to spend time driving around looking at homes for yourself, ask your agent for a list of drive-by homes which you can consider first from the outside. Your agent can then make appointments to show you the interior of those that appeal to you. Ask for an Internet list of homes.
5. Express your likes and dislikes to your agent after you see a home. Honest communication is essential. Some buyers are shy and hesitant to tell an agent what they really think of a house. They think the agent may take it personally. Remember, the homes don't belong to the agent! You must be straight-forward about your likes and dislikes to enable the agent to do the best job for you.
STEP SIX: MAKE AN OFFER TO BUY A HOME
Your real estate agent can help you make an offer to buy the home that you select. It is important that you decide prior to viewing homes whether your agent will represent you or the seller. Some agents work only for the seller. In this case the agent may not be able to advise you in making a fair offer. By looking at homes selling in the area and the length of time it takes to sell, you should be able to get a good idea of value. Only a “buyer’s agent” can give you all the information necessary to make an intelligent offer in your best interests.
STEP SEVEN: SAVE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN ON YOUR INITIAL INVESTMENT
There are only two major investments to consider when buying a home. These are the initial investment (including down payment and closing costs) and the monthly payment (including principle, interest, taxes, and insurance).
Here are some ways to save on your initial investment:
1. Choose a low down payment loan. You do not necessarily have to put 20 percent, or even 10 percent, down. You can put 5 percent, or even 3 percent, down on some loans. Ask whether or nor your loan includes “private mortgage insurance” or "PMI". Generally, you will need to put down 20% to avoid this charge.
2. As part of your offer, ask the seller to pay some of your closing costs. Sellers are usually allowed to contribute to a buyer's closing costs. In many cases this is a negotiable item.
3. Shop around for your home insurance. A little shopping can save you a significant amount of money.
4. You can deduct money paid for discount points from your gross income before computing your tax, which would effectively reduce the cost to you. Always check with your CPA to find out specific guidelines in your area.
Keep your monthly payments low
1. Get a loan with no monthly mortgage insurance premiums. You may be able to reduce or eliminate them by paying a little more at closing. By putting 20 percent or more down, you may be able to eliminate them entirely.
2. Choose an Adjustable Rate Mortgage. ARM's can be up to 3 percent lower than fixed rates. If you intent to sell your home in 2 or 3 years, I advise that you get an "interest only" loan, to get the best monthly payment. Buying down the principle in a rapidly increasing equity market will not generally pay off, unless you keep the home through the term of the loan or intend to retire in the home.
Remember that interest payments on a primary residential mortgage are fully deductible in most circumstances. Your property taxes may also be deductible. Tax rates definitely favor homeowners.
Now that you have finished this report, it is time to go out and find the home of your dreams. ********************************** READ THIS ********** Home Hints - Fabric softener sheets - other uses
Want to repel ants, mice and mosquitoes and make things smell better? Here are some ingenious uses of dryer fabric softener
sheets to deal with a variety homeowner problems and irritants. 1. Mail carriers put a sheet of dryer fabric softener in their uniform pockets to keep yellow jackets away. Use them when playing baseball and soccer. Use them when working outside. It really works. The yellow jackets just veer around you. And all this time you’ve just been putting fabric softener sheets in the dryer! 2. Will chase ants away when you lay a sheet near them. 3. Also repels mice. Spread them around foundation areas, or in trailers, cars that are sitting and it keeps mice from entering.
4. Takes the odor out of books and photo albums that don't get opened too often. 5. Repels mosquitoes. Tie a sheet of fabric softener through a belt loop when outdoors during mosquito season.
6. Eliminates static electricity from your television (or computer) screen. Since fabric softener sheets are designed to help eliminate static cling, wipe your television screen with a used sheet to keep dust from resettling. (WARNING! Use only on glass screens). 7. Dissolve soap scum from shower doors. Clean with a fabric softener sheet.
8. Freshen the air in your home. Place an individual sheet in a drawer or hang in the closet.
9. Put a sheet in vacuum cleaners to help prevent odors.
10. Helps prevent thread from tangling. Run a threaded needle through sheet of fabric softener before beginning to sew.
11. Prevent musty suitcases. Place an individual sheet of inside empty luggage before storing.
12. Freshen the air in your car. Place a sheet of fabric softener sheet under the front seat.
13. Clean baked-on foods from a cooking pan. Put a sheet in a pan, fill with water, let sit overnight, and sponge clean. The antistatic agent apparently weakens the bond between the food.
14. Eliminate odors in wastebaskets. Place a sheet at the bottom of the wastebasket.
15. Collect cat hair. Rubbing the area with a sheet of fabric softener sheet will magnetically attract all the loose hairs.
16. Eliminate static electricity from Venetian blinds. Wipe the blinds with a softener sheet to help prevent dust from resettling.
17. Wipe up sawdust from drilling or sand papering. A used sheet will collect sawdust like a tack cloth.
18. Eliminate odors in dirty laundry. Place an individual sheet at the bottom of a laundry bag or hamper. Deodorize shoes or sneakers. Place a sheet of fabric softener in your shoes or sneakers overnight 19. Golfers put a fabric softener sheet in their back pocket to keep the bees away.
20. Put a sheet in your sleeping bag and tent before folding and storing them. Keeps them smelling fresh.
(Source: an email bouncing around the Internet) |
******************************************************************************* Wouldn't it be nice if you could always find your warranty information on every home appliance,
garage door opener, vacuum, TV, VCR, DVD player and the like? If you're like most people you don't always return the warranty card, do you? So when it's time to call for needed service, you may not get what you need. And you may have to pay too much for service that otherwise could be 'under warranty.' When its time to sell your home, the new buyer would appreciate all the information on the equipment in the house, too. So my suggestion is to keep all the manuals, receipts, and warranty info in one drawer in the kitchen, Or, get a single file box and get all the information together in one place. When it's time to get everything together to sell your home, you don't need a file box, a warranty, or even a manual. Just call me, and I'll reschedule time to put together a complete marketing plan. In fact, I'll provide good service every step of the way. So, relax, and call me whenever you need me. There's no charge for a 'service call', so to speak. GO TO MY CONCIERGE PAGE FOR A LIST OF VENDORS. <click here Hope you enjoyed this newsletter...let me know if you have suggestions or if you would like me to write an article on any real estate subject.
Please remember that selling or buying your home is not a "do-it-yourself" project. Call me, and I'll handle all the details. I also have a "Moving Coach"! The service is Free for my clients. Always consult your tax adviser. *Not an indication of future value Please note: This email and any attachments contain confidential and/or privileged information for the sole use of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient you may not read, disseminate, distribute or copy this email message or any attachments. Please notify the sender immediately (by reply email or phone) if you have received this email message by mistake and delete this email message, along with any attachments from your system. Email transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free, as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, delayed or may be incomplete. The Sender does not accept any liability for any errors, omissions or viruses in the contents of this email message or any attachment. This email also conforms with the Arizona Commercial Electronic Mailing Act of 2003. Your Privacy is important to me. I do not share your email information with any other party. If you do not wish to network in this way and desire to be removed from my newsletter email list, simply send me an email with "remove" in the subject line (click on the "email Bill" link. You will be excluded from the list, in a few days. Copyright 2008 Bill Duffey. All Rights Reserved.  To remove yourself from my mailing list, you can opt-out by just sending me an email.
Please put "remove" in the subject line. NOTE: If your home or property is currently listed for sale with a licensed Real Estate Broker, this is not intended to be a solicitation of that listing. It is not our intention to solicit the listing of another real estate Company. GO TO MY CONCIERGE PAGE FOR A LIST OF VENDORS. PS: I never receive any compensation from any vendor, ever!  
LEGAL STATEMENT <please click here to read Regards, Bill Duffey |
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