Clark Howard Finally Fires the Starting Pistol to Start the Race For Atlanta Home Buyers

Home buyers who have been sitting on the sideline waiting to buy a home finally heard the starting pistol fired by consumer advocate Clark Howard.  Clark told potential Atlanta home buyers listening to WSB radio (am 750) to start the home buying process.

The Atlanta housing market is a tale of two cities right now.  

Inside I-285: the housing market is close to leveling out with an equal number of buyers and sellers.  Home prices have firmed up and sellers are receiving multiple offers on their homes if the listing was priced competitively.

Outside I-285: we continue to have more homes for sale than buyers to purchase them  Foreclosures continue to be a factor in these suburban markets where production home builders had standing inventory when the mortgage tsunami hit.  Also, many of the buyers outside I-285 bought at the height of the market and paid way too much for the house they bought.  These home buyers were almost instantly underwater on their mortgage and owed far more on their home loan than the rapidly dropping market value of their home.  Short sales were the only way out for these home owners.

START THE HOME BUYING PROCESS

If you are thinking about buying a home this year, you should immediately start the following process.

1. Get copies of your credit reports from Equifax, Experian and Transunion.  Look for errors on the credit report and get any errors fixed ASAP.

2. Contact a mortgage lender and get pre-qualified for a mortgage loan.  Most capable mortgage lenders can do this over the phone.  I recommend Robbie Crozier at Fairfield Mortgage. 770-724-8053. Robbie's Website

3. Find how from the mortgage lender how much house you can afford to buy.  If you are talking to Robbie he will give you advice about how much home you can comfortably afford.  This will be lower than the maximum amount of house you can buy.  

4. Contact an experienced and capable real estateb agent.  Preferably not a casual aquantaince or someone recommended by your hairdresser .  Needs to be a full time professional who knows how to negotiate.  Do not use a contact that is someone's relative or your haridresser's client.  Look in the neighborhood where you want to buy and find an agent that is active in that neighborhood.  This agent will understand the pricing structure and know how to negotiate.....successfully.....for the home you ultimately find.  Also, this agent will know about homes BEFORE they come on the market.  Meet with the agent at their office and see if your chemistry is a match.

5. Have your buyer's agent set up a listing alert that sends you new listing direct from the FMLS.  You can receive a daily email with photos and information about new listings that come up in your target neighborhoods at your target price level.

6. When you have free time, ride around in the target neighborhoods and get a feel for houses, schools, neighborhoods, shopping, work commute etc

7. WHEN YOU ARE READY: call your agent and ask to start looking at houses.  After the initial phone conversation, many of my clients like to handle this part of the communication with their agent by email.

8. Go visit houses and evaluate the plusses and minuses of each property you visit.

CALL ME DIRECT AT 770-939-3174 if you need assistance buying a metro Atlanta Georgia home.  Good hunting!