Buying Your First Home - Watch Out!

By Steven Gillman

If you are buying your first home, there are people who will help you get into all types of trouble. Well, mostly it is one type of trouble: financial. Here are some examples.

Watch Out For Real Estate Agents

You might think that real estate agents would love first-time home buyers, since they can influence them and make a sale more easily. In reality, though, many people are very hesitant to make a decision when they buy their first home. It will be the single biggest purchase they have made in their lives, after all, so they want to take their time and see a lot of houses. Meanwhile, the agent just wants a sale.

Don't be pushed to make a fast decision. It may be true that a particular house is "not going to last long," or it may just be something an agent says. Either way, their are other homes, and you need time to get a feel for what is available and at what prices. This education is crucial, and comes primarily from looking at a lot of homes.

The agent is not necessarily looking out for your best interest, by the way. Unless you hired him to represent you, he works for the seller and is even obligated to pass on any relevant comments you make, like "we can go higher on the offer if necessary." Keep quiet, and remember that the agent is a sales person, whose primary concern is to sell something.

Watch Out For Mortgage Lenders
When you are buying you first home, you are also buying your first mortgage loan. Lenders will be so helpful. For example, they will help you afford a loan that is too large by offering you a variable-rate loan with a low teaser rate. Of course they won't help the hundreds of thousands of families that are now facing foreclosure because those payments went up when the teaser rate period was over.

Variable rate, interest only, and even reverse-amortization loans (where you owe more each year) have all been "helpfully" pushed on first-time buyers who are trying to buy more than they can afford. You are told that buying a home is the best thing you can do. Sometimes this is true, but it never is if you can't hold onto that home. If you really can't afford a home, a smaller home with a smaller mortgage loan is better - and if you can't afford that, renting is actually the best thing you can do.

Look at the worst-case scenario when considering a loan. For example, if you are considering a variable rate loan, ask what the payment will be if interest rates go up 5% years later. Will you be able to comfortably afford that? The banker may helpfully point out that the rate is capped at a 2% rise per year, but that just means the day of reckoning is postponed a little. In three years you could be paying almost $6,000 more per year on that $200,000 loan.

Watch Out For Family And Friends
The best intentions of friends and family can get you into trouble. When you are buying your first home you will get advice. Sometimes it will be good advice. Other times it will be a friend trying to get you to move to his neighborhood - the one you can't afford. Family too can push you to buy before you are ready, or spend too much. They don't always know what is best for you, so do your own thinking, buy what YOU need, and buy a home you can afford.

Copyright Steve Gillman. To see a photo of the house we bought for $17,500, get a free ebook on how to buy Cheap Homes, and more, visit: http://www.HousesUnderFiftyThousand.com

Arizona Real Estate Matters

By Nick McConnell

After viewing so many properties in Arizona with so many clients, it seems several buyers want the same common things in a home. If there are four homes in the same general area with the same exact floor plan, same price, and same amenities, what is going to separate the homes in the buyers mind? The answers are simple, but commonly overlooked by the seller.

The first and most important attribute a buyer is looking for in a home is usually cleanliness. A buyer typically wants a clean home. The floors should be mopped and sparkling, no stains in the carpets, base boards dust free, windows clean, pool clear, landscaping flawless, and air filters clean. It might be a good idea to spend two hundred dollars on a good cleaning lady before a seller puts their home on the market. With the current market conditions, sellers need all the help they can get.

A buyer notices almost everything when looking at homes. They know if the home was well kept or poorly maintained. When a buyer decides to purchase a home, they want to know that they are buying a quality piece of property. Many buyers lift up the toilet seats to see if the underneath of the seat is stained, they run their fingers across the counter tops to see if dust has collected, they look in all of the kitchen cabinets to make sure there are no old crumbs, turn on the shower to check water pressure, and use all their senses to make a decision on a home.

Which house would you buy, a home that smells like roses or a home that smells like cat urine?
A home that has pet stains or a home that has perfect carpet? A home that has weeds growing everywhere or a home that is landscaped properly? A home that has holes in the wall from all of the teenagers posters, or a home that has nice uniform paint.

Creativity is usually a good thing, but a purple and yellow painted room may not be what the buyer is looking for. If a seller decides to paint the inside of a home dramatic colors, it may be a good idea to restore the paint to it’s original color. There has been so many times where the colors of the home drove the buyer away. There is no right answer here, but a master bedroom painted black and orange may drive a buyer away.

When a buyer walks into a home, they want the home to feel like it may be theirs. If there is wedding pictures blasted all over the family room it makes the buyer feel like the home belongs to someone else. Pictures are wonderful to have and to put up in a home, but while a home is for sale, it might be a good idea to replace the wedding pictures with a nice picture of a pretty mountain or something along those lines. Like a nice hotel room, try to make the home appeal to everyone.

There are many things that a buyer is looking for in a home, and many things a seller can do to make the home more appealing to potential buyers. All of the items above are strictly opinions.
None of the above mentioned items will guarantee the sale of a home, or guarantee appreciation of a home. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees in Real Estate. If you are looking for an experienced, educated, aggressive, and knowledgeable Realtor in Arizona, please visit the website below. The one guarantee that can be make is that your best interests will be represented if you choose to use the Real Estate agent that created this article. The website below is the first place you want to go when thinking about buying or selling a home in Arizona.

Please visit the link below to find out more.
Nick McConnell
Executive Sales Associate for Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Lived in Arizona all his life, Graduated from Northern Arizona State University and has been a Realtor ever since.
Arizona Coldwell Banker Real Estate

How to Prepare Your Home for Sale at Tampa Real Estate

By Eliza Maledevic

Selling a home in Tampa real estate is not just by posting a ‘for-sale’ sign outside your home. It requires time and effort in order to make a quick sale.

Yes, you really have to advertise your home and posting a for-sale sign is one of the ways to do it. But before posting for-sale sign, you have to look at your home first. Look at it as a buyer and not a seller. Does your home look good enough to attract buyers? You have to be honest in answering this question.

Look at the outside of your home, is it appealing enough to catch the attention of the buyers and will take time to visit it? If not, you really have to give some of your time and effort to do some improvements. Repaint it. You do not have to spend too much, cheaper paint will do, and all you have to do is clean up the walls first with soap and water before painting. In choosing color of paint, earth tone color is better. Since in making improvements, you do not have to base it on your on taste, you have to think of the buyers. Definitely, your goal is to attract buyers, so you have to consider the buyers and not your own taste. Usually, cream paint is better inside the house since it can make each room look wider and bigger.

You also have to look at the yard. Can your yard attract buyers? Definitely, you know that this is the first thing that buyers can see, so you have to make sure that your yard is attractive enough to catch buyers’ attention. You have to clean up your yard by trimming the grass and trees. Better to plant some flowers.

You have to clean each room of your home. Remove the mess. Check the kitchen and the bathrooms. Look at the faucets, are the faucets functioning well, if not, better to replace with new ones.

Free your home with unpleasing odors, since this can make buyers move away. Clean the towels, curtains and carpet, to make them free from any unpleasing odors.

If you have pets, better to put them on the right place, do not let them roam around your home. Not all are pet lovers, so you have to be careful in order to attract buyers.

In decorating your home, make it simple but modern. Again, do not use your own taste, since it is possible that your taste can’t be pleasing enough for buyers. Do not over decorate your home; it will just look too crowded. Make it spacious and comfortable place to live in. But never make it empty, you still have to put furniture and equipments that can help in attracting buyers.

These are few of the things that you should do and look up when you plan to sell your home in Tampa real estate. All of these can help you to prepare your home well in order to make a quick sale.

Eliza Maledevic Ayson http://www.tampa-realestate.biz

Eliza Maledevic writes for http://Jump2Top.com - SEO Company