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Interest rates and home prices are low. Your credit is in order, and you’re sick of renting. Ready to start your house hunt?
Finding the perfect home can take some time, so don’t be hesitant to start your house hunt early. It takes the average homebuyer 12 weeks to find a home to purchase, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
Kick off your house hunt today with our congratulations, and via one of the following resources:
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Open houses and listing photos are designed to accentuate a home’s positive features. But making a smart home purchase requires buyers to look beyond the gorgeous landscaping and perfectly staged furniture.
Evaluating the exterior of a home is crucial to your wallet and your future happiness. Carefully examine a home’s exterior for the following costly problems, and don’t ever skip a professional home inspection if you decide to make an offer.
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You can’t buy a house unless you’re married…right?
Wrong. Single men and women make up a big chunk of the nation’s homebuyers, and that trend continues to grow. Single homebuyers purchased 33 percent of all homes sold in 2011, up from 32 percent in 2010 and 31 percent in 2009, according to the National Association of Realtors.
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Keeping close tabs on your roof is imperative for new homeowners.
It’s easy to scrutinize a home during a careful walk through all the rooms and the yard.
What’s not so easy is determining the condition of the roof based on how it looks. Fixing a roof can be the most expensive house repair an owner may face, with a full replacement ranging from $2,000 to $12,000.
That means an inspection can be well the investment.
Your seller may or may not pay the $200 to $400 inspection fee, but be sure to have one before you purchase the home so you can factor the repairs into the cost.
The purpose of roof inspections is to find any problems as well as gauge the remaining life of a roof. The inspector will look at the roof angle and see how long it takes for water to evaporate. An acceptable rate is around two days but it can vary by location.
Inspectors will walk on the roof and look for weakened areas that indicate rot or leaks. If an area isn’t safe enough to access, the inspector will typically use binoculars. Every inch of the roof should be inspected including individual shingles.
The materials used to build your roof will also be assessed on when it was constructed, the last replacement as well as the materials’ nature of deterioration.
Feel free to ask to see problem spots and potentially vulnerable areas during the inspection. Some of the most common problems include:
It’s recommended a homeowner get three different contractor quotes to compare. Comparisons should be made with the estimates as well as the materials to be used and labor costs. Reviewing consumer ratings or talking to someone who has used the contractor before can help with the expectations of timing, clean up and how well they stuck to the contract.
If your inspection indicates the need for repair, be sure to inspect the chimney before you begin any maintenance. This way you can coordinate your roofing contractor with a mason in order to get repairs that work together rather than become a detriment to the other.
Ensure your new roof’s long life by getting certified inspections every two years. Because so many factors affect the condition of the roof, you may need to flex your inspections to account for weather damage, direction of the sun and insulation issues. You may have one side of your roof be more vulnerable than the other, so prepare your inspections thoughtfully.
Photo courtesy of iwona_kellie
Selling a house with a messy interior or unkempt exterior isn’t easy. No matter how sturdy, secure or cozy a house is, it needs to look nice to draw attention and get offers from prospective buyers. When military families are on the move, staging the home for open houses can become an afterthought.
Follow these tips to ensure your home is ready to show.
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In the end, the home will be yours.
But until the sale is complete and closing papers get signed, a host of people will help you use your VA home loan benefits to purchase a home.
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Homebuyers have extra safety considerations for properties with fireplaces, garages and decks.
It’s pretty easy to get caught up in a home’s features when you’re house hunting. Many times, a homebuyer is told to consider the additional costs of utilities and maintenance some features require, but extra safety and inspection concerns are often neglected.
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Many service members and veterans are looking to take advantage of their VA loan benefit but aren’t quite ready to take the leap into homeownership.
A condo may have amenities and benefits that better fit your lifestyle. The VA offers the same guaranty on condominium purchases as they do for traditional home loans. Veterans are offered a less vigorous application process and lenient credit requirements helping more veterans own property with no money down and lower monthly payments with a VA loan.
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When you research the steps to buying a home, undoubtedly the first and most important step is to check your credit.
Checking your credit before the process of searching and purchasing a home begins allows you to get an understanding of your own financial situation and what to expect when it comes to lending and rates.
Another important reason to check your credit before you start looking for a home is to correct any mistakes. Discovering a mistake on your credit score too late can cost you a better rate or even the home of your dreams.
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Cash is a wonderful thing. It may be true that it can’t buy love or happiness, but it sure is useful when it comes to groceries, gasoline and mortgage payments.
Real median household income, says the Census Bureau, reached $49,777 in 2009. That’s 5 percent less than households earned a decade earlier, in 1999, when they typically took in $52,388.
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