100% MORTGAGES For FIRST TIME BUYERS

House Buying 2.0 ~ How To Get a Great Deal

By JT Steele

In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity – Albert Einstein.

I have been providing realty consulting services for over 12 years as a broker in multiple states, as a national sale trainer and award winning Realtor. And I can share with you that getting a good deal, no, let me re-phrase that, getting a great deal, can be accomplished in today’s market if you know how. If you already know, that’s great. I am sure you can still pick up some good information here to make your next purchase even better. However if you don’t know all the ins and outs of how to get a great deal in this real estate market, just read on and by the end you will be more knowledgeable then 95% of the active real estate agents in the countryI. Don’t worry about the other 5% as they are “too busy” to help you purchase a house especially once they realize that you know as much as them or even more.

Like most things in life, getting a great deal on real estate is a process. There is no silver bullet, no instant fortunes or magic potion for a great deal. If there were, you would already know it and not be reading this. What does lie ahead for you to make a great purchase is a step by step road map. And just like any good road map it is always best to have two or three or more ways set-out to reach your destination.

The first thing you need is to understand that it is hyper critical to your success is to not to fall in love with a property. If you fall victim to this, you may as well just pay what the seller is asking and get on with life. So resist that urge at all costs. This has to be a commercial decision. It may require you to walk away from your “dream house” or to dig through heaps of properties before you find one, but remember you want a great deal, so let’s break it down.

Do your homework. Do it until you can recite almost verbatim what each house, each area, each price point, each attribute, each comp and each seller is thinking in your targeted area. My last statement may seem a bit confusing, but I will explain as it is the most critical to filtering out a great deal. You need to make contact with the seller either directly or through their agent if they have one. You need to find out what their pain is. Why are they selling? and then remember that for when and if you start to negotiate a deal for the property. If the seller does not have a pain you cannot offer a remedy to his pain, which is your leverage to a great purchase. So dig it out. If I had a dime for each time I heard “I don’t need to sell, I have plenty of money and I am not in a rush to sell” I would be writing this from my private island, which I am not, but I wish they paid me all those dimes. The truth of the matter is that they are lying. Plain and simple. If that were truly the case they would just move to where ever it is they plan on moving and just let the house they are selling decay into the ground. They may not “need” the money, but just the mere fact that they are “selling” their house means that they want the money. So dig for their pain. Ask tons of open-ended questions, drill down until you get to the real reason why they are selling, get to their pain.

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Doing your homework is now easier than ever as well as overwhelming as ever. Never has so much real estate information been available to the public and with a good dose of researching as well as filtering there isn’t anything that you cannot find out about a property, most of it is actually on-line. Use well established real estate centric websites such as Yahoo, Google, Trulia, Zillow and county tax record sites. If you noticed that I didn’t include Realtor.com it not that it is a bad place to gather Intel, just understand that information is added daily however status’ of those properties are not, ie: if a house comes on the market it is shown as available but when it goes under contract they do not reflect that on their site, not until is sold and transferred. Their rationale is to try to get you to call the brokerage or agent anyway so that they can direct you to another available property.

So what are we checking on these sites? You need to know what other homes in the neighborhood sold for, you have to do your own comps. It’s not hard just try and find “like” properties in as many categories that match your “subject property” as possible. Compare square footage and determine the price per square foot and then apply that to your “subject” property. Now you know what others have paid and what the house is really worth, not what the seller or agent is “asking”. How long has the property been for sale? 99% of the time “seasoned” homes (a house on the market 50%-60%+ longer than the average Day On The Market) will be your low-hanging fruit, so start there. The sellers are typically disappointed that they are still on the market and their motivation has changed from apprehensive to anxious.

Find out what the seller owes on the property next. This is typically through tax records or you can come right out and ask the agent or owner directly. This is vital as you now have a clear vision of the financial situation the seller is in. If the house is being sold by and agent and the house is a short sale they must disclose it. If the owner is selling direct they may not even know, but you will. Short sales are good purchases if you have the stomach and patience for them. If you do discover the sellers are underwater or it is a short sale do not let your emotions enter your thought process and start felling bad for the seller. After all most times it’s the bank who will suffer the greatest loss in a short sale so don’t feel sorry for them either, do you think the bank cares or feels bad if they issue you a letter of demand or pre-foreclosure…..no! to them it’s just business. As I said earlier this must be a commercial decision you are making.

So now you have identified a good prospect, you know everything relevant about the house and area, you know what like houses are selling for in that area, how long it takes for them to sell, what the owners owe on their mortgage and what the sellers “pain” is. That is basically all you need to know in order to get a good deal.

Now let’s turn that good deal into a great deal. DO NOT use a Realtor or real estate agent to represent you in your purchase, especially if the seller is using one. Through the course of your research you will know if they are or not. You are looking for a seller that is using an agent. Find out who the agent is and contact them directly to make your offer. The agents natural assumption is (if they know you are not being represented by an agent) that they hit pay dirt and they will be able to sell the house to you and they will keep the entire commission that they negotiated with the seller (its called a double-dip in real estate agent lingo). If they ask to represent you politely tell them no. Now you make your good deal great. Tell the sellers agent that you will be using a real estate attorney to handle your representation (you need one anyway) and that you want part of the commission that their brokerage will be getting from the seller as a credit at closing towards your final purchase price. If they refuse go to their broker and speak with them about it. Almost 100% of the time the broker will agree. After all, the listing belongs to the brokerage not the agent so the brokerage will have the final say as to a credit or not. If they are reputable brokerage they know that their sole objective is to perform for the seller that is, to find a ready, willing and able buyer. If they don’t agree they will be doing their client a huge dis-service and if they do that they can easily ruin their business. Sellers talk, buyer talk, agents talk and if the brokerage is perceived by any of them as not having their clients best interest first and foremost, word will get out and they will only be selling fruit on the corner, before too long.

So make that good deal a great deal by having the brokerage give-up a portion of their commission to facilitate the deal.

If you cannot convince the seller to accept your offer on your terms and conditions then move on to the next property. Do not dawdle over it, don’t second guess yourself or try and figure out the seller. Simply move on to the next prospect, just rinse and repeat until you find your next great deal.

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If your answer is affirmative, you have landed on the perfect page. Edmonton real estate does have the potential of posing a lot of difficulties to the inexperienced buyer, but it also has the resources (in terms of properties) to make everyone happy. Extra guidance is always of good omen, and Edmonton homes or Edmonton condos are always a topic that is worth discussing with a realtor in the area.

REMAX Edmonton can prove to be one excellent source for such realtors, provided you wish to lay your desires in the hands of someone you do not know. This might be a strong argument for some people who might lobby against the actual use of a realtor. How can they trust someone they have never seen in their life? How can they put their dreams of finding the perfect property into the hands of someone they never spoke to? This is where the beauty of Edmonton real estate lies. The realtors here are very likely to be born here, or to have been living in the area for several years. They thus know the entire area or the locations you are interested in, they have a lot of listings from home selling individuals and they all do their homework every day, so they can answer to any potential question that might occur.

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Opening the doors to the Edmonton homes or the Edmonton condos you might be interested in is also going to be a much lighter process to deal with. Realtors have the keys of the properties you are interested in, they have the time to take you visit those places and they possess all the information you are definitely going to need to rely your decision on.

If you have recently moved to Canada and Edmonton is the area you are very likely to be moving to, REMAX Edmonton is one place you definitely need to visit. The Edmonton real estate specialists here are going to listen to your every demand, ponder your financial possibilities carefully, tell you all about the house loans you can obtain and help you visit the Edmonton homes which suit you better. Real estate in Edmonton can be rather expensive, especially if you are a foreigner and you are looking to conclude your own purchase. What you probably do not know yet is the fact that a realtor can also play the role of an effective negotiator, on your behalf, without you actually having to cover his or her expenses and fees. Realtors are normally paid by the sellers of the properties others are interested in buying. In other words, you do not have any firm reasons to be postponing the meeting with an Edmonton real estate agent anymore.

Home inspections and mortgage recommendations are also some of the main perks that also come from the decision of using a realtor. Knowing the exact state of the property you are about to purchase and finding out which are the main repairs that need to be done, as well as their costs can ponder heavily for you. The same goes for the knowledge of all the mortgage types you could be applying for. Realtors who live in Edmonton know all about the best lending institutions in the area, as well as the best people to put you into direct connection with.

Moreover, places like these and people like the experts you can find there should definitely help you smooth your ride into this new Canadian carousel. Putting your trust into these people will not really cost you a thing, but it will definitely bring you a brand new home. So what are you waiting for?

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In the wake of the devastating mortgage and lending crisis of 2008 and 2009, Bank of America has emerged as one of the last financially sound commercial and residential lenders in the country, and certainly the most profitable. They have done this by taking advantage of the new Obama Administration policies, ramping up their mortgage service programs, and trying their best to ensure they have a quick learning curve.

One of the first steps, according to Bank of America officials, was doing their best to cut down on the time it took homeowners to get approval for and complete short sales. They have cut down their turnaround time from close to ninety days to having a reply for distressed homeowners in a week. (Wells Fargo has cut it down to thirty days.) In a short sale, a purchaser makes a specific offer, and the bank then does appraisals to decide what price it will be willing to accept. The problem is, in the old system, the appraisal process would take so long that potential buyers would often just walk away.

Since the Treasury Department has detailed plans to officiate streamlining of short sale processes and provide standardized documentation and incentives to lenders, lenders are starting to opt for short sales instead of full foreclosures- which statistically save everyone money. Another item in the policy is the ‘moving allowance’ to homeowners, up to one or two thousands dollars for each American family that complete a short sale, helping to pay for relocating.

And even before resorting to short sales, lenders are trying to reach as many people with loan modifications as possible. Bank of America has begun by expanding customer service departments and loss mitigation specialist offices, and lenders on the whole are becoming more responsive to homeowners. Homeowners, for their part, are starting to expect loan modification as their due, and that expectation has led to a lot of forced flexibility on the part of bankers.

But the whole process of responding to the stresses of the recession has been a huge learning experience for all lenders and bankers. Realtors have to learn to deal with short sales, servicers have to learn to make good estimations, and agents must be trained to handle short sales. Everyone is learning on the fly. These adjustments throw the financial and housing industries into chaos, but ultimately will lead to a smoother, more universally beneficial result, by which both homeowners and lenders can be satisfied and find profit in dealings with each other.

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