Jay Rock's Discussions

Buying a home can be extremely intimidating for the first time homebuyer and frustrating for a second or third time buyer. Here are a few tips that can make the process a little bit less painful, which will make your purchase that much more enjoyable in the long run.1. Get Started on your Financing EarlyOne of the biggest issues that can absolutely destroy any real estate purchase is financing. The first thing you should do as a buyer is start the financing conversation with a reputable mortgage broker. The information you provide them will go a long way to helping you understand exactly how much you can afford when looking to purchase your home. Additionally, they can assist you in understanding the different scenarios if you are considering more than one purchasing option.2. Engage your Realtor EarlyYou can help the process of purchasing a property by engaging your Realtor early. If you have taken care in choosing your realtor, they can be a valuable resource in assuring that your financing is put together properly and fits well with your budget. Remember, your Realtor is your advocate and advisor who should be willing to step in to help you resolve any issue, including financing.3. Have the Home InspectedRegardless of whether you are purchasing personal property or an investment property an inspection can be not only great to provide information about the property, but an excellent bargaining tool when requesting allowances. Utilizing your Realtor as a resource for ensuring that your inspector is competent and thorough is paramount when tipping the negotiating scale in your favor.4. Stick to your GunsIf a situation feels wrong, then it probably is. Remember, this is the most important purchase that many buyers will ever make and being comfortable is every bit as important as how many bathrooms the property has. You should feel that you have negotiated the best possible position in any real estate deal that you engage in.

Home prices are certainly falling, but they didn't have any business up in the stratosphere where they were a couple years ago. This is a market correction and it was a) a long time coming b) desperately needed to let the middle class back in the game."Don't buy a house that might lose 30% of its value.""why buy a house that WILL lose value in 2008?"This sounds a lot like not doing homework to me.

OOOoooohhhh.... I missed the part where there are some sour folks on the board giving Realtors a hard time. Thats OK no bother to me, I'll be here awhile I've used zillow from time to time and thought it was a pretty cool tool so I just recently decided to join. I'll be around awhile and I have really thick skin, so there's no to bother attempting to run me off.

" Who knows? 10%, 40%, always in motion the future is." Possibly. Here's whats funny. I had a prospect (friend of mine) reject a property out of hand because it was built in the 70's. The hook here is that the property had almost 40k in equity based on historic (over 5 years based on tax records) valuations in that neighborhood. I thought it was pretty funny actually, because she was a lot more interested in the 160k home that was listed 30 days ago and had just been slashed by 20k to match the last sale price in 2004.

Not entirely useless, it certainly brought out the usual suspects and opened a couple of discussions, which is always valuable... but thanks for the heads up on the demographics.

" Alpine, I was just reading the sellers forum. This poor woman got a lowball offer on her house AND they asked for a new septic, new appliances, (Including a washer and dryer) personal effects, carpets cleaned etc. AND 3,000 for closing costs. Obviously out of desperation this woman actually countered this offer. "Why shouldn't she counter the offer? Isn't that part of negotiation or has that part of the business mysteriously disappeared in your part of the country?.

Everything is negotiable. Ignore the septic request, give on the appliances and mirrors. but stand firm on you price. In the grand scheme all they are doing is attempting to finance home furnishings over the course of 30 years. The get on your side is that they need to come alot closer to your asking price in order to get these items basically for free. Personally I thing the lowball offer is just a red herring to get you to give them free stuff-- but it is part of the negotiation process..

" Jay, you've obviously never owned anything of any value. Anybody who has understands how devistatingly insulting such an offer is."The attempt at an insult aside. I recently put my house on the market, I did a CMA and current asking price comparison. My professional opinion was that all of the homes were overpriced by 10-15k. So I priced mine accordingly, not even a month later the 4 homes that have sat on the market for 9-12 mos have all reduced to the price the market will bear in that neighborhood.After the holiday season I expect to see some offers come in, some of which I expect to be lowball offers. The hook is I have a good enough equity position that I can call their bluff in negotiations or SIMPLY TELL THEM NO. Its that simple, if I think someone is jerking my client around I tell them as much, but in the end only they can really make the decision..

" If you read further down the thread, she did counter the offer. She agreed to give thm most of what they asked, but only came down $1,000 in price. Personally, I think the offer was insane. It is one thing to make a lowball. But to make a lowball offer AND ask for everything under the sun makes me want to puke (which I spent half of Monday night doing, BTW)."Seriously though... a closed mouth doesn't get fed. While I completely disagree with throwing out a bunch of offers with no actual intent in purchasing, I don't see a problem with a buyer making any offer they choose with whatever stipulations that are allowed under law. If the seller isn't interested a simple NO will do..

I hope I understand this correctly...If the buyers' agency contract is still in effect then yes it is very likely that the agent will be due a commission. The assumption being that the agent did SOMETHING for the buyers to assist them in the process of buying the home (at least this is how it works according to GA/FL law)..