Real Estate Search Direct

Do you know what to look for in the real estate property listings?

When Homer Buyer and Ivana Newhouse started looking for houses they began their search as 85% of all home buyers do now.  They began their search on the internet.

On the internet they found hundreds of sites that had real estate property listings and thousands of properties for sale.

They found properties “For Sale By Owner” as well as properties listed with a real estate broker.

There were single family residences (SFR), condominiums, town houses, single family attached, cooperatives, manufactured homes.

There were also many different neighborhoods to consider.  Some were in gated communities.  Some had a home owners association (HOA) and some even had two.

There were various combinations of bedrooms and bathrooms, which didn’t always seem to have anything to do with the square footage of the property.

Most had a photo and some had several, but it wasn’t always easy to tell what the property looked like from the photos.

There were so many unfamiliar terms and abbreviations: REO, foreclosure, short sale, subject to lender’s approval, Owner will carry (OWC).

Real estate property listings were all so new to them and a little overwhelming.  There were so many possibilities.  How could they narrow down the list?

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Comments (0) Mar 18 2009

“I want to buy a new house – how much can I afford?”

This is a question on many first time home buyer’s minds.  Ivana Newhouse was in the same situation.

Once her fiancé, Homer, convinced her that they should own a home together when they got married, Ivana started looking at properties for sale.  But she didn’t know whether or not she could afford what she was looking at.

Ivana didn’t want to waste her time looking at properties she could not afford.  She also didn’t want to settle for something that didn’t fulfill her wants and needs if she could afford  something better.

She decided that figuring out their affordable price range was the first step in their search.

Ivana went to see Homer and asked him to work with her to determine what they could afford.

They came up with the following steps to determine their price range.

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Comments (1) Mar 17 2009

Are you familiar with amortization spreadsheets?

Ivana Newhouse knew nothing about them.  In fact, she had never even heard of an amortization spreadsheet.

Ivana didn’t understand how much difference the interest rate can make in the affordability of a home.  She wasn’t sure why her fiancé, Homer, insisted it was such a perfect time to buy a house.

Ivana thought that housing prices would continue to decrease as the country headed deeper into recession.  She wanted to wait until real estate prices bottomed out. Wouldn’t that be better?

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Comments (4) Mar 16 2009

Are you ready to be a first time home buyer? Many people are asking themselves that question now.

When Homer Buyer proposed to Ivana Newhouse she was planning to stay at her parents house until all her credit card bills were paid off.  She had accumulated quite a bit of debt while she was in college.  When you include the student loans, it was a considerable sum to repay.

Now that she was finished with grad school and beginning her career, she wanted to pay off her credit cards before getting further into debt.

She told Homer that there was plenty of room for him to stay with her at her parents while they paid down both their debts. Homer had also built up quit a bit of debt before he started working.

Ivana didn’t like the feeling of being in debt.

Homer was renting an apartment, but Ivana figured it was better to pay off most of their debts rather than contributing a large part of their income to have a place to live.

Homer didn’t like the idea of being dependent on Ivana’s parents for their home.  He valued his freedom too much, and didn’t want to feel obligated to her family.  Wouldn’t you feel uncomfortable living with your inlaws?

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Comments (1) Mar 11 2009

Recently, the US government has passed new legislation advantageous for home buyers.  Have you studied the economic stimulus package in detail?

Ivana Newhouse was worried that the house she planned to buy with her fiancé, Homer, would not fit within their budget.  They wanted to buy a house big enough to raise a family.  Ivana and Homer planned to stay in the house for many years.

But Homer and Ivana were just starting their careers.  Neither of them had enough money in savings for a 20% down payment on a family sized house.

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Comments (2) Mar 05 2009

Considering the current state of the economy, prices are down, interest rates are down and tax incentives are available, is now a good time to buy a home?  Voice your opinion in this poll:

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Comments (0) Mar 03 2009