The first thing you should do when buying a house is to clearly determine who (you or your real estate agent) is engaged in two major operations: searching for an apartment and transaction registration. Both the first and the second issues require the professional approach and experience. Realtor learns to work effectively for months. Evaluate how much you win if you would try to make everything by yourself, how many time and efforts it will take. If you still decides to find a house and buy it on your own, without any intermediary – put this thing on a good quality level. Select the main sources of information where there is a chance to find the information from the owners; methodically view and call through the proposals.
Working with the proposals
If you find a very good price for the house – treat it critically. In any transaction there are dozens of pitfalls that can change the price significantly. In addition, the transaction price and the offer price on average differ by 5% and, of course, they can be different from the market value.
The choice of the realtors
The choice of the realtor you are going to work with is not less serious issue. The recommendations of your friends are not the reason for a final decision. Having chosen the real estate agency, it is necessary to visit it. The signs of a reliable agency: seriousness, good office equipment, reliability.
Working with the agency
As a rule, the house in the listing is being attached to the certain real estate agency. Working with such an option you should remember that all the risks should be bared by the company and by you. This means that all the contracts should indicate the name of the company and not of the realtor. By entering into a service agreement clearly contemplate (and mount) all the crisis variants – force majeure, who bears what risks etc.
Inspecting the house
In order to ensure the proper examination of the house, it is better to use the services of the professional inspector. The professional expert will carefully inspect the house you want to buy as a prerequisite for the purchase. You will receive a detailed report that will allow you to make an informed decision.
The expert should carefully examine all the systems in the house, including: the harness; heating and air conditioning systems; water supply; the foundation; the roof. The specialist will look for signs of: the infiltration of water; the toxic chemicals; the damage from insects or rodents; the violations of the rules of operation; the constructional defects. As the result, the inspector must inform you about all the defects and malfunctions as well as about the funds needed in order to eliminate all possible faults or defects.
Signing the house purchase contract
If you have made all the previous steps and decided to buy the house, it is necessary to decide the price with the celler and to sign the house purchase contract. It is better to be done with the help of the realtor or the lawyer in order to avoid any possible misunderstanding or mistakes.
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How fast, at what price and at what mental cost our apartment is being sold – all these factors depend on the person who sells it. Choosing the real estate agency, it is very important to understand that the process of selling the apartment is complex and multi-faceted. The situation is complicated by the fact that it is not enough just to conclude the contract with a good realtor. You need to find him first.
It is impossible to find the selection criteria that will satisfy everyone. Many of us would prefer to work with a specialist from among the acquaintances or friends, without getting involved in the tedious process of the comparison and choice of the realtors. But if you want to get the best result, the personal acquaintance with the specialist is not the only of the main selection criteria. Choosing a realtor does not radically differ from the choice of doctor or any other professional who provides an important service for you. If the person is not an expert, it will be difficult to assess the professional advantages of a broker or the real estate agency. You must be guided by the following information – it is necessary to gather the feedback and other information about the agency and the experience of its work in the market.
The seller should pay special attention to the following factors:
Reliability of the real estate agency
The seriousness of the company
How many people work at the agency?
Does it have a network of offices?
Where these offices are located, what they look like and how they are equipped.
The quality of the staff: is there a serious recruiting service, personnel training system?
And most importantly – whether the real estate agency and its employees understand that the client is a unique personality; that it is necessary to be able to hear and understand the customer and offer him a personal approach. The combination of these criteria makes it possible to determine how well a company can do its job of selling your house.
However, it is not necessary to go to all of the real estate agencies – candidates. You can call those of them, previously collected information about which was the most favorable and to determine how well they communicate with the customer on the phone, whether they are interested, the organization of the work etc. Then it is important to contact with the experts from those agencies that have made the best impression. Communicate with each of them in order to understand with whom you want to work, try to determine their level of professionalism. It is clear that for an outside person it is difficult to determine the true level of competence of a specialist. But drawing attention to some key points, you can understand whether the specific realtor satisfy you as a seller.
All of this advice will help you to pick the best realtor to sell your house.
First of all, it is necessary to determine everything concerning the house loan. The bank that loans you the money is called the lender. The name of the loan you are getting from the bank is the mortgage and sometimes it is called the note. There is the mortgage or the amount of money you are obliged to pay to the bank each month under the loaning contract. The interest rate or the mortgage rate is the percentage of the sum of the loan. Also there exists such thing as the foreclosure – the process of your house repossession by the bank that is provided in the case if you have failed to pay the mortgage. Such an option is being included in the loan contract in order to make it possible for the bank to get the loaned money back in the case you are not able to fulfill your obligations.
The term of the loan is the amount of years you have for the loan repayment. For example, in the U. S. there are two options of the term of the loan: 15 years and 30 years. Each of these options has its pros and cons. The advantages of the short term are the ability to save on the interest as well as the possibility to pay out the loan in the shorter term. But the long term has its own advantages: lower monthly payments, it is easier to get, it makes it possible to buy more expensive house. And, by the way, if your financial conditions allow, you may repay the long term loan quicker without any extra charges. So it is up to you which type of the loan term to choose.
There are two variants of paying the mortgage. In the first variant you may sign for the auto draft: in this case the bank will automatically draft the monthly payment from your account and you will not have to constantly control this process. If you prefer another variant, it will be your personal responsibility to perform the monthly payments as the bank will not send you any notifications or bills.
You should know that the part of your mortgage is the interest being charged by the bank for loaning you the money. But still you will make the equal monthly payment that already include both the principal (the amount of money having been loaned) and the interest, and these monthly payments will be equal for the whole term of the loan. Of course, when you are looking for a bank – lender, you should definitely take into consideration the certain bank’s interest rate as it will influence the total amount of the loan. A lower interest rate means that your monthly payments will be smaller as well as it will make it possible for you to buy the more expensive house. Also it is very important to carefully examine the bank’s loan contract as it may include some other additional fees for the loan you will have to pay either monthly for the life of the loan or it will be the onetime payment for some services or conditions.
The first thing you need to do is to find a good realtor with the help of your friends, websites, reviews as well as your personal impression from particular realtor or real estate agency. When you have made your choice, you meet the realtor and discuss with him or her all of your wishes and requirements for the new house. It is very important for the realtor to get as much information as possible in order to work out the plan of further actions. You need to explain to the realtor what house you want to buy and how much money you have for this purpose. You also need to discuss issues directly related to the purchase (eg, area, floor, repairs etc.). If you have discussed with the realtor all the issues and you have no doubts, then between you and the agency an exclusive two-way contract is being signed. It spells out all the requirements for the apartment as well as the rights and obligations of each of the contracting parties. It often happens that before signing an exclusive contract the preliminary agreement is being composed which specifies the basic conditions of the deal.
Among all the apartments being presented in the market the realtor selects only those that meet all of your criteria. And only these houses are for you to examine. The realtor will also arrange a convenient time for you to display the house. You have every right to choose the house as long as you find the option that suits you at a hundred percent. Once you have found a suitable apartment, there is a checking of its legal history. If there are some negative points (because of which the ownership of the new owner can be challenged in court) the realtor resumes the search and find another flawless from a legal point of view house.
If all the checks are completed and there are no claims to the house, the realtor collects all the necessary documents for the transaction. You will have to give the seller some money (deposit) as a proof of your seriousness. Therefore you acknowledge your desire to purchase the house. In addition, the advance payment allows you to reserve the favorite apartment and be sure that someone else will not buy it. The size of the advance is stipulated in the contract. The transfer of money is being executed only through the real estate agency and it is documented.
At the final stage the seller and the buyer in the presence of the notary sign the sale contract. This contract stipulates all the terms and conditions concerning the sale of the house. It is advisable to specify in this contract all the details concerning the rights and obligations in certain conditions. The task of the good realtor is to foresee all the possible pitfalls in order to protect you from the future troubles.