Posts with tag 'Buy a house'

Found a Home Listing You Like? Watch Out for These Warning Signs

As the summer real estate season rolls on, true to form, more and more homes are listed and competition remains stiff. Another thing you can rely on – a seller and their agent are going to paint the home as beautifully as they can to secure a sale. But if you're looking to buy, you have to be careful you don't fall for such crafty salesmen tricks.

Pay attention when you visit a home and do your own careful inspections to look for any signs that the house you're walking around in isn't the home that's being promised by the Realtor. Here are four key warning signs to keep an eye out for that will tell you the home listing isn't all it's cracked up to be.

#1: Cracks in the Foundation

If you or your profess...

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Ready to purchase your first home? Though the process may seem overwhelming, knowing where to start is half the battle. Follow these five tips to help ease your stress and prepare for a smooth home buying experience.

Clean Up Your Credit Score

Having good credit is one of the most important factors when qualifying for a loan. Depending on where your score stands, it may take six months to a year to improve your credit. Although scoring requirements vary from lender to lender and there is no magic number that qualifies you to purchase a home, a low score could mean higher interest rates and fewer mortgage options. Check your credit early and make a financial plan to increase your number. A mortgage professional can pull your credit for you and create a plan to improve your score.

Evaluate Your Monthly Cash Flow

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If it is a seller's market, simply finding your dream home and submitting a standard offer might not be enough. When there are more buyers than there are available homes for sale you need to prepare for a competitive bidding war. Luckily, there are strategic moves you can use to guarantee success. Follow the five tips below to push your offer to the front of the line.

Make a clean offer.
This means the offer should have as few contingencies as possible. Though some...

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Deciding on where to live can be one of the most important and stressful decisions you and your family will make. So many aspects of your life is linked to where you live, including where you work, what schools your family will go to, the friends everyone will meet, the types of activities that will fill your days, and the opportunities to enjoy the world around you. But like any other daunting task, the decision of where to live can be best accomplished by breaking it down it smaller choices, then narrowing the field from there. Take into consideration a place's climate, arts and culture, history, economic strength, schools, and more. It's important to not only weigh and prioritize your o...

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Finding the perfect starter home is a journey as well as a destination. You've got to know what you want, then adjust expectations to meet the reality of the market. In the end, you don't have to settle on your "forever home"—just a place you'll call home for at least five to seven years.

But that's a long time in homeowner years, especially if you wake up each day in a place you wind up hating.

So how do you know what's going to stand the test of (a decent amount of) time? You've never done this before. You're taking a leap of faith that you have the money, skills, and tem...

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