featured posts
9 things first-time home buyers shouldn’t have to deal with, and how to avoid it
Dec 18th
Here are 9 things that no first-time home buyer should have to deal with in the first couple years of homeownership:
- Frozen pipes
- Total roof replacement
- House fire
- Major construction in the areas surrounding the property for more than 2 years consecutively
- Major ice dams on the roof
- Flooding in the basement
- Unruly neighbors
- Non-disclosure of major issues by seller
- Health code violations
Here’s how to prevent situations like above (some or all) from taking over your life:
- Have an inspection!!! It is foolish not to have an inspection. Your view of the potential property will change drastically, I pretty much guarantee it. You will probably save the cost of the inspection just from the helpful tips you receive from the inspector alone. Also, make sure you are present for the inspection for this reason.
- Take your time prior to writing your offer. Make sure you have all the facts PRIOR to sitting down with your agent to write an offer. Remember how big of an investment this is, and you don’t want to have regrets.
- Drive around the property. Walk around the streets. Check it out on google maps, aerial. Talk to the town for known future development. I know you think that if there’s something major going to happen that the seller will know, but usually, folks will claim ignorance, and even if it is known that there was some serious non-disclosure, do you want to put yourself in that position to have to go after somebody?
- If it is a public building as defined by vt laws, clearly spell out in the contract that the seller is to carry out fire and safety inspections and that the property is to pass these prior to closing. Trust me on this.
Especially for somebody who has not owned a property before, try to be more prudent than you naturally are inclined. This holds especially true for folks that know how to work on things and are handy, because being one of these people myself, the COST (both in time lost with family and materials) of fixing a place up is TREMENDOUS!
Give me a call, I will keep you from being “up the creek without a paddle”!
Real Estate Property Search in Central VT… Pretty much where you need to go!
Dec 15th
Many websites try to make things harder rather than simpler for you, possibly because of their own profit motives. But, if you are looking for property in Central Vermont, there are only a few places that you will need to go. You see, all agents and consumers alike have access to the same information these days. When property information is uploaded to the MLS, this information is then in turn sent out to the internet world by way of an IDX (internet data exchange). John Smith real estate is listing the same information as the real estate company down the street.
Here are all the links you need:
| FUNCTION: | WEBSITE: |
| central and northwestern vt listings | nneren.com |
| fsbo listings | picketfencepreview.com |
| commercial listings | loopnet.com |
| Iphone app for property info on the go | trulia.com |
And don’t forget your local newspaper!
If you want an auto-email function, call me, and I will set you up and you won’t get constantly bugged by somebody who now has your email in their database.
What to Look for When Purchasing a Foreclosure?
Dec 11th
I have listed and sold quite a few of the foreclosures in my day, and here are just a few helpful hints for the hearty soul looking to cut their teeth on this wonderful circus
1. Are you paying cash or are you financing this deal? Your loan officer may be extremely conservative, or at the other end of the extreme, just eager to get that next deal and not really care very much about whether your deal is likely to go through. Financing rough properties with FHA loans is, well, tough. Is there any mildew that an
appraiser could think is a dangerous mold? Is there a working stove? Is all the TRIM there? You had better hope so, because any of this is out of place, you are in trouble when that appraisal comes back. First-time homebuyers often are drawn to the foreclosures because they don’t know how much it will actually cost to fix these places and are unaware of the problems that will be encountered in escrow. I had one deal where the cooperating agent (working with the buyer but not representing them) had advised the buyer to give their landlord notice, only to find out that there were numerous issues from an appraisal standpoint. A lot of times in this market, cash buyers think that they have all the power, and put in low offers, only to get beat out by the deal that is financed and higher in dollar amount. Many times banks don’t care about the cash deal as much as they should, and that brings me to another thing to look for:
2. Who is the bank? This is important! Some banks are easy to work with, and some are definitely not! Hopefully your agent has explained to you that many banks do not respond in a timely manner. But it seems that no matter how convincing I try to be of this fact, people just forget, and get upset at the bank when often times it is not their fault. Here’s why: Buyer, buyers agent, listing agent, foreclosure coordinator at our company, asset management company, 123 asset holdings llc (holding debt in portfolio), and finally, john smith who ACTUALLY owns the property.
3. What is it really going to cost to fix? Many of the problems are going to be moisture related, especially in the northeast. Once the heat has been turned off, these places get pretty musty, damp, and stagnant. The buyers tell me, “it looked a lot better in the pictures.” This is common for the real estate practitioner.
4. Is all the work going to be worth it? Even if you are successful with all of your rehabbing (if needed), does the location and future market value warrant all that hard work? This is always a question you need to ask yourself.
Good luck, and happy hunting!
