Contact MargaretArchive for the 'Questions and Answers' Category
Why Wait to Look at Homes?
February 17th, 2012 Categories: Questions and Answers
Crofton MD Real Estate Q&A
Q. I want to rent a home in September, but agents won’t show me homes now. Why wait?
A. Homes on the market for rent are typically available within the next 60 days, and may be available as early as immediately.
Homes with September occupancy probably won’t start coming on the market before July and August, so the best use of your time now is to educate yourself about rental property locations, features, and prices by reviewing online listings.
Let’s make a date now to get together after July 1. In the meantime, I can send you rental listings that meet your critieria. You never know… one of them might just tempt you to rent a property sooner than September
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It Takes Preparation to be a Home Buyer
February 12th, 2012 Categories: Questions and Answers
Crofton MD Real Estate Q&A
Q: Is there anything I have to do to prepare for buying a Crofton home?
A. The short answer is “no.” The better answer is “yes!”
Lots of home buyers walk into a real estate office or model home with no preparation at all, and eventually they succeed in finding and buying a house. The process is rarely without disappointments, delays and frustrations, however, which might have been avoided with a little preparation.
If you want a more pleasant home-buying experience, here are some suggestions to help you prepare for becoming a home buyer:
1. Know how much home you can afford before you start looking.
Loan Pre-approval: Contact a local lender to be pre-approved for a loan. The lender will require you to provide information for yourself and any additional borrowers before you can be pre-approved:
- Full name, contact information, social security number, and birthdate.
- The name and contact information for employer, gross income, length of employment, and employment history for the past several years.
- The name, address, and account number for all monthly financial obligations including long and short term loans, credit accounts, child support, alimony, and child care.
Your lender may ask for additional information, but this list will get you started.
Budget: Just because a lender says you qualify for a loan, doesn’t mean you want to borrow that much. Sit down with a calculator and evaluate the required monthly expenses you shared with the lender AND your discretionary spending such as hobby-related expenses, private schools for your children, or that annual vacation. Then you’ll have a more realistic picture of how much you can afford for a monthly mortgage payment, and that can be easily translated into how much you can borrow.
Down payment and closing costs: How much cash do you have on hand for up-front expenses such as a home inspection, credit report, and appraisal? How much will you have for down payment and closing? There are other options besides savings or equity from another home. Click on this previous blog post, 8 Ideas for Down Payment and Closing Costs.
2. Know what features you want in a home and community
Make a wish list: If price were no object, what features would you like to have in your home and community? Now let’s add a dose of reality to your wish list by separating your “wants” from your “needs.” For example, you may want 4 bedrooms but need 3.
Do your research: Take advantage of the many online home search options to get a preliminary idea of home prices, features, and neighborhoods. You can begin your home search right here, by clicking on the Search for Homes tab at the top of this page. Homesdatabase.com is is another good resource, since it is the public version of MRIS, the multiple listing service used by real estate agents throughout the Middle Atlantic region, including the greater Crofton area.
3. Choose a real estate agent
How to choose an agent and what to expect at your first appointment are topics for another day.
Let it suffice, for now, to say that it’s never been easier to choose a real estate agent. You can practically interview them online by visiting their websites, reading their blogs, and checking their reviews on 3rd party websites – not to mention the various social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.
Well-prepared home buyers are usually happy home-buyers, because there will be fewer delays, disappointments, and frustrations for them during the home-buying process.
As your buyer’s agent, I will be a tireless advocate and adviser for you. Why not give me a call? Click on Contact Margaret to get started.
Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.
DISCLAIMER: Information contained in this post is deemed reliable on the date of publication,
but it is not guaranteed and it is subject to change without notice.
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Margaret Woda, REALTOR and Associate Broker
Direct: (301)346-2923 or click on EMAIL
FREE home search online (No registration required)
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Check my reviews on Zillow
Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc., 2191 Defense Hwy., Crofton, MD 21114 (410) 451–6245
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Crofton Homebuyer Asks “What’s Next?”
January 20th, 2012 Categories: Questions and Answers
Crofton MD Real Estate Q&A
Q. 
Now that my contract on a home has been accepted, what’s next?
A. That’s a question shared by many first-time home buyers, and even some people who have previously purchased a home. Every transaction is different, so the list may vary from one house to the next, but this will give you a general idea what to expect, including information you will receive and things you must do:
CONTRACT TO CLOSING CHECKLIST FOR HOME BUYERS
- Good Faith Estimate – The lender’s estimate of your closing costs. You may have received this from your lender already. If not, you will receive it shortly. The Good Faith Estimate (GFE) will outline your closing expenses from the lender, title company, and other third parties such as any condo or HOA association. When you receive this, please send a copy to me so I can review it and suggest to the lender any changes unique to your contract.
- Appraisal – The appraiser’s opinion of the property value. Hopefully the appraisal will come in at the sale price agreed by you and the seller. If the appraisal is low, we will have a problem: Either you will have to come up with more cash or the seller will have to drop the price. Please pray to the appraisal gods, cross your fingers and toes, and carry your favorite good luck charm in your pocket until the appraisal comes in. Appraisals can be very unpredictable in this market.
- Loan commitment – Final loan approval, based upon receipt and review of all required verifications, including a satisfactory appraisal.
- Postal Service – After your loan commitment is in hand, you can start notifying your credit card companies and others of your new address and the effective date of your move.
- Moving Arrangements – After your loan commitment is in hand, you can finalize your moving plans. (Don’t assume you can’t afford professional help because local moves are probably less expensive than you expect.)
- Home owner’s insurance – Required by the lender to protect against expenses incurred due to fire and other hazards. Check with your family and friends to find out which insurance company and agent they use and why… but make your own decision based on comparison shopping for cost, benefits AND services. A policy must be paid a year in advance and a copy provided to your lender before they will release your loan proceeds to the title company. At closing, the lender will collect an extra two months of insurance premium, and 1/12 of the annual premium will be part of every monthly loan payment so the lender will have enough to pay your insurance next January.
- Utilities – Contact the utility companies prior to closing. The Settlement Notice I send you will include a list of them and their phone numbers.
- Pre-Settlement Inspection – We will schedule this three-five days prior to the scheduled settlement date, and confirm the day and time a week earlier. The purpose of this inspection is to make sure the property is in the condition you expect, that all the appliances are in working order, and the home inspection repairs have been completed satisfactorily.
- Closing funds – A certified or bank check for the amount due from buyers at settlement. The good faith estimate from your lender will have this amount, but you should contact the settlement company to find out if anything has changed before you go to the bank for your closing funds. (Their contact information will be on the Settlement Notice I send you.)
- Settlement – Settlement is when all the final paperwork is completed and all the money changes hands, other than a few items paid outside closing (POC) such as your insurance and lender charges, if any. I will provide you with a Settlement Notice that includes the date, time, and location of closing, contact information for the settlement company, and a checklist to help you prepare for settlement.
- Happy Ending – When you walk out of settlement, you will hold the keys to your new home in your hands. Congratulations!
If you have any questions about the home-buying process, feel free to contact me. No cost or obligation, of course.
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What to expect when the landlord lists your home for sale
October 7th, 2011 Categories: Questions and Answers
Q. What should I expect, as the tenant in a home that’s going on the market in the near future?
A. When your landlord decides to sell the home you occupy, it’s probably a business decision that has nothing to do with you.
And yet, you know it has EVERYTHING to do with you, when it comes to inconvenience. You probably have more questions than answers about the process and what’s expected of you.
Maybe this list will help:
- A sign will be placed in the front yard and a key lockbox will be placed on or near your front door.
- Please maintain the property inside and out in good repair, de-cluttered, and clean while it is on the market for sale.
- Please restrain or remove pets for all showings (for your own protection from liability).
- Please secure out of sight any valuables, weapons and prescription drugs.
- The appointment desk will call or text you (your choice) to notify you prior to any showings or inspections. This is a courtesy call, not a request.
- It’s not necessary for you to be home when the property is shown.
- Agents may show your property when you aren’t home by using a key stored in the lockbox on or near your front door.
By co-operating with the landlord and listing broker, you will help facilitate a quick sale and minimze the inconvenience to your household.
There’s a good chance the purchaser may be an investor who intends to continue renting the property. If so, it’s likely the new owner will rent the property to you and you won’t have to move. Your current landlord will notify you promptly when there is a contract to let you know if that’s the case, or what to expect in the coming weeks or months.
If you have any questions, contact your current landlord and/or the listing agent for the property at the phone number on the sign.
Originally posted on MarylandRealEstateBlog.com
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Should I wait to sell my home?
September 23rd, 2011 Categories: Questions and Answers
Crofton MD Real Estate Q&A
Q. Should I wait to sell my home until the market gets better?
A. None of the experts are projecting a return to the boom years we saw in 2004–2006 and, in fact, most experts suggest we haven’t yet hit bottom on prices. Today’s price may be higher than we see next year. I hope not, but who knows?
The truth is that we live in “today” – not yesterday or tomorrow. Do you have a compelling reason to sell now? Health, expanding family, job transfer, retirement, etc.? It’s probably a good idea to make your decision based on that instead of the unknown future real estate market. No one knows for sure when the market will get better, i.e. higher prices and a quicker sale time.
One thing we do know for sure is that interest rates haven’t been lower in my lifetime. Today’s marketwatch report from Bankrate quoted a 4% interest rate for a 30 year loan and 3.3% for a 15–year loan. Buyers CAN afford to buy a home, if they’re willing and they meet today’s super-strict qualifying guidelines. About those guidelines… just when it seems they can’t get any stricter, the maximum loan amount is reduced or down payment requirements go up.
If you wait to sell and rates go to 6–7% and/or lenders all require 20–25% down payment, just imagine how many home buyers will lose the ability to buy – not to mention, if rates were to push 10%. Don’t laugh… some of us remember the 80’s, when mortgage rates were 16–17%.
You can’t just plop a sign into your yard and expect multiple offers overnight, as sometimes occurred 5–6 years ago, but you can sell your home with the help of an experienced agent and a little patience.
I wouldn’t wait to sell my Crofton home, because there are no guarantees when the market will show any dramatic improvement for home sellers. We know that today’s rates make home-buying affordable, and that’s important.
(If any home buyers are reading this, take note. You may never have a better time to buy if you factor into your decision today’s mortgage interest rates.)
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