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How to Prepare for a Home Inspection When Selling Your House

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Here’s a scary scenario. Imagine you’ve been busy preparing your home to sell for months. You’ve been working diligently with your REALTOR, home stager, mortgage lender, and contractor to get everything perfect so that you can sell your home for the most money and move on to your next home. With eager anticipation, you wait for a good offer while your home is on the market and then, you get a great offer!

The excitement is exhilarating. You start thinking about the money that you will make off of your home sale and begin shopping online for your next home. Then, you get an email from your REALTOR showing 9 major items that the home inspector found while examining your property. Your buyers want all these items fixed before they will buy your home, or the deal is dead. This scenario happens all too often in real estate.

This is an easy situation to avoid though. You need to personally do a full home inspection yourself to make sure that you are aware of the potential issues that will come up on an inspection report when selling your home. This will keep you from the ultimate shock of your buyer’s repair requests. You can also hire a home inspector to check out these items for you.

Here’s a list of the top 20 items to check, before the home inspection, to sell your home.

(Each item is explained in more detail below.)

1.) Windows/Screens: If there are any cracked/broken windows, damaged or missing screens, they may be written up in the report. Don’t panic. Just repair or replace what you choose in order to keep it off the report. If any double glass panels are “fogged” due to the seal being broken, it will probably be noted as well.

2.) Peeling Paint: Paint doesn’t last forever. It’s important to identify if your home needs new exterior paint before selling. Look for cracked, chipping, or bubbling paint around the exterior of the home, and areas where moisture builds up.

3.) Cracked Caulk: Caulking is important to seal a home from extreme weather conditions. For this reason, many home inspectors will look for cracked caulking around doors, windows, and water areas. This is an easy one to fix. Just purchase some high-grade caulking that fits the application needed and take care of it before the inspector shows up.

4.) Siding/Trim: Check for any loose boards that need to be refastened or replaced before a home inspection. If replacing exterior siding, be sure to match it to the original color and texture to leave a uniform look.

5.) Decks & Fences: Check for boards that need to be replaced, and see if any railing is loose. Check the framing of the fence for loose panels, and secure them back in place as needed.

6.) Positive Drainage: Make sure there is nowhere directly around the outside of the house that rainwater could flow TOWARD the house. Water should do just the opposite for the first 3 feet. This might mean a little shovel work. Also, make sure that downspouts pour 3’ away from the house or into a tray that does the same.

7.) Gutters: If the gutters are in need of cleaning, that may end up on the report. It’s best to clean the gutters before listing your home for sale. This is particularly important if you have a two-story home that overlooks gutters from the upper level windows. Clean gutters send a message to the buyers that the home has been well maintained. It’s an easy chore to knock out.

8.) Roof: A bad report can be at the top of the list of things buyers fear. You could be proactive and ask your agent to have a roofer give you an estimate on minor repairs (a tune-up). If you decide to do the repairs, you can then ask for a “Roof Certificate”. This will help put the buyers at ease.

9.) Air Conditioner: The unit on the outside of the house should be free of leaves and bushes to allow it to cool properly. Simply clean the area around the outside units to ensure that they are not obstructed by debris.

10.) Garage Door: Do a simple test. Open the door, have someone hit the button to close it, then wave your foot in the path of the infrared beam (electric eye path near the ground). It should stop then reverse the door back to open position. Next, repeat this -except instead of waving your foot, grab the door with both hands and make it stop. It should offer some push against you then reverse back to open position. The inspector will most likely perform both of these tests.

11.) Heating/Cooling/ Water Heater: If you’re located in Colorado Springs, check if all these items have an orange sticker on them from Pikes Peak Regional Building Department. It should have a date of their inspection on it. This is an important item and will be red flagged by the inspector. If you are missing one and the item has been properly installed, it’s easy to remedy. Call PPRBD at 719-327-2880 to schedule an inspection; there is a relatively small fee. If it passes, you will get the orange tag by the inspector right then. If it fails, you can ask your agent to help you find a licensed contractor to make repairs/changes. The inspector will turn on both of these systems just to note if they run. Remember to always replace the furnace filter, no matter what month it is.

12.) Showers/Tub Surrounds: These often get written up for cracks in the grout, or caulked joints. This can easily be fixed ahead of time if you are handy. Just match the grout color and texture and re-grout the damaged areas to make the tile look new again.

13.) Ceiling Fans: Most home inspectors will test every ceiling fan in the home to make sure that they all work properly. Be sure that you replace any broken fans before listing your home for sale.

14.) Light Bulbs: Replace any that don’t work. Yes, they will actually check all lights (not lamps).

15.) Electrical: For about $10, you can get an outlet tester at any home improvement store. This will inform you of any outlets that will fail the inspector’s test (yes, they test every single one, inside and out). Some of these testers have a button to check GFI (ground fault interrupter) outlets. GFI outlets are usually located at wet areas: garage, exterior, baths, kitchen, and laundry depending upon the year built, because of changing codes. These outlets can also be protected by one device:

  • either a GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) outlet or
  • circuit breaker located in your main electrical panel.

Speaking of the panel, make sure it’s easily accessible. All switches, outlets and junction boxes must have cover plates without cracks. There can be no exposed “Romex” (home in-wall wire). It must be in a metal or plastic conduit.

16.) Plumbing: Fill all sinks halfway, then pull the plug to see if they drain normally. If slow, it might just need the P-Trap to be cleaned. Check in cabinets, under all sinks for any moisture on the bottom, supply lines or valves (use a dry paper towel and check by wiping).

17.) Toilets: All toilets will be flushed and noted. If there is a leaking sound before flushing, it’s probably the flapper valve. These cost $5-12 and need no tools to install. Toilets will also be checked for secure mounting (they shouldn’t move).

18.) Safety Detectors: There are 2 types – A Carbon Monoxide detector is required within 15’ of any bedroom, and at least one per level of the house. The Smoke detector is required inside each bedroom, in the hallway of bedrooms, and at least one on every level. It’s a good idea to replace batteries and push the test button (earplugs anyone?).

19.) Stairs: The balustrade (entire baluster system) will be checked for sturdiness. If any of it is loose, you might want to have that repaired before inspection.

20.) Kitchen Appliances: The inspector will run the dishwasher through its cycles, turn on all range/cooktop burners, oven, vent fan & light and if included in the sale, check all functions of the refrigerator. Repair or replace any appliances as needed.

A Few Extra Items to Be Aware Of:

Radon, Mold, Meth, etc: There are several possible tests beyond the home inspection that your buyers may want to have performed. In Colorado Springs, radon tests are very common, while the other two mentioned are rarely requested.

Windows: All windows will be opened, closed and re-locked. Hard movement or failure to lock will be noted. Some of this can easily be improved by cleaning tracks/guides and using a clear spray silicone from a hardware store.

Interior- General: The inspector will note each room for things like moisture stains, drywall cracks, loose flooring, or uneven floors.

If you feel that this list is too daunting of a task to cover, we recommend that you hire a home inspector to check everything for you, before you list your house for sale. This will cut down on any surprises. To give you an idea of what a home inspector typically sees during their day to day inspections.

www.greatcoloradohomes.com/blog/how-to-prepare-for-a-home-inspection-when-selling-your-house1.html

 

First-Time Buyers: How Much Down Payment Do You Really Need These Days?

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Conventional wisdom says 20%, but you can buy your first home with much less down.

A lower down payment may be helpful, but you will pay more over the life of the loan.

For someone who is thinking of buying a first home, the idea of saving enough money for a 20% down payment can be daunting. The good news is a first-time buyer can purchase a home with as little as 3% down – and even no down payment in some cases

“The narrative that in order to buy a house in America today you need 20% down is just not true,” says Marietta Rodriguez, president and CEO NeighborWorks America, a national nonprofit focused on community development and homeownership, and a former U.S. News contributor. “There are a lot of different products that offer low down payment options.”

If you qualify for a mortgage, you may qualify for one with a lower down payment, though some options are only available to those with good credit. But you will pay more over the life of the loan. That’s partly because if you pay less upfront, your mortgage balance is higher. Another reason is if you don’t make a minimum down payment of 20%, you will usually be required to pay private mortgage insurance.

Lower Your Down Payment With Private Mortgage Insurance

PMI, as it is commonly known, protects the lender if you default on your home loan. On a conventional loan, it’s usually added to your monthly payment. For loans offered by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Federal Housing Administration, mortgage insurance is handled differently.

“The less you put down, the higher the mortgage insurance is,” says Casey Fleming, author of “The Loan Guide: How to Get the Best Possible Mortgage” and a mortgage professional in the San Francisco Bay Area. “With 5% down, the mortgage insurance is quite high.”

The cost of private mortgage insurance depends on your credit score and the size of your down payment. Freddie Mac estimates the cost at $30 to $70 per month for each $100,000 borrowed. If you buy a $250,000 home with 10% down and a 30-year fixed rate of 4.5%, you’ll pay $95.63 a month in PMI (at a rate of 0.51%), in addition to the $1,140 monthly principal and interest payment (taxes and insurance are added on top of that). However, with 20% down, you’ll pay $1,013 per month for the same property.

If you need to pay PMI, you may need to consider a slightly smaller loan to allow for the bigger payment. With a conventional mortgage, you can get an appraisal and write to your lender and ask to have the PMI removed once you have more than 20% equity in the home. With FHA loans, PMI lasts for the lifetime of the loan.

“Anyone with decent credit can get a loan,” Fleming says. “The limiting factor will always be the PMI.”

If you have a choice, should you make a bigger down payment to avoid PMI? It depends on your personal circumstances. You need to make sure you have enough cash on hand for closing costs and repairs. Some lenders will require a certain level of reserves before they will grant the mortgage.

“There’s really no hard and fast rule out there,” Rodriguez says. “Inasmuch as they have a choice, and have something to put down, they can run through different scenarios.”

Save More Than Your Down Payment Amount

Even with no down payment, homebuyers still need some cash to cover closing costs and upfront costs, such as a year’s worth of taxes and insurance. Some loan programs allow buyers to use a contribution from the seller or a gift from family for closing costs and down payments, but others do not.

“That means you need to be putting money aside,” says Sandee Rains, a financial education specialist in Tampa, Florida, with the nonprofit ClearPoint Credit Counseling Solutions.

If you’re considering buying a home, it’s smart to meet with a mortgage officer or broker before you start looking at property. “Sit down with somebody who can show you what all the costs are really going to be,” Fleming says. A good mortgage broker can help you weigh your options and decide how large a down payment to aim for, as well as which loan program is the best option.

Rodriguez suggests consulting a financial advisor who can examine your financial life in its entirety. “It’s really to help you plan your financial future,” she says. “Homeownership might be only one of those goals.”

Rodriguez and Rains also recommend checking with local authorities for programs that offer assistance with down payments and closing costs. “There’s just a lot going on in communities that people aren’t aware of,” Rodriguez says.

Some programs provide down payment assistance as a silent second mortgage, with no payments due until the home is sold or refinanced. Other programs offer grants or forgive the loan once you live in the home for a certain amount of time. “If someone qualifies for any down payment assistance, they should go for it,” Rains says.

Here are four types of loans you can get with a low down payment, which may be especially appealing to first-time buyers:

  • Conventional mortgage.
  • Federal Housing Administration loan.
  • U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
  • U.S. Department of Agriculture.

A quality lender or mortgage broker will offer all these options and help you figure out which is the best fit for your situation. Some programs also set standards for the home or condo, including a maximum price and the condition of the home.

Conventional Mortgage

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will back loans with down payments as low as 3%. You will need solid credit to get these loans, but they will be cheaper than an FHA loan. The more you put down, the less your PMI. If your lender says it doesn’t offer those loans, you should shop around.

Federal Housing Administration Loan

The FHA has long backed loans with down payments as low as 3.5%. It accepts buyers with lower credit scores and those with thinner credit records. Buyers are required to pay a mortgage insurance premium of 1.75% of the loan amount upfront, though it can be financed. There is also a monthly mortgage insurance premium for as long as you have the loan, which averages about $70 for every $100,000 borrowed. The FHA also offers the 203(k) loan, which can be used to both buy and rehab a home at the same time.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

If you served in the military, you can get a VA loan with no down payment. You’re required to pay a funding fee of 2.15% of the loan amount upfront instead of PMI, which can be financed. If you have a service-connected disability, the funding fee is waived. You still have to qualify for the loan based on income and credit, but the interest rate is likely to be lower than a conventional or FHA rate, plus there is no monthly PMI. “It’s a really good program,” Fleming says.

U.S. Department of Agriculture

The USDA guarantees loans with nothing down in rural and suburban areas to those who meet income and other qualifications, and the rates are often lower than those of conventional loans. The USDA charges an upfront mortgage insurance premium of 2% of the loan amount, which can be financed. After that, the charge is about $33 a month per $100,000 financed.

What’s a Seller’s Disclosure?

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In many residential sales, sellers are required to provide information about the condition of the property, which benefits the buyer and seller.

It’s Required by Texas Law

Sellers of a single-unit residential property are required to provide a seller’s disclosure notice to a buyer. The notice details what the sellers know about the property at the time they complete and sign the notice. You’ll see more than one version of the notice. The Texas Real Estate Commission has one, which meets the law’s minimum requirements, and Texas REALTORS® has one, which provides more information for buyers and serves as a risk-reduction tool for sellers.

What’s in the Notice?

The five-page Texas REALTORS® Seller’s Disclosure Notice covers a wide range of topics. It asks sellers to list the appliances and systems in the property, current defects, past insurance claims, past inspection reports, and other conditions of the property.

How it Helps Sellers

The notice provides sellers a place to document and share their knowledge of a property and can reduce sellers’ risk of being sued. If a buyer claims after closing that he didn’t know about previous termite damage, the sellers can point to Section 3 of the notice where they indicated
the termite damage—assuming the sellers filled out the notice correctly.

How it Helps Buyers

It’s impossible to foresee a house’s every potential problem. A disclosure notice that details known conditions and defects can help provide a more complete picture of a property. Buyers may, for example, learn that a house has well water, plumbing problems, and aluminum wiring.
That information can be used for inspections to further understand the extent of any issues.

Need help understanding the seller’s disclosure or other aspects of a real estate transaction? Talk to your REALTOR®.

The 4 Most Important Questions You Need to Ask Before Selling Your Home

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Selling your homeThere comes a time in every home owner’s life when he or she realizes: “I am not the same person I was when I bought this place.” Maybe your lifestyle or your family configuration has changed, or maybe the house just isn’t as appealing as it was when you signed that ream of paperwork on closing day. Either way it may be time to consider selling you home.

If you’re thinking about moving on, then there are a few questions you need to ask yourself before you take the plunge and list the house. When you can answer these questions, you’ll know you’re in the right place emotionally and financially to move on to your next space.

What is my home really worth?

You can find almost anything on the internet, and that includes an estimated value of your home. How convenient!

But before you try to figure out how much your house is worth on your own, take a deep breath and resolve to remember one thing: “I shouldn’t believe everything I read on the internet.”

It’s possible that an automated estimate is going to be spot-on, but those algorithms depend on numbers that might or might not be accurate, like the condition of your property, the square footage, any features or amenities you’ve added (or removed), and recent sales of properties nearby that could be comparable to your own home.

A better way to figure out how much your home might be worth is to look at your most recent property tax bill. Your property taxes change with the value of your home, so if you look at your property tax rate from last year and figure out your state’s assessment rate (usually not quite the total value of your home — it’s somewhere between 80 percent and 90 percent of the home’s total value, depending on the state), that can help you get a little bit closer in terms of pinpointing price.

You can also talk to a professional about your home’s value; a real estate professional who sells properties in your neighborhood every day is going to be able to give you a more accurate idea of how much your particular, specific home might capture on the current market.

And a real estate professional can also explain what you can do to your home to help inch that number upward a little bit. Then you can make the call as to whether or not you want to make any upgrades or take the estimated price as-is. Which leads to the next question …

How can I sell at the highest price possible?

When you’re selling anything, you want to get fair market value for the item you’re releasing, and that’s exponentially truer for your house, which is probably the biggest purchase you’ve ever made.

If you know your neighbor’s house sold for ten figures more than the highest estimate you’ve been able to find for your own home, that can be a tough reality to swallow. But this is where real estate professionals really earn their keep — they can explain why that house was so desirable (maybe if you’re honest with yourself, you can admit that your neighbor’s view is much nicer than yours, for example), and they can also show you where you do have some room for (price) improvement.

If you’re not ready to call in a professional, then start with things that can spruce up almost any dwelling. One of the first and most important steps to selling your home for top dollar is to get the place deep-cleaned from floor to ceiling, including washing the windows and scrubbing down all of your kitchen appliances.

Start by attacking the clutter; it’s much easier to clean a room that doesn’t have a lot of furniture or objects in it, so even if you’re hoping to move up to make space for all your stuff, it’s a good idea to start cleaning out the items that you know you don’t want to move with you. If there’s still a lot left, consider a shed or an off-site storage facility where you can stash things without packing it all in your closets (where buyers are most definitely going to be looking). If you have a junk drawer or even a “junk room,” now is the time to start corralling that beast.

Then get cleaning. There’s no detail too small — make sure every room in the house sparkles to the best of your ability and smells fresh and aired-out.

There may be quite a few additional projects you could tackle to increase your home’s value, such as adding a deck, remodeling the kitchen, or even adding entire rooms in some cases. Those are good opportunities to discuss with a real estate professional, who can share feedback about whether the project is going to be worth the eventual return on investment when you sell the home — and what projects will net you more money for your property.

Real Estate Professionals also know stagers and home photographers. When a buyer falls in love with your home, it’s most likely going to be from an online listing, so your listing photos should be as high-quality as possible — that might mean bringing in a stager to spruce up the rooms and a photographer to capture the results.

How long will my home be on the market?

No one can predict the future, but experts who work in the industry can usually come close. If you haven’t called an agent yet, you might need to in order to get the information you’ll need to answer this question when selling your home.

Ultimately, it depends on what the housing market is like in your area, but there are a lot of anomalies within a housing market — even in markets that seem red-hot, sometimes sellers make a mistake and overprice a home that then languishes for weeks or even months longer than more realistically priced homes. And there are some neighborhoods or even specific blocks where buyers seem to be willing to do just about anything to get their foot in the door — and other geographies where they might need to be lured in a little more aggressively.

The number of days that homes stay on the market gets shorter and shorter as housing heats up, but that number is absolutely contingent on the initial list price. Homes that need to reduce their prices to attract qualified buyers will remain on the market significantly longer than homes priced competitively from the start. It’s really important to get the initial list price right if you’d like the home to sell quickly. (And remember: The longer that house takes to sell, the longer you as the seller will be responsible for keeping it in showing condition for buyers — seven days a week.)

So even in markets where houses seem to be flying off the shelves, it’s smart to talk to someone who sees those sales up close and personal every day. They can give you an educated estimate about the amount of time it should take your property to get from list to close.

How can a Real Estate Professional help?

Selling a home is a huge life event that encroaches on just about every aspect of your existence, from your meals to your work schedule to how often you do laundry and vacuum up pet hair. It can be an incredibly stressful time, and a real estate professional is a personal advisor that can help sellers make the best decisions possible while keeping track of all the details.

A good real estate professional will help you find the best price when selling your home, list it for you on the MLS, and handle all the marketing — from photos to open houses to glossy brochures to Facebook ads. A good agent can manage your showing schedule for buyers who want personal tours and can help you decide which offer to accept if you happen to receive more than one … and a licensed real estate professional is absolutely essential during the negotiation process, especially if the buyer is making demands that the seller isn’t prepared to address.

A knowledgeable real estate professional will also know the best plumbers, electricians, and general contractors in the area who might be able to make any repairs or changes to the home before it closes. He or she can manage the transaction timeline, alerting you when an inspection or appraisal is about to happen and keeping you in the loop regarding financing and every other aspect of the deal.

A good real estate professional can also help you do all of this while you’re simultaneously looking for a new place to live and can help you manage that, too — including what to do if you find a home before your current house sells.

And depending on your personal situation, there are local real estate professionals who specialize in divorce, estate sales, and other tricky life events involving a home transaction.

Selling a home is as simple as listing it on the MLS and waiting for an appropriate offer to come in — but there’s so much more involved that most sellers can’t handle it on their own. Answering these questions will get you a head start, but don’t skip talking to an agent or three when you’re actually ready to list that home; they’ll be able to point out what you didn’t know you were missing.

5 Home Seller Strategies for Staging Your Home Perfectly

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There’s a reason why people love looking at photos of homes for sale — it’s rare that we get to see a place look it’s very best, and scrolling through gorgeous room after room helps serious buyers see themselves settling down in those very rooms.

But as any seller (or photographer) can attest, getting a home ready for its close-up (also known as “staging”) is not easy and is definitely not always fun. It involves a ton of cleaning, some furniture removal (or placement), a plethora of attention to detail, and usually a lot of light. This is why professional stagers charge hundreds (sometimes thousands) of dollars for their services.

If hiring a stager isn’t in your budget or you’re simply more of a do-it-yourself type, consider taking advantage of these relatively quick and easy methods for helping your soon-to-be-sold home appear shiny and new.

1. Clean, clean, clean, clean, clean

Even if you follow every other tip on the list to an exacting standard, if your home isn’t clean, you won’t be reaping all of the benefits that staging could generate for you. There are two big steps to cleaning for staging:

  • Decluttering your home
  • Deep cleaning everything … everything

First is the clutter. This might be a good time to join the neighborhood garage sale or arrange for your sister-in-law whose kids are a few years younger to come pick up all the hand-me-downs you’ve been promising. It always makes sense to start with things that you don’t want to pack up and move to a new location.

Don’t forget about the furniture — too much furniture in a room makes it look cramped and small, so remove what you don’t need.

Resist the temptation to box everything up and stash it in one room, the garage, a basement or attic — unless it’s not your room. Buyers are going to want to open doors, cabinets, and drawers, and peer into closets and utility rooms, so if you want your home to look its best, you need to keep those areas neat, too.

Some sellers rent storage facilities during the process, and that’s always a possibility, too. If you have family or good friends in the area who can take some of the larger items for you, then you might be able to get a smaller storage unit. (Make sure to pay your loved ones back with a gift or thoughtful gesture when the home is sold!)

When the surfaces are clear and your surroundings are feeling more vacation-home than lived-in, it’s time to deep clean those surfaces. Scrub the inside from ceiling to floors; wash your windows; consider power-washing the outside to brighten it up. Plant new flowers, keep your sidewalks and walkways clear and weed-free and set some inviting chairs with fluffy cushions on your (freshly polished, cobweb-free) front porch.

Once the decluttering is done, it’ll be much easier to get everything looking shiny and new — and easier to hire help, too — so make sure to tackle this step first.

2. Light up

If you haven’t changed a light bulb in a while, then you might be surprised by how much brighter they’ve gotten — or what a difference a bright bulb can make in a room that you thought was naturally dreary and dim.Changing out your bulbs can be a quick way to give your entire home a quick lift, brightening up every room and helping potential buyers see exactly how well-maintained those original wood floors are, and examine the crown molding close up.

Experts suggest that you obtain 100 watts of lighting for every 50 square feet in your home, and consider using three different types of lighting (not just overhead lighting) to get there. Overhead or ambient lighting is important, of course, but accent lighting (on walls and tables) and task lighting (reading or under-cabinet lights) will help showcase your space in all its glory.

3. Rearrange with an eye for balance

Most of us don’t live in perfectly symmetrical surroundings, but if there’s a way to achieve it with your furniture, then it’s worth it to try — at least for the photos. Try to balance any shelves, counters, and mantelpieces in the same way, with an eye for highlighting the accessories that will help make your home look like a retreat from a messy world.

You can do the same thing with area rugs and artwork. Arrange your floor and wall coverings to draw the eye down the halls and through the house, which will give touring buyers a pleasant sense of welcome and discovery.

4. Organize and energize

There are always going to be parts of your house that are made to hold “stuff” — but you can make that stuff look presentable with a little bit of organization.

Some decluttering and color-blocking on your bookshelves can make the display draw the eye instead of distracting from the rest of the room, for example. Kids’ and pets’ toys are another opportunity to organize and beautify with a decorative box or basket, or a fun shelving unit that holds everything with style.
Straighten your shoes on the closet floors and neaten up the hanging areas, then open up the doors when you leave for a buyer’s tour. They’ll enjoy the welcoming feeling of the open doors (and you know they were going to open them up, anyway).

5. Polish up the appliances

If you can afford it, new appliances in the kitchen can go a long (long!) way toward helping a buyer fall in love with the heart of the house. New appliances tend to help generate high returns for sellers, so depending on the condition and upgrades in the rest of your home, you might want to consider it — you might be able to find some good deals on floor models or end-of-season sales, too.

If not, help your appliances look their best by using stainless steel polish, glass polish, or whatever else you might need to help regenerate the shine on your stove.

You don’t need to take all these tips when staging your home — but don’t ignore them all when you’re selling, either. Taking the time to pay a little bit of attention to staging before a buyer even sees the place can reap big rewards at the closing table.

Why Working With a Real Estate Professional is the Best Decision You’ll Ever Make

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Most people don’t buy a home every day — it’s a once-or-twice-a-decade activity for many of us as opposed to a day-in-day-out activity.

So when you start getting serious about buying, whether it’s your first home or your fourth, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed pretty quickly. Some parts of the process (like searching for a home) have recently become more accessible through technology, but when every buyer has access to the same technology and resources, it’s tough to stand out in a crowd of showing, bids and contracts.

And there’s a lot more to the journey than just finding the home: You need to figure out financing, negotiate on price and possibly request repairs or make concessions, get the home appraised and inspected, and make sure all the i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed by the time you sit down at the closing table to sign your name on a stack of paperwork.

That’s why a real estate professional can be an indispensable resource for buyers — unlike most of us, real estate professionals do manage home sale transactions every day, and they can serve as a guide on the buyer’s journey, ushering you from Base Camp “I Think I Want To Buy A House” to Summit the mountain of “I’m A Homeowner,” step by step.

Here are just a few of the ways a real estate professional can help smooth your home buying path.

Getting pre-approved by a lender

Instead of paying rent to the owner of your residence every month, as a homeowner, you’ll be paying back a bank for the money you borrowed to buy your own place.

But before you get there, you need to find that bank and secure that loan. Where do you start that process?

A real estate professional is one good place — agents work with an array of local loan officers representing different lenders, and depending on whether you’re a veteran, your down payment size, your credit score, and a number of other factors, a good local agent will know which lender (and loan officer) might be the best fit for you.

The right loan officer will explain your financing options and help you drill down to the real nitty-gritty, like the size of the monthly mortgage payment that’s affordable on your current income, what you should expect in terms of closing costs, and whether the down payment amount you’ve saved is going to cut it.

Agents can also explain what to expect during the mortgage loan application process, what you should know about transferring money during the sale, why it’s important to review certain documents — and they can usually even attest to whether certain lenders have parameters that might be better for one type of home instead of another.

Choosing a home

Many buyers (mistakenly) think that they don’t need an agent’s help finding a home. They know what they want, and they know how to search the internet — what’s the point of hiring an agent?

Here’s the thing: You might not need any assistance when you’re picking out a car, but there is no consumer report that exists for the specific home you’re about to spend 30 years paying off.

What if you’re someone who thrives on direct sunlight and your “dream home” happens to be located by a hill that’s going to cast it in shadow half the year?

What if you can’t sleep when airplanes are flying overhead and your soon-to-be home is in a major airport’s flight path?

What about the schools? What about the amenities? How do homes in that area hold their value — can you expect this investment to appreciate in the next few years, and by how much?

Cars come off an assembly line; homes do not. Whether it’s the condition of the home or the neighborhood around it, you don’t want to be unpleasantly surprised once you move in.

A real estate professional has seen other buyers make mistakes (and find gems) and can help you find a home that you still love two or three (or ten!) years down the road.

Making an offer

This can be one of the most nerve-wracking parts of the process for buyers. Because even if you love the home and are making an offer at the very top of your budget … there is no guarantee that the seller will think it’s worth accepting. You could wind up starting all over again on the home search process.

Real estate professionals can help you do more than make an unsophisticated stab in the dark when it comes to offers — they can show you data that will help you understand whether you’re likely to be underbidding or overbidding, for example, such as the recent sales prices of similar homes nearby, the price-per-square-foot range in the neighborhood, and much more.

This is really where the home sales rubber meets the road. If your offer is high for the market, the seller may leap at it … but you’ll always wonder if you could have gotten a better deal. And if your offer is low, you should understand that so you won’t feel offended or put-out if the seller comes back with a counter-offer.

Closing

You did it! You found a home you love at a price you can afford, the seller accepted the offer, and now all you have to do is sit back, relax and enjoy the closing process. Right?

OK, that’s not exactly true. Even the simplest real estate sale involves quite a few mandated hoops that must be jumped through — like the inspection, the appraisal, title review, and more. 

In some states, a title company manages the closing process; in others, a lawyer is involved. But the negotiation isn’t over yet, not by a long shot.

What happens if the inspector finds an issue with the home that must be addressed before the sale is legal? Who will pay for those repairs — you or the seller?

And what can you expect in terms of finalizing the loan and moving your down payment or earnest money from your account to the sellers? What should you look for during the final walk-through? 

An agent can lay out a roadmap from offer acceptance to keys-in-hand and make sure you’re staying on track … which can feel like a lifesaver to a buyer drowning in details.

… And beyond!

When you’re all moved in and settling down, you’ll probably discover some upgrades you’d like to make and work on shaping your home to fit you instead of the previous owner.

Your real estate professional already knows your house (and the neighborhood), so why not reach out when you’re considering adding a deck or redoing a bathroom? They can help you figure out which improvements are timeless and will increase your home’s value versus quickly dated trends that you might have to redo again before you sell.

And that’s not all — your agent probably knows people in the neighborhood, from home service providers like plumbers and electricians to lifestyle service providers like day-care operators and pet sitters. If you need a recommendation, ask your agent!

Buying a home goes well beyond finding one for sale on the internet. Buyers who use the services of a real estate professional find the process more enjoyable and less stressful — and they also have an advocate to negotiate tirelessly on their behalf.

Preferred Properties of Texas

(254) 965-7775|Contact Preferred Properties of Texas