Are You Ready To Make An Offer To Buy A Home?
October 29, 2024
How to get started? In the early stages, establishing your budget and how much work you need to do on your credit is key. But once you have gotten past the initial phase of that planning you’ll want to consider the house itself and what you want from it.
You can get started by writing down your dream home’s must-have features. What size house do you want? How many bedrooms?
Do you need to be near schools, childcare, or major interstates? Separate your non-negotiables from what you feel more comfortable negotiating or haggling over.
Research the market you want to buy in. Consider analyzing recent residential real estate sales of similar properties in the area to determine a reasonable value for the home you're interested in. Online resources like Zillow and Realtor.com can be helpful.
Key Factors Before You Make An Offer To Buy With An FHA Mortgage
Ask yourself the following questions before you approach a home seller.
Is the home I want within my price range, and how much more or less is the sale price than the pre-approval amount?
What’s the first impression of the condition of the property? Does it look like it needs work, or is it pristine and in excellent condition?
If you haven’t decided on a specific property type, do the homes you have seen to date lack something important? For many borrowers, issues that seem minor early on become major headaches later, depending on the problems.
Your First Offer
It’s easy at first to consider your offer to the seller as your “best offer,” but real estate negotiations aren’t always that simple. Consider your initial offer as an opening statement.
That may lead to negotiation with the seller, but doing so is worth the hassle. According to many sources, “Flexibility is key.” Buyers go into the process willing to compromise on some parts of the home-buying process to make the sale more attractive to the seller.
Know your limits and be prepared to walk away if the deal starts to become unreasonable. That said, know WHEN and HOW you are legally permitted to walk away before you make any offer.
FHA Loan Articles
November 12, 2024Escrow is an important feature of most typical FHA loans. An escrow account is a third-party account where borrowers deposit funds designated for property taxes and other uses. Requirements to use escrow accounts typically stems from a need to protect all parties involved in the transaction
November 2, 2024When it’s time to consider buying a home, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) offers two popular options. One is the traditional FHA purchase loan many use to buy a house in the suburbs. But not everyone wants to buy an existing property. Some want more control over the design and configuration of the home.
The other FHA construction loan option, the one-time close mortgage, comes in here. This option is for those who want to approve floor plans, have a say in the types of materials used to build the home and choose its features.
October 31, 2024When buying a home for the first time, it helps to know how long the process can take. How do you know if your appraisal report is delayed if you don’t know how long the FHA allows for the process to be completed? How long does it take to get from the final offer to closing day? A “typical” FHA loan process may take up to 45 days from start to finish. Several factors can influence this timeline.
October 30, 2024Just because an FHA loan is designed to be more lenient with FICO scores and require a lower down payment doesn’t mean the house you buy with that loan is less than ideal. Did you know that FHA loans have minimum property standards to ensure the home is safe and livable? Those standards require the home to have an “economic life” for the entire term of the loan so you can freely sell the property later on if you choose to do so.
October 29, 2024Buying a home with an FHA mortgage is a major life decision, and preparation is essential before you start house hunting or consider making an offer on a property.
How to get started? In the early stages, establishing your budget and how much work you need to do on your credit is key. But once you have gotten past the initial phase of that planning you’ll want to consider the house itself and what you want from it.
