How to beat other buyers to hot, new listings (Before they even know about them)
by Jamie Gness

Buyers want three things when they’re making a purchase: Selection: Have the largest number of options from which to choose Price: Get a smoking hot deal on what I want to buy Ease of doing business: Don’t make it hard for me to buy it It doesn’t matter if you’re buying shoes, a toaster or a house, all three of them matter and they usually matter in that order. And when it comes to buying a home,...
Read MoreWhen is the Best Season of the Year to Buy to get the Best Deal
by Jamie Gness

Since the market meltdown in 2008, the US housing market has rebounded dramatically. In fact, even if you purchased a property at the lowest point of the market crash and held onto it until today, your home would have appreciated by roughly 25 percent. What’s even better news is that It’s expected that the housing market will continue to climb in the future due to the changes that were made in the lending market coming out of the mortgage debacle. Plus,...
Read MoreHow much you should put down to purchase your new home?
by Jamie Gness

Historically, home buyers seek to put down 20% when they purchase a home. However, according to a recent survey by The National Association of Realtors (NAR), the actual national average is much closer to 10%. When it comes to first-time homebuyers, the average down payment is at 4% as per the same survey. While down payment requirements vary based on the lender you choose to work with, the amount required will usually depend on your credit score and your...
Read MoreTop deal breakers for a home under contract and how to fix them
by Alexander Green

Selling your home, while exciting, can also be extremely stressful. Even the best of real estate agents have to deal with complicated issues that arise with a home sale. In fact, you’ll find that even when seller and buyer get along great and the sales process is humming along smoothly that challenges can crop up requiring lots of negotiations and may delay the transaction weeks before you can close on the transaction. Conversely, some deals are complicated...
Read MoreWhy you should wait to buy that car until after your home purchase?
by Alexander Green

Getting preapproved for a mortgage is a major step in buying a home. When done properly, it’s like having cash in your hands so you can negotiate effectively with a seller to buy a home. It’s easily one of the most important things you can do in order to buy the home of your dreams. But its name gives you a hint as to how fragile this financing instrument can be. You see, it’s a “pre” approval, which means you’re...
Read MoreWhat does a real estate agent actually do?
by Alexander Green

Being a real estate agent requires you to employ a significant number of skills to complete a variety of different tasks on a daily basis. Trying to put what an agent does each day in one or two sentences is virtually impossible to do. It would be like trying to tell you what a chef does “cooks food” or what a nurse does “takes care of patients”. There’s a lot more that goes into what they do than just “helping people buy or sell properties”. If...
Read MoreWhat is your debt to income ratio...why should you care?
by Alexander Green

Any time you have more income and less debt, you’re in good shape in life. That said, there is an ideal ratio between your debt and income in order to qualify for a good mortgage. When your debt to income ratio is on the high side, you run the risk of not getting a good loan (or not getting a loan at all) if your income were to take a hit during right before or during the loan funding process. Conversely, having no debt can work against...
Read MoreWhat happens when you overprice your home?
by Alexander Green

When the real estate market favors sellers, it’s almost like there’s a feeding frenzy among buyers trying to secure listings that seem to get snapped up within hours of being put on the market. Such demand drives the prices of homes up rapidly, which only feeds into the perception that the good times will last forever. Unfortunately, trees don’t grow to the sky and there will always be a top of the market. What this means is that even...
Read MoreWhy Get Pre-approved? Structuring Your Offer to Get the Best Deal
by Alexander Green

Buying a home is a dream come true, but the process of getting an offer prepared and accepted can be a nightmare if you don’t know what you’re doing. There are over 80 variables that need to be managed properly when buying a home and mishandling just one of them could cost you tens of thousands of dollars in unnecessary expenses. Making a home purchase is expensive enough that you don’t need to part ways with any more of your hard-earned...
Read MoreWhy You Should Have A Home Inspection Before You List
by Alexander Green

One of the largest home sale killers is the home inspection. Nearly one-third of all terminated real estate contracts fell apart because of the inspection results. Inspections also ranked as the number three cause of delayed settlements, accounting for 13 percent. For some reason - and I’ll never get it - a home inspection that comes back with anything less than a perfect report strikes fear into the hearts of buyer agents and home...
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