10 Points To Consider When Looking At Homes

Dec. 30, 2009 - PRLog -- With the extension of the tax credit for first-time home buyers, this is the time more than ever to be a prudent and a smart comparison home shopper when considering the purchase of a new home. These are only suggestions from Pillar Property Group and suggest you to develop your own questions before speaking with a realtor.

1. Find out how much you can afford, and stay within your budget.
Don't overreach. Forget, the mansion on the hill if it's beyond your means. Focus on finding something that will offer affordable monthly payments and a debt load you can handle.

2. Remember: Shop around for the right rate.
When buying a home, remember to shop around, to compare costs and terms, and to negotiate for the best deal. Your local newspaper and the Internet are good places to start shopping for a loan. You can usually find information both on interest rates and on points for several lenders. Since rates and points can change daily, you’ll want to check your newspaper often when shopping for a home loan. But the newspaper does not list the fees, so be sure to ask the lenders about them.
3. Do your homework.
Buyers need to research their potential new home and neighborhood as thoroughly as possible. Thankfully, a lot of that work can be done from your bedroom or office computer.
The National Association of Realtors says 84% of buyers use the Internet to help them find a home. Do not be part of that other 16%. You'll find the Net is packed with resources about cities, neighborhoods, crime statistics and school districts. Local bloggers can give today's homebuyers insight into everything from pricing trends to who's feuding with a neighbor down the block.

4. Visit the neighborhood.
Rich as the information on the Internet is, it's no substitute for showing up. Experts suggest repeated visits to your neighborhood of choice, so you can check out homes for sale and attend open houses. Walk around. Shoot the breeze with the neighbors. Visit the community several times at different times of day.
"Walk it, smell it, hear it!" At 3 p.m., maybe your lawn will be overrun with kids getting off school. At 10 p.m., there could be a club that's only open at night playing loud music."

5. Don't be afraid to haggle.
How low can you go? Real-estate agents say it all depends on the pressures facing the individual seller. Some of those pressures are related to particular locations -- towns go up and down in appeal -- and some have to do with the individual's situation. Broadly speaking, if ever there was a buyer's market, this it.  At least negotiate a few additional amenities.

6. Buy in a district with good schools.
In most areas, this advice applies even if you don't have school-age children. Reason: When it comes time to sell, you'll learn that strong school districts are a top priority for many home buyers, thus helping to boost property values.

7. Choose carefully between points and rate.
When picking a mortgage, you usually have the option of paying additional points -- a portion of the interest that you pay at closing -- in exchange for a lower interest rate. If you stay in the house for a long time -- say three to five years or more -- it's usually a better deal to take the points. The lower interest rate will save you more in the long run.

8. Then you should look out for comfort and beauty.
That is, make a wish-list as to what are the things you want in your home. For example, if you need a driveway or not, if you need a fenced yard or not, etc. While buying a home, you should think on a long term based on the probable family growth, as you would be buying it for your rest of the life and not for today. You should consider comfort and beauty as you would want to be a proud owner of the home you are buying, which you won’t hesitate to show-off to your lover, friends, colleagues, boss, and all the important people in your life.

9. Do your homework before bidding.
Your opening bid should be based on the sales trend of similar homes in the neighborhood. So before making it, consider sales of similar homes in the last three months. If homes have recently sold at 5 percent less than the asking price, you should make a bid that's about eight to 10 percent lower than what the seller is asking.

10. Hire a home inspector.
Sure, your lender will require a home appraisal anyway. But that's just the bank's way of determining whether the house is worth the price you've agreed to pay. Separately, you should hire your own home inspector, preferably an engineer with experience in doing home surveys in the area where you are buying. His or her job will be to point out potential problems that could require costly repairs down the road. However, repairs are minor and you can repair yourself you could save some money.