Special offer

Preparing to buy in 2008

By
Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Capital Partners

NEWS, TIPS AND ADVICE FOR THE HOMEBUYER/SELLER 1/6/08
By Greg Hrabcak,
President
Columbus Board
of REALTORS®

For many of you, 2008 will be the year to buy a new home. For some of you,this will be your first home ever. Financial preparedness, getting organized and gaining knowledge about where you will be living will help make this process go more smoothly.
Here are some things you can do to prepare...
Get a detailed credit history report.
This will also give you a better idea of what kind of mortgage
rate you will be able to get. Often, a mortgage company will
accept the letter from the credit bureau as enough assurance to
offer you a lower interest rate until the report shows the actual
correction.
Research real estate web sites.
Many real estate companies are developing elaborate web
sites with options for keeping track of what houses you like,
neighborhood research and statistics and a variety of other tools.
Perusing their web sites will give you an idea of which company
you will feel most comfortable working with. Also, ask friends,
coworkers and family about which REALTORS® or real estate
companies they felt were the most efficient and professional.
However, until you are ready to really start looking at houses,
don't feel like you have to commit to an agent.
Start tracking your budget.
This will help you get a more accurate idea of what you
can afford to pay for a new mortgage. Along the same
note, your budget will help you put away more money
for the down payment. Find ways to save more money by
noting any extraneous spending that you can cut out.
Get a feel for neighborhoods and schools.
Perhaps you are just moving across town so you already
have a good idea the town you'll be living in, but it still
doesn't hurt to find out as much as you can about the
school districts, traffic patterns, amenities and styles of
different areas. Through this process, you might even be
able to narrow where you want to live down to two or
three neighborhoods.
Now is a great time to buy!

 

Comments (0)