Getting Started on Owning a Home

This is such a great time for all homebuyers, but especially first-time homebuyers, since they don’t have a home to sell.  There are so many homes on the market from which to choose; home prices are down; and interest rates are at historic lows.  In her article for RealtyTimes, 10 Tips For New Buyers, Carla Hill sets forth some step-by-step directions for getting started on your goal of owning a home.  This is a nice refresher article for repeat buyers too! 

Pay special attention to getting a pre-approval and hiring an agent!  Getting a pre-approval from a lending institution means you are ready to engage a realtor to help you find a home in your price range and ready to make an offer when you decide on the home for you!  Suggestions 1-3 will be handled for you by a qualified loan officer at a lending institution (when you are going through the pre-approval process), so you can skip having to do that yourself.  Better yet, you can start with the Atkinson-Thompson Group; we can suggest multiple lending institutions/loan officers to you and walk you through the rest!

Check out tomorrow’s blog for a good overview of  first-time homebuyer mortgage financing options! 

To a smooth transition from renting to owning~ Rosemary

Enough with the doom and gloom!

Did you see the Time Magazine from the beginning of September entitled Rethinking Home Ownership?  It was an interesting article, but so is this one!  Here are 10 reasons why it is a good idea to buy a home.  I like number 10…sooner or later, the market will clear.  So true!!! Check it out here.

Tips For Keeping Your Moving Expenses Down & Your Moving Experience Sane

You’ve purchased your first home, or you’ve sold your current home and purchased a new one.  Now…the dreaded MOVE!  Where do you start?  How do you get there?  Well, Gregory Carp shares some terrific step-by-step guidance in his article for RISMedia.com, For Your Clients: 12 Tips to Make Your Move Simple and Stress-Free.  Great advice here!

To a smooth move~  Rosemary

Mortgage Interest Rates: Now Is The Time!

Yes, the first-time and previous home buyer tax credits are a perk of the past.   However, there is another terrific incentive for  purchasing a home right now…interest rates so low that they haven’t been seen in half a century!  The housing market is not all doom and gloom!  

Can there be obstacles to moving up to a new home if you already own one?  Yes, there can be, mostly due to the fall of home values over recent years.  If you are upside down in your mortgage (what you owe vs. what you can sell you home for), moving up to a new home may not be feasible right now.  However, housing prices are creeping back up in our area, and Betsy and I sell homes every day for people who thought they might be upside  down in their mortgage, but weren’t…due to their equity, due to a great location in which housing prices didn’t take too much of a hit, etc.  Don’t just assume!  We can do the research for you and assess for what price you can most likely sell your home.  Then you’ll know your options based on what you owe on your current home.  After an assessment of your home’s value, if things look promising your next stop should be to see an honest loan officer at a reputable lending institution, and we have several that we can confidently recommend.  A loan officer will be able to assess what price home you can afford and provide you with a detailed good faith estimate of closing costs/pre-paid costs and a loan pre-approval with which to shop for a new home.

And you first-time home buyers?  Strike while the iron is hot!  You can get a great deal on a home in this market.  Additionally, you have the luxury of not having to sell a home before you make your move.  We have put many first-time home buyers into great homes, homes that they now own for less than or equal to the rent they were paying before.  Plus, they now have a tax write-off that they didn’t have before.  Your first step?  Consult with us, and we can guide you to several honest, respected loan officers at reputable lending insitutions.  A loan officer will  be able to provide you with a detailed good faith estimate of closing costs/pre-paid costs and provide you with a  pre-approval for a home loan, a document that states what price home you can afford.   Once you know what price home you can afford, we can start searching for homes for you to view!  You can own your own home and have an interest rate to shout about!

For both first-time and previous home buyers, we sell homes every day to clients that have less-than-stellar credit.  And you don’t have to have 20% to put down on a home.  There are several down-payment options out there.  Talk to a loan officer about  the ever-more-popular FHA loan, which can provide you with a great interest rate and a low down payment.  Trust me, FHA loans are back in a big way!  Check out tomorrow’s blog for some great information on FHA loans; you’ll find it quite eye-opening!

Let us assist you in exploring your possibilities~  Rosemary 

Real Estate Lies

Truly, I laughed out loud when I read this article!  Betsy and I have both been there when previewing  homes for our buyers!  The realities pointed out in this article are so true, and they are all the more reason to hire an honest, client-protecting realtor when looking for a new home!  So many people begin their home searches online these days, and that can be a great thing, but it also requires caution.  Not all realtors are created equal, and although there are some less-than-forthright ones out there,  there are plenty of ethical, honest ones out there, like the Atkinson-Thompson Group.

We are the ones that will get to the truth, investigate properties for you, investigate comparable properties and their values, guide you through inspections, and make sure you avoid the home-buying pitfalls we all want to avoid.  Take a look at Llyce Glink’s 4 Biggest Lies in Real Estate for some online verbiage and out-and-0ut fraudulent practices of which to be aware!  Sure, start your search on the internet, figure out what type of home truly interests you, then hire a reputable realtor to begin your real-world search for your new home and represent you!

The Atkinson-Thompson Group, always there to guide you through it, from search to closing and beyond!

Best~  Rosemary