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Foreclosures can seem appealing, but they are often full of hidden surprises. It is important to know how these common problems may turn your bargain into a potential money pit.
Some possible problems to look for are:
1. Mold– This hidden problem may not be readily evident when looking at a home. A professional home inspector should be hired before closing to determine if the home has mold. If mold is present, the mold removal may or may not be worth the time or money needed to make the home livable. Most mold is due to leakage, so plumbing, foundation and roofing may also be compromised. It is crucial to get a home inspection on a foreclosure. It may cost you a few hundred dollars, but could save you thousands of dollars in the long run, especially when mold is concerned.
2. Vandalism/Break-ins-Believe it or not, most of the vandalism on a foreclosed home is caused by the former homeowners. When they find out they are going to lose their home, they often get angry by punching holes in the wall, breaking windows or just trashing the house. Homes that are vacant are also more vulnerable to break-ins. Thieves often steal copper tubing to sell for scrap, or take appliances, and air conditioning units.
3. A Parting Gift- Besides damaging a house, many former owners will take everything they can with them when they move out. It is not uncommon to see missing toilets, cabinets, carpeting, light fixtures, and appliances.
4. Wild Animal Habitat– Abandon houses make great homes for all types of wild animals. With overgrown grasses, snakes can be a concern. Bats can inhabit dark damp attics, and fire ants can run rampant when not treated on a regular basis. Rats and insects are also very common in homes that have not been treated in a while.
5. Maintenance Neglected– Home maintenance will be stopped when payments are not being made. Mechanical systems like air conditioners and heating systems are not being serviced regularly, so their effectiveness may be compromised. Ventilation systems that are not cleaned, can also lead to mold damage, as well.
A foreclosure may or may not be the best option for you. First of all, get a home inspection before purchasing. You will have to determine if the home is worth the extra time, money and headache to make it livable. It may make more sense to spend a little extra and get a home with no problems. If you are a first time homeowner, you should be extremely cautious because you don’t want to overextend yourself with costly home renovations.
Please contact Amy Underwood at North Texas Home Finders, if you are looking to purchase a home. E-mail: Amy@NorthTexasHomeFinders.com Phone: 972-921-8787 or visit us at www.NorthTexasHomeFinders.com. Please put “Amy” in the “How Did You Hear about Us Section.”
You finally made the decision to sell your existing home, but the last thing you want to do is to spend a ton of money getting it ready to sell. After all the goal is to make money, not spend it right?
I have been doing a ton of reading on staging and how to do it economically. First things first, if you have something wrong with the home like foundation issues or a leaky roof, you are going to have to spend the money to get it fixed unless you want to take a serious hit on the sales price of the home. Most homebuyers that are looking to live in the home DO NOT want a major project. Items like this will most definitely scare away the first time homebuyers too. That leaves the deal hunter investor as the potential buyer for your home.
While the move up market has slowed across the nation, the first time homebuyer market remains steady…at least in Texas. You want to put your best foot forward when getting your home on the market. Here are a few budget friendly staging tips.
1. Clear out the clutter and have a garage sale. What better way to make your home look its best than to get rid of all that stuff you haven’t used in 1 year. Have a garage sale and make some cash that you can spend on some of the other tips!
2. If you just can’t seem to part with some items that are making your home feel cramped, use the money you made at the garage sale and rent a storage space. Limit the amount of furniture you have in a room. The dining room is a great example here. Do you have a buffet, hutch and table? Try to create more floor space by leaving the buffet and table and putting the hutch in storage. Kids rooms tend to have too much furniture too. Remember, less is more when staging a home for sell. A home that you “live” in is very different than a home you are “selling.”
3. Have the kiddos go through their toys and give the ones that they don’t really play with to charity. There are many children out there without toys to play with. This not only cleans up the clutter but helps your kiddos give back. Great lesson here at no cost!
4. Clean, clean, clean. After clearing out the clutter, get ready for some elbow grease! The best home not only is clutter free, but smells clean. Take time to wipe down the base boards, wipe down the cabinets, clean the ceiling fan and light fixtures, clean the floors in the corners behind the doors, clean the windows, get rid of any cobwebs in the corners, etc. A dirty window blocks precious sunlight. When selling a home, sunlight is your best friend. You want as much as possible.
5. Prune back your landscaping around your home. This doesn’t cost anything if you have the tools, if not ask your neighbor if you can barrow their tools. Remember to cut back the bushes around the home. You don’t want to block windows! Be sure to pick those weeds too. The outside of your home is the first impression you make on buyers, you want to draw them into your home, not tell them to stay away!
6. Freshen up the paint with a nice neutral color. Branch out from builder white, but keep it neutral. A gallon of paint here in Texas cost less than $30 and will have a huge impact on your room.
7. Plant a few pots of flowers. You probably have some empty containers laying around in the garage. Put them to use. If you don’t get creative and see what kind of container you have in your kitchen, craft room, kids rooms, that you could use for plants. Using pots gives you the chance to take them with you when you move! Be sure to put some at the front door (but don’t block the walking path) and the back patio.
8. Organize the garage. Many home sellers forget about the garage, but it is good space in your home that also needs to be staged. If you cannot rent a storage space, then be sure to neatly stack any boxes you are storing in the garage. Keep access to the breaker box, hot water heater, sprinkler system, etc. clear of any objects, so potential home buyers can see all the great features your home has to offer.
9. Organize the closets and pantry. Again, this no cost option will get you more $$$ for your home. Line the food up in rows in the pantry and keep items organized. This will show buyers how much room there really is available to them. Pair clothing by type (shirts, pants, dresses, skirts)…think how clothes are displayed at stores.
10. Leave out cookies, water, or some sort of snack for people to eat when your home is being shown. The longer a person stays in a home when looking, the better chance you have of them buying it. Food is always a good way to keep them there!
As I a buyer’s rep, I have seen it all when it comes to home staging. I hope these tips help!
Article by Teresa Robinson, Owner/Buyer Specialist, North Texas Home Finders
Contact Teresa at 972.335.0571 or Teresa@Northtexashomefinders.com
Get a Buyer Specialist and rest easy! The builder pays our service charge from their advertising budget which is built into every home they sell. Since these fees do not come out of the home construction budget, you cannot negotiate one penny of a better deal alone. We also work with preowned homes where the seller pays our fees! Visit www.northtexashomefinders.com for more information.
You’ve heard all the news about the low home prices, low interest rates, and that there is a first-time homebuyer tax credit. You’d like to take advantage of this buyers’ market, but you have months left on your lease. What do you do?
Unless you can pay cash, whatever the situation, the first step always remains the same. Get prequalified for a mortgage loan. If you can’t get the loan, the rest is moot. However, you may find you’re close to being loan eligible, and with a little time and effort you can get there.
Once you have been prequalified for the loan, it’s time to speak with apartment management. Many apartment complexes allow you to break your lease for a fee. This fee will vary from place to place. It could be a month’s rent, plus a re-letting fee; it could be two months’ rent; it could be a re-letting fee plus you’re on the hook until the apartment is rented. These fees also vary in price. Some are reasonable, while others are quite high.
Now that you’ve been prequalfied, and gathered the information about breaking your lease, it’s time to speak with a Realtor. You want to make sure he/she is willing to give up money to help you break your lease. Sadly, I’ve heard a number of stories where Realtors will not give up any commission to help their client get into a home. Now it has to be reasonable. You can’t expect your agent to give up practically everything. We have to make a living too.
The best scenario for getting money for a lease buyout is for your agent to help you with new construction. While builders cannot legally buy anyone out of a lease, they can help the agent do so by providing a bonus to offset the cost. I’ve done this many times with my clients. I’ve paid as much as $4,000 for my clients to get into their new home. It can still be done with resale homes, but it becomes a little more tricky. Sellers aren’t always confident the extra money is going towards the buyer’s lease.
If you’re having trouble with the property management, and/or if you would rather have your agent speak with them, most are willing to do so. If a price that works for everyone cannot be reached, you have one option left. You can build. This is the only time in the last three years that I’ve seen builders negotiate pricing on build jobs. You can lock in at today’s pricing, and in some cases still lock your rate for a long term. Either way, if you want to take advantage of this incredible buyers’ market, you have options available.
Blog article by Chad Underwood, Owner/Broker, Chad@NorthTexasHomeFinders.com, check us out at www.northtexashomefinders.com.
Many clients I speak with lately are making assumptions. We all do it, and it’s usually based on things we read and/or hear. One of the assumptions that’s pretty common right now is that in order to get the best deal in buying a home in Dallas / Fort Worth suburbs like Frisco, you need to buy a foreclosure. Sometimes that assumption turns out to be correct. Sometimes it does not.
It would be nice if I could just tell you that the best deals are foreclosures, so that’s all we’ll look at. However, I’d be doing you a disservice if I took that approach. The fact of the matter is that depending on your needs the best deal could be a foreclosure, it could be an owner sale, or it could even be a home being sold by a builder. The thing I’ll promise you is this — if you are working with the right agent, they will figure that out for you and explain the reasoning behind the conclusion.
This morning I heard a discussion on the radio involving the “Smart Car”. You know what I’m talking about — those cars that look like golf carts on steroids. For a while there, they were all the rage. Four dollar a gallon gasoline will do that. I ASSUMED these cars must get unbelievably good gas mileage. I found out today they get 33 miles per gallon in the city / 41 miles per gallon on the highway. I was shocked! My Toyota Avalon, not a small car, gets 30 miles a gallon on the highway! I guess that proves that assumptions are sometimes way off.
If you are looking for a great deal on a home in D/FW, a foreclosure might be the way to go. Just as likely is a scenario where you buy a home that’s not a foreclosure. The key is not to assume anything. Find a great Realtor to represent you as the buyer, and have them evaluate your specific situation.
Article by W. Cody Robinson, Owner/Buyer Specialist, North Texas Home Finders
Contact Cody at 972.365.0432 or Cody@NorthTexasHomeFinders.com
Get a Buyer Specialist and rest easy! The builder pays our service charge from their advertising budget which is built into every home they sell. Since these fees do not come out of the home construction budget, you cannot negotiate one penny of a better deal alone. We also work with preowned homes where the seller pays our fees! Visit www.northtexashomefinders.com for more information.
This lovely home has finished the short-sale process and bank needs a firm $319,000 offer asap. Tax rolls show this home to be valued at $413,000.00.
5 bedroom
3.1 Bath
3 car garage
Game
Study/Library
Media
Come home to luxury and comfort in this custom crafted builder’s home. Every detail is perfection, including hand-scraped wood floors, upgraded carpeting, oversized slate-like tile, wrought-iron spiral staircase, granite counters, faux finishes, oversized media, and so much more! Must see to believe!
If you would like to take advantage of this opportunity, please contact Amy Underwood at 972-921-8787 for a showing. You may also e-mail me at Amy@NorthTexasHomeFinders.com. Our services are offered free of charge!
Spring has officially sprung. With that many of us get the urge for a new start. Maybe it is just cleaning out closets and getting rid of junk, for some however, it is making the decision to purchase their first home or maybe a different home.
There are several advantages to buying new construction that we have discussed before on this blog, so I won’t go in to that again. One word of caution however, if you want to be involved in the decision making process…in other words, pick the color brick, carpet, tile, etc. and you want to be living in your home by the time school starts up again in August. You had better get with your Buyer Specialist Agent and find the home and builder you like. New construction in many areas is running 5 to 6 months for completion. This puts us in August if you sign up in March.
Waiting could mean some extra driving to get your child to their new school come August. Builders used to carry inventory homes to help homeowners reach their goals of moving in by school starting. With the changes in the market, they are no longer doing so. Don’t delay!
Article by Teresa Robinson, Owner/Buyer Specialist, North Texas Home Finders
Contact Teresa at 972.335.0571 or Teresa@Northtexashomefinders.com
Get a Buyer Specialist and rest easy! The builder pays our service charge from their advertising budget which is built into every home they sell. Since these fees do not come out of the home construction budget, you cannot negotiate one penny of a better deal alone. We also work with preowned homes where the seller pays our fees! Visit www.northtexashomefinders.com for more information.
A check of lenders’ Web sites Thursday showed rates ranging from 4.625 percent to 4.75 percent, not including points, for the most creditworthy customers. Except for a day or so in December, rates are at the lowest levels since at least 1965, according to mortgage giant Freddie Mac.
What caused this new drop in rates? The Federal Reserve announced last week that it would double its purchases of mortgage debts. Rates for 30-year fixed rate mortgages dropped as much as half a percent at the news. With this new rate drop, now is the time to see if you qualify for the lowest rates. If you’re a first-time homebuyer, or have not owned a home for three or more years, you still qualify for the $8,000 tax credit.
Don’t wait too long. this rate change will mean a whole new batch of folks looking to refinance as well. The more applications in the system, the longer it takes to get financing pushed through. You also have to get busy finding that new home. Buying an inventory home from a builder, or a pre-owned home that can close in 30 days ill allow you to lock in to today’s rates. At this point, the longer you wait, the higher the rate.
Written by Chad Underwood, Owner/Broker, North Texas Home Finders, chad@northtexashomefinders.com
I often tell my clients that we probably have at least one thing in common — neither of us likes Realtors! Obviously that comment is a little tongue in cheek, but there’s some truth there as well. As a basketball referee, I have a bad case of March Madness….this is my favorite time of year. As a Realtor, I have a case of March Madness as well.
I’m currently dealing with another agent on a transaction. This person is, to be nice, not great at her job. The thing that bothers me most is not the frustration of my dealings with her. It’s the fact that I know she is not representing her clients very well. She has very little idea what she’s doing. Those are the things that give ALL Realtors a bad name. The general public views real estate agents in the same light as used car salespeople, and it’s hard to blame them!
I write this blog today for two reasons: First of all, it’s therapeutic! I feel better already! Secondly, and much more importantly, is the fact that I want anyone reading this to be careful when selecting a Realtor. There are great ones out there, but you have to do your homework. Ask for references. Do your homework. You’ll be very thankful at the end of the process that you asked a few questions at the beginning.
Thanks for listening (reading). Now at least one of my cases of madness is better. As for the other? Well, Texas A&M won today, so the basketball one could be getting worse!
Article by W. Cody Robinson, Owner/Buyer Specialist, North Texas Home Finders
Contact Cody at 972.365.0432 or Cody@NorthTexasHomeFinders.com
Get a Buyer Specialist and rest easy! The builder pays our service charge from their advertising budget which is built into every home they sell. Since these fees do not come out of the home construction budget, you cannot negotiate one penny of a better deal alone. We also work with preowned homes where the seller pays our fees! Visit www.northtexashomefinders.com for more information.
Final inventory home = Builder Liquidation!!! Remaining home in Highland Meadows in Seagoville and this home will be sold this week.
Located in the Mesquite I.S.D. and just South of I-20 this home qualifies for the USDA 100% financing program, This 2347 sq ft 3 bedroom 2 bath home with formal dining room and large game room up is located on an oversize lot.
It has a value of over $184,000. Builder says “Bring Me An Offer”, $500.00 in certified funds, fill out a Mortgage application and this home could be yours.
Call Cody to schedule your exclusive viewing on this beautiful home today at 972.365.0432. This home will not last long, so call ASAP!
Remember if you are working with an agent, we cannot help you. We are buyer specialists that help builders liquidate their inventory. Our special relationships saves you $1,000s. We represent you, not the builder.
Article by Teresa Robinson, Owner/Buyer Specialist, North Texas Home FindersGet a Buyer Specialist and rest easy! The builder pays our service charge from their advertising budget which is built into every home they sell. Since these fees do not come out of the home construction budget, you cannot negotiate one penny of a better deal alone. Visit www.northtexashomefinders.com for more information. Email Teresa directly at teresa@northtexashomefinders.com
“I’m ready to buy when I find the perfect house.” It sounds somewhat reasonable. The problem – there is no such thing as the perfect house. Let that sink in for a minute.
“What do you mean there is no such thing as the perfect house? I know it’s out there, we just have to find it.”
When I have clients that tell me they’re looking for the “perfect” house, it scares me. First of all, perfect is subjective. What you want and need in your house is not necessarily what I want and need in my house. Secondly, it sounds like we’re going to have to see a lot of houses, and end up with a lot of disappointment. I really, really want to find everything my clients want in a house. However, I need them to be realistic as well. Part of my job as the expert, and the professional, is helping balance the two. I had my house built by a semi-custom builder, and there are several things I wish I would have done differently The only way to get as close to perfect as possible, is to find the lot you want, then sit down with an architect to design the house of your dreams. Few people have the patience or the money to do so. What’s the alternative? Compromise.
I tell my clients if we can get 80% of what you want in a home, we’re in good shape. If we get above 80%, that’s fantastic. Before setting out to find your home, you need to make two lists. “Must Haves,” and “Would Like to Have.” It’s from the second list that the compromise should arise. If you must have 4 bedrooms, becuase you have 3 kids, then we won’t look at 3 bedrooms. If you must have a large hard for two big dogs, we won’t look at postage-stamp yards. Differentiating between needs and wants is a time-saving, aggrevation-saving, exercise. It sounds simple, but many people don’t take the time to think it through before they look at houses. Knowing where you are willing to compromise before getting in the car to look will the home-buying experience much more pleasant.
Written by Chad Underwood, Owner/Broker, North Texas Home Finders, chad@NorthTexasHomeFinders.com
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