The Use Of A Housing Inspection Report

Listed below are some uses of a property inspection report when buying a property:

• List of Defects: First and foremost a home inspection report will list all the defects that a property may be carrying. Some may consider that if a property is defective it will be visible and hence that annuls the need for an inspection. However, this is not always true. Some defects may not be visible to the naked eye. In a lot of instances structural damages and damages relating to faulty wiring and plumbing are not easily detected. Inspection reports can help you unravel this.  Moreover as an investor you would like to know all that is wrong with the property so that nothing all of a sudden seems out of left field.
• Undisclosed Damage: In most cases property sellers in order to be true and fair disclose all damages that relate to a property.  In some cases on the other hand sellers may not reveal all damages to the property. These damages may or may not be major. However, you are entitled to know. In an inspection report, you could easily find out these undisclosed damages and base your decision to buy a property on that.
• Renegotiation Of Price: Once you have gone through the home inspection report, you will notice that all items significant and otherwise have been detailed. In addition to this your home inspection report will also include a approximate cost of repairing or replacing each item on the report. Based on this information you will be able to estimate whether the asking price of the property is fair or whether it is overpriced. While your home inspection report will not tell you whether to but the property or not, it will give you an indication as to the structural and overall integrity of the property. If you are comfortable with what you se you can go ahead and make an offer on the property.
• A Future To Do List: With a inspection report, you can make yourself a list of things to do.  Once in the property based on the priority of things, you can slowly and surely go about repairing or replacing each defect in the house. It might be worth mentioning that should the property have issues with the air conditioning, roof, and plumbing or wiring, it may be advisable to get these fixed as a matter of urgency.

Once you have gone through your home inspection report and in the event that you feel the property has too many problems, you could withdraw your offer. These are some of the uses of an inspection report when you are considering buying a house.

Home Buying Offers:  Common Reasons For Rejection

1. The Home Offer Is Too Low: This is one of the primary reasons why home offers get rejected. Prospective home buyers make the rookie mistake of just throwing out a figure to see what the seller will expect. If your offer is way below the expected market value of the home, you may end up having your offer rejected straight away. Prior to making an offer you must put some thought into it. Check what the average prices of properties in that suburb or area are and then compare it to the asking price of the seller.
2. Emotions:  Once you make a low ball offer on a property which is way below the asking price of the seller, in a lot of instances the seller may feel offended. This gives rise to issues of credibility where the seller starts feeling that you may either not be good for the money judging from your offer on a home or that you feel the sellers property is not worth as much. Either way you do not want negative emotions associated with the purchase or sale of the property as this will eventually lead to the falling through of your offer.
3. Bad Representation: In certain cases your home offer may fall through owing to the fact that your representing real estate agent does not have your best interests in mind. While representing you the same agent may also be representing a competitive buyer and may be undercutting you owing to the fact that he/she is getting a higher commission slice from the other party. Another instance may be where the real estate agent severely lacks social skills and offends either the seller or the seller’s agent. Either way it would give rise to a situation where you end up losing the property.
4. Buyer Did Not Match The Seller’s Criteria: The crux to this situation is a severe break down in communication. A buyer can never know what the seller’s criteria is unless the question has been asked. The seller may have several issues like: wanting a cash deposit, having concerns about the conditions of the house, or may even want to see the buyers’ pre-approval letter etc. Unless you clarify exactly what the seller’s criteria is you can never be sure how to go about getting around pleasing the seller.

In addition to the above mentioned reasons, a very common blunder is where sellers put themselves into a corner by making home offers like “take it or leave it”. This means that you have laid your cards on the table and cannot go any further. While negotiating make sure you use small increments. Never go all in. At the same time do not low ball the seller and remember to make offers on a home which are researched.

If you have been considering a move away from home and at the same time have also been contemplating buying a new home, you might just find that two decisions do not go as hand in hand as you may have expected. Here’s an interesting tidbit, while every man and has dog knows about the government offered first home buyers tax credit, little known fact includes, your state, city, town and local governments also might have programs to help you with the purchase. In addition to this your employer could also help you wit your home buying. Nowadays employers have employee support programs as an incentives and aid to help employees get into their first homes. However, you need to do your research as these programs often change without any prior notice so make sure you have your research spot on. Usually information pertaining to this is publicly available so be prepared to spend some time in front of your screen doing your research or calling up various institutions. These programs are usually tailor made and as a result of which you will need to discuss your personal circumstances with the agencies, so be prepared for that.  Consumers who take the two pronged approach are often in a much better position than consumers who just rely on the one source. In addition remember that your lender real estate agent and can really sweeten the deal by putting a cherry on the icing.

How To Buy A Home With Help From State Organizations

Certain states offer better home buying help and assistance programs than others. For instance, in spite of the fact that California have had serious budget woes they are offering low to moderate income earners down payment assistance. In certain counties, income earners who earn as much as $81,300 are eligible for help. This loan is a deferred payment loan and need not be paid of until the end of the term of your primary loan. The loan cab be upto 3 percent of the purchase or appraised value of the house, whichever is less. The typical interest rate for one these loans is 3.25 percent. As good as this may sound it is very essential that you do your own research and ensure that you are getting the best deal as in certain cases your bank may be able to offer you a better product.

Homebuyer Help From City & Neighborhoods

Quite often it so happens that cities have funds store away to help buyers or develop certain specific neighborhoods. In the city of Chicago buyers can get as much as 4 percent back on the purchase of their homes in the form of their desired down payment assistance program. In addition to this certain areas offer up to a 20 percent tax credit for the amount of interest paid if you are a first homebuyer or if you buy a property in a certain selected area.  In certain instances you may find that certain city non-profit association collaborate with banks or lenders to help qualified buyers with closing costs.

These are some extra forms of revenue that could help individuals with those much needed additional funds and closing costs for their mortgages. It pays to do your research and ensure that you have tapped every possible avenue when it comes down to finding those few extra dollars to fund the purchase of your home.

References:

1. Local Homebuying Programs – U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

When moving there are so many people that you have to inform of your new address. And you can`t forget the important things such as clothes at the cleaners, things stored away in safety deposit boxes. Here is a checklist to help you remember all of the important things that must be done before you move:

Utility services

Insurance

Medical records

Banking documents and services

Don`t forget

Services/subscriptions

Other

You could find your dream home but if the area is not what you want then you will probably never be content in your new home. It is crucial that you find the right area before you even think about looking for a home. There are a lot of things to take into consideration when choosing an area such as crime, neighbors etc. Here are a list of things that you should find out about before opting for an area:

Amenities

Have you got interests outside the home that you like to do frequently? Maybe you like to do aerobics, got to bingo or you like to go to the cinema. Maybe you don`t have any transport of your own and you need to be close to local shops. You will need to think about things that you can`t live without and whether the area has them.

Here are some things that you should make a list of:

Does the area have a busy high street and do they have enough of the shops that are of interest to you?

How far is the nearest supermarket?

Is there a big out of town shopping center within reach?

Is there a leisure center or gym to serve the area?

Are there enough parks for the children?

Are there any local youth clubs that your children can join?

Is there a local library?

Is there a cinema? If not is there one one in the surrounding areas?

How far is the town center?

Is there a local post office, newsagents, butchers etc.?

Basically, is there anything that forms part of your life which would be difficult to do without? If the answer is yes and giving it up would make you terribly unhappy, then maybe it wouldn’t be such a smart move.

Crime

Very few people want to move into an area with a high crime rate. The level of crime in an area can have wide ranging effects, from making you uncomfortable walking the streets, extremely wary of who your kids make friends with, to being downright scared in your own home. Crime can rip the soul out of a community and turn people’s lives upside down.

There are obvious telltale signs to look out for – graffiti scrawled on walls and shopshutters, smashed windows, burnt out cars, crime is not always so obvious in the evidence it leaves behind.

Find out about the crime rate in any area you are thinking of moving to. Check local newspapers, ask residents, shopkeepers. Don`t ask the seller they won`t give you an honest answer. How many houses are boarded up or are up for sale? Generally the house prices in an area that has a high crime rate will be cheaper then that of its neighbors with little or no crime.

Landscape

It can be worthwhile giving some consideration to the physical appearance of the area in which you want to live. You don`t want to open your curtains on a morning to be greeted by an over polluted factory. If you want to live in a city, which most people do, you will still need clean air.

Find out the answers to questions such as:

How built up is the area?

How green is the environment?

Are there plenty of parks and trees?

Is the area clean?

How quickly can you get from the area out into the country?

Is it near to the sea?

Are there any factories in or around the area? Remember that certain industries have factories that some people find pretty ugly and that create unpleasant smells or noise.

If you have no transport do you really want to live in an area that has lots of hills.

What sort of factories are active in the area?

Neighbors

There is no real way of knowing what the neighbors will be like before you decide on a particular property. The last thing you want is “neighbors from hell”. Most house owners keep themselves to themselves but it is still a good idea to find out a little bit about your future neighbors.

Ask the owner of the house you are interested in, if they will introduce you to the neighbors. They may get on very well and this might be a good sign. But just because they get on doesn`t mean you will get on. If the owner frowns ask what is the matter with the neighbors. They might have a running feud or they might simply not get on with one an other.

Visit the neighbors if you can you should get an inkling whether or not you will like them.

As there is no real way of knowing what the neighbors are going to be like, keep your eyes open and be ready for anything that might arise.

Transport

If you are looking for peace and quite it is no good moving near an airport or a railway line. But if you haven`t got your own transport you will need a way of getting to and from work, shops in a neighboring town etc.

Answer these questions and you will clarify your transport needs:

How do you normally get around and will you be able to do that in the new area?

How easy will it be to get work?

Are there cycle paths and footpaths?

Can you easily get onto the motorway?

Does there appear to be many taxi services around?

What is the local public transport like?

Are there good bus services?

Does there seem to be traffic problems?

Is there a mainline train station nearby?

What rail network does it connect you to?

Is it difficult to get to an International airport?

Here are some useful tips on choosing the right area:

If you are moving with your partner, make sure you both go to view and have the same ideas on where you want to live or one or both of you will not be able to settle.

Visit the area during the day and night if you can.

See if you can spot many “For Sale” signs if there are a lot of them on anything but a new development, this can be a bad sign. Why is everyone leaving?

Similarly, take note of the apparent state of local businesses – are they run down, or does it appear that investment is coming into the area?

Have a drink in one or two of the local pubs to test the atmosphere. You might even get to know a few of the locals.

How much can you afford?

Before taking out a mortgage you need to make sure that you can afford the mortgage payments and associated costs. Talk to your mortgage lender they will help you to work out how much you can afford to borrow. This amount will be worked out by your income.

Generally, your monthly mortgage repayment should not be more than half your monthly income after tax. You can usually borrow up to three times the amount of your annual salary. Don’t forget other costs, legal, valuation and survey fees, removal costs etc.

What is a mortgage?

A mortgage is a loan secured against your home. Because your home provides a high level of security, lenders are willing to give you a lower interest rate than other types of loans. If you sell your home, the loan will usually be repaid to the mortgage lender first and you will receive any money left over.

Special mortgage rates

First time buyers can sometimes attract special mortgage terms so ask about these when discussing your mortgage.

Choosing a mortgage

There are lots of different types of mortgages on the market be careful when choosing one. Shop around for the best prices. Many first time buyers opt for a fixed rate loan as well as the traditional variable rate option. (Variable goes up and down each time bank base rates change). Fixed rate loans won’t change for a certain length of time, usually three to five years.

You will need a deposit

You will need to pay a deposit of at least 5% of the price of the property. This will have to be paid when you exchange contracts.

Proof of income

Most lenders will require your last three months pay slips and your most recent P60. If these cannot be found the lender will usually check your details with your employer. If you are self-employed, you may need to show your last three years trading accounts.

Visit an estate agent

Contact local estate agents and ask to go on their mailing lists. First time buyers are ideal customers because you don’t have a property to sell. Remember it is the seller that has to pay the agent not you.

Find a Solicitor

Shop around for the best quotes. You could hire a licensed conveyancer to do the legal work.

Make a wish list

A wish list will help you decide what you are looking for and what you want from your property and stop you buying a home you don`t really want.

Open your eyes

When inspecting a property look past the wall paper and the nice garden look at the structure of the house. Is the roof leaking, are the electric’s safe. A seller won`t tell you what needs doing unless you ask. Use our maintenance checklist to tick off the structure of the property.

If you have found a home you like visit it a few times. At night, in the rain etc. This will help you see what the area is like and also if the drainage and roof is in good condition.

Check that the neighborhood/surrounding areas have all the facilities you might need i.e. doctors, public transport, school etc.

Read between the lines

What’s the Annual Percentage Rate (APR) which shows what you pay for borrowing all the money in the deal, including the “hidden” extras such as valuation, arrangement and legal fees.

Moving on

Moving can be a very expensive business if you can`t then shop around for a good deal or ask a friend if they can help they will be cheaper than using a removal firm. If you do use a removal firm pack your own boxes.

If you do decide to use a removal firm, it is essential to check that your goods will be insured in transit.

Double check completion arrangements

Check with everybody, the sellers, your lender and your solicitor about a week before you are due to move that everything is going to plan.

Other costs to bear in mind

Solicitor’s fees

Stamp duty if the purchase price is over £60,000

Survey fee

Removal costs

Building insurance

Contents insurance

Mortgage payments protection insurance