Dean Graziosi | Dean Graziosi Real Estate | Dean Graziosi Investment

Buying a home is one of the biggest financial decisions you will ever make. It is important that you have a guide to help you through the complicated process of getting approved for financing, paperwork, and choosing your new home. A real estate agent is trained to not only help you buy the home you need and are looking for but also to be able to help you get through all of the steps to buying a home. Since the regulations are always changing in the housing market, it is essential that you have the guidance of a real estate agent from the very first moment that you start planning to buy a home.

Do not just settle for the first real estate agent that you contact. This is the person who is going to be helping you find a home for yourself and your family. He or she is going to be spending time with you, talking about your finances and what you are hoping for, and is going to be directing you not only in what homes to look at but also in your financing. You should interview any real estate agent you are considering working with. Find out how many years they have been an agent and if there are any complaints filed against them. Also find out the experience that they have in the neighborhoods you’re interested in.

You want a real estate agent who is going to give you their time and attention. If it is difficult for you to get in touch with the agent then you may want to think twice about working with him or her. You need an agent who is easy to talk to and get in touch with and who will make sure that your calls are returned. Sometimes you may work with an agent who works with a very large real estate agency and you may be dealing with assistants who do a lot of the legwork. This is okay as long as you feel that your needs are being met. When it comes time for contracts to be signed and the actual closing of the deal you will want to have the agent there because they are the ones who are in the best position to help you. Look elsewhere if the agent is not going to be one guiding you through the contracts.

Consider the agent’s personality and whether or not you can get along with them. You may love an agent’s creditionals and experience but find that they have a personality that gets on your nerves. This is okay and does not say anything bad about you as a buyer. If an agent has a personality that clashes with your own or if you feel in any way that you cannot work with them then you need to keep looking. No matter how great an agent’s creditionals are they are not the one for you if you can’t get along. The same thing goes for an agent who you get along with well who does not have the experience you need. Choose an agent you can get along with who has all the experience and training you need. 

Ever since the housing crisis began, you have probably been hearing about credit scores. Credit is needed for just about everything. It is much easier to get a new car loan, an installment loan for a home repair, or a mortgage for your dream home if you have a good credit history. The problem is that the whole idea of credit is confusing to many people and it is not always easy to find out exactly what your credit score is or what it means. One of the biggest mysteries of credit is how exactly it affects a mortgage for a home.

There is no debating the fact that the higher your credit score the better deals you can get. Where mortgages are concerned, you are able to get mortgages that have lower interest rates, higher borrowing limits, and lower monthly payments. The lower interest rates that you pay with a better score is what lowers the monthly payments that you make. Interest is money that is added on to the money that you borrow and increases the amount that you have to pay back over the life of the loan. The lower the rate the less you have to pay to borrow the money.

Credit tells your lenders how much they can trust you. High scores mean lenders will be willing to lend you money while low scores mean they will not want to. Your score, called the FICO score, is determined using a number of factors and a specific formula. The credit bureaus such as TransUnion take these factors into account when assigning a credit score. The factors are your previous performance and how often you paid creditors on time, the amount of money you owe, how long you have been using credit, and what kinds of credit you have. Credit inquiries also count but to a much smaller degree. Your past payment history is the most important factor. Using the FICO score, a lender will use the score and reason codes to decide where you fall on their lending guidelines.

Scores range from 350 to 950. Very few people actually have scores in the 900s. Those who get the best loans have scores that are at least 800. Many lenders require borrowers to have scores in the 700s. However, there are lenders who will consider lending money to you for a mortgage even if you are considered to have poor credit, which is usually considered to be anything below 500, though you will end up paying more in interest. Time is the best method of getting a higher credit score. Be sure to pay your bills on time, pay off any debts you owe, and your score should climb. 

Knowing what the real estate market has done in the past is an important piece of knowledge that buyers and sellers should be aware of. Being aware of how the market has behaved in certain neighborhoods and locations where you are looking at properties can be an indicator of what to expect once the home has been purchased. Past market trends can and do have an effect on the current value of a property and how the value of the property can change in the future. Market trends have been in a constant state of change lately and knowing what the past trends were will better prepare you for the future.

Looking at how the area you’re interested in has changed in past three or four months will show what to expect in the future. Banks and lenders typically use this same information when determining comparable prices of homes recently sold in the area. This is an important tool to use while you are looking at properties. Once you find a property that you are interested in, you should also look at what the past property trends have been. This will prepare you for what to expect when the market becomes more stable. These numbers will show if the neighborhood you’re looking at has a high turnover rate, meaning that people purchase homes but do not tend to stay.

You will also want to look at the rate of foreclosures in the neighborhood, this can affect the purchase price of your home and can also affect the selling price should you decide to sell later. Experts suggest that when you look at past trends you go as far back as three years. This will tell you how many homes were sold and what the average sale price was. It also allows you to notice any trends either up or down in property values. Doing some research into past trends may seem like a lot of extra work, but it can help you make a better informed decision when purchasing a home.

Every neighborhood will have property sales throughout the years, some are for the typical reasons of families relocating to a larger home, downsizing or a change in their living situations. But researching the trends will show you if there is an abnormally large amount of activity in the area. Market trends are changing all the time, and doing some research now can help you in the long run. Finding a neighborhood you like is critical to being happy in the home you buy; but doing the proper research before purchasing that home will ensure that you are getting the most for your money and you will not be likely to lose more down the line.