Remember, time is on your side

Take your time finding that perfect house, researching school districts and neighborhoods. Homes aren’t moving nearly as fast as they used to, you can afford to take your time. With inventories of homes for sale higher than they have been in the recent past, if you miss out on one opportunity, you will likely find a better one!

Don’t be afraid to demand a reduced price

Some sellers have an inflated view of what their home is worth, based on the activity of the last few years. This causes many sellers to price their home too high. How can you tell how long the home has been on the market, and what the original listing price was, and if they lowered it? This is something your local licensed Realtor® can help you out with.

Take advantage of an inspection contingency

I don’t know why you would ever NOT get an home inspection, but make sure you get one. Don’t worry that including a home inspection contingency might cause another offer to win. No matter how much you love the house, taking the risk of NOT getting it inspected isn’t worth it. You’ll find another house, especially in this market. We know a great home inspector that goes over homes with a fine-tooth comb!

Don’t sweat the financing

Provided you get a fixed-rate mortgage, if rates rise, you are locked in. If rates fall, you can always refinance. Rates are still historically low, compared with the last few decades.

Don’t insult

A shockingly-low offer might insult a seller and cause them not to consider any more of your offers. What is a reasonable offer? That’s where our services come in handy! Contact us to get started on your home search.

I have no problem with these search engines (we’ve had success selling things on craigslist, and we usually advertise listings on at the owners permission), but you should remember:

1. A great majority of these properties are most likely already on the MLS
2. By exclusively searching for homes with these sites, you won’t see all the homes available
3. By posting on these sites, even if you manage these multiple listings on different sites, and struggle to provide info for potential sellers and keep your listing fresh, you still aren’t getting the exposure you would get from the MLS
4. Although the integrated google maps feature is pretty cool on some of these sites, the search engines aren’t nearly as powerful as the ones available to me

I don’t oppose buyers utilizing the internet for searching for homes for sale, and don’t oppose sellers trying to sell their homes on these sites. I do think you should use a Realtor® for your transactions. Many brokers such as IBR offer a free MLS search right on their website, and I can automatically set you up to receive listings within your criteria. In addition, I can manage and market your homes on these same sites.

Remember that Realtors® provide many more services than finding and advertising homes.

Scott County

Directly south of Hennepin County, grew by 4.4% in 2005. This is not suprising, considering all of the roadwork that has been done in the southwest corner of Hennepin County. 494 has added lanes, County Road 5 is being worked on, and the same goes for Highway 169. These factors all combine to make this beautiful county full of great lakes such as Prior Lake, easier to commute from if you work in Minneapolis.

Sherburne County

This county is located just north of Hennepin county, and is a great place and affordable location to purchase an affordable house if you are interested in having a large and/or wooded lot. The commute can still be reasonable, depending on where you live in the county, and where you work in the metropolitan area. There are many non-residential development projects, such as the River’s Edge Commons, a downtown park in Elk River.

• visit the house before purchasing
• employ a Realtor® if you are not familiar with the area or neighborhood where you plan to purchase
• get a home inspection
• if a deal sounds too good to be true it probably is (if you buy a house for $3,000 or $10,000 be ready for anything)

Do you think its eBay’s fault? I see the internet and mediums such as eBay and Craigslist to not be at fault in transactions like this. Buyers need to be more aware of what they’re getting into. If I buy a digital camera from eBay, there is a chance I can lose my money by paying the seller, and never receiving the item.

A house, on the other hand is a big purchase that needs to be thought through carefully. If a buyer buys a $3,000 house on eBay, he can be out much more than his purchase price in a hurry. A hasty decision or cutting corners when making a purchase of this magnitude.

I called him immediately, and after speaking with him, found out that he was under the impression that by purchasing without an agent on his side, he would save money.

There is only one case I can think of where this is true. If the transaction is a FSBO (for sale by owner), that only wants to sell directly to a buyer, and refuses to pay a buyers agent. Most FSBO kits have a provision to provide a percentage to a buyers agent.

In every other case, you stand to gain approximately $100-$200 in reduced fees by not going with a buyers agent.

An example

Say for example, a seller wants to put his house on the market, and they find an listing agent, who charges them a 6% commission. When the agent puts the house on the MLS (multiple listing service) they will offer a buyers agent a 3% commission.

If a potential buyer comes along and they aren’t working with a buyers agent already, the listing agent will oftentimes offer to represent the buyer in addition to the seller. This is called dual agency, and while it is legal and usually doesn’t lead to the buyer getting ripped off, it leads to a buyer shortchanging themselves by not having an experienced professional on their side.

So, if an agent is performing dual agency on a transaction, they would keep the full 6%. Ditto goes if you decide to represent yourself, you don’t get the 3% unless you are a licensed Realtor®.

What do you gain

My broker charges in the range of $150 for a transaction fee. Applying this to my friend’s situation, would it be worth saving $150, if you ended up buying a house that was priced at $60K over what it was appraised at? Although this isn’t normal, there are other ways to get ripped off. What if you get talked out of getting a home inspection? What if you don’t write a financing contingency in your purchase, and financing falls through? There are many ways to lose big and possibly get sued if you don’t have an agent on your side. Don’t ruin your first home buying purchase by going it alone. Get an agent, and get pre-approved before you start looking at houses.

Homebuyers, its important to do a final walkthrough after you and the seller agree to the terms of purchase, and before you close on the house (when its too late). Although there are some differing opinions about when the final walkthrough should occur, I believe it should be done the day before closing or the morning of closing.

Check the water

Turn on all the faucets (kitchen, bathroom, laundry tub) to make sure everything is working. Its important to make sure you get hot water from showers and faucets as well, to make sure the hot water heater is working.

Check repairs

If you’ve done the smart thing, and got a home inspection, and requested that a few minor repairs be made as a contingency on the sale, remember to ask for all receipts and copies of paid bills. This not only ensures that work was done by a professional, and was up to standard, but oftentimes contractors and companies have warranties on their workmanship.

Request that the seller leave these receipts and other warranty information at the final walkthrough, so you can check on the work performed, and check into warranty transfers, if needed.

Check the small stuff

Make sure that everything that was included in the purchase is still on the premises. This may include light fixtures and draperies.

Check appliances

Make sure the washer/dryer, microwave, stove, dishwater, etc. are all working as well. Flush the toilets, make sure they refill, and turn on lights to make sure they are operational. Check the doorbell and alarm system as well.

Check HVAC

The last thing you want is a faulty HVAC, so make sure it is working correctly. During our final walkthrough, we noticed that our thermostat was replaced with a newer one. We didn’t think anything of it, and experienced high heating bills and heat that went fluctuated from 60-80 degrees, making it very uncomfortable. When we finally did get a heating expert out the fix the problem, he noted that the “updated” thermostat was part of the problem!

Check the yard

Shrubs and flowers are considered to be “part and parcel” of the property, and are automatically included in the purchase, unless specified otherwise in the purchase agreement. Double-check and make sure that things like these haven’t been removed.

Check debris

Many times, homeowners will leave behind “gifts” such as junky old furniture and collections of old paint cans, thinking that these might be things you want, if you need to touch up paint or don’t want to buy a bunch of furniture.

During the final walkthrough, be very specific about what you want removed from the property. Disposing of furniture, and especially old paint cans can prove to be costly and a general pain to remove. You’ll have plenty of things to dispose of as you are moving residences, you don’t need to worry about another person’s garbage.