Date: 11/11/2003
A Seller's Agent can take you around to see different homes and advise you on general areas. He or she can show you the listings for the various homes that meet your general criteria. A Seller's Agent cannot advise you whether a home would be a good deal, or whether it would be the right home for you. A seller's Agent can't help you negotiate the best deal or watch out for potential pitfalls.
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Date: 11/11/2003
Both a Seller's Agent and a Buyer's Agent can show you any home that is available through the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), including homes offered for sale by other agents as well as those listed by the agent personally. In practice, neither agent will show you all available homes. Instead he or she will show you a representative sampling based on the criteria that you present to them. In most cases, a Buyer's Agent will show you a broader spectrum of homes and pay more attention to selecting those homes. Given that the Seller's Agent works for the seller, it is important to remember that their first priority is to sell the home under conditions as favorable as possible to the seller.
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Date: 11/12/2003
The first step to repairing and assessing your credit is to request a copy of your credit report. A three-in-one report showing your credit history from all the major credit bureaus is available from any of the bureas directly. Even if you have been turned down for credit before, you need to be certain that all the problem items on your credit report are accurate. Go through your credit report line by line and write to the credit bureau (certified, return receipt requested) about any items that are not accurate. Pay off any debts that you can pay off, and be sure that you are paying your bills on time.
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Date: 11/12/2003
Any time that your downpayment is less than 20% of the sale price of your new home, your lender will require that you purchase mortgage insurance to help ensure that the bank is protected in case you default on the loan. The lender will purchase the mortgage insurance on your behalf, but the price of the insurance will be billed to you as part of your normal monthly payment.
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Date: 11/13/2003
By law, sellers do not have to disclose the terms of other offers to you. If you are working with a Seller's Agent, he or she cannot tell you the terms of those offers. On the other hand, a Buyer's Agent will do her or his best to discover the bid history on a home that interests you before you enter into negotiations.
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Date: 11/13/2003
A Seller's Agent is trying to sell you a house on behalf of the seller. This means they are obligated to try to obtain the HIGHEST possible sale price. In the meantime, you want to pay the LOWEST possible price and they are helping you to find a house. There is an intrinsic opportunity for conflict of interest in this process, and agents must be very skillful and experienced to avoid a conflict of interest.
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Date: 11/13/2003
An offer too far below the market value of a house can keep a seller from negotiating, and it can prejudice them against you to keep you from ultimately getting the house you love. Setting the right offering price is critical to a successful purchase. So how do you know how much to bid?
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Date: 11/13/2003
Your new home is probably the biggest financial investment you have made. It is also a very complex mix of mechanical, structural, organic, and other components. You can't possibly be expected to understand or be familiar with all the complex issues that go into determining the condition of the home you are considering. Neither can your real estate agent. And while the seller is obligated to disclose certain information about the property's condition, this is by no means a complete disclosure and it doesn't cover things that the seller doesn't know.
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Date: 11/12/2003
Seemingly, there is an ever-increasing variety of mortgage products available for financing a home purchase. This can make choosing the right mortgage a daunting task -- especially for someone who doesn't work in finance as part of their primary job. You need to understand the difference between fixed-rate, adjustable rate, FHA, VA, loans and special loans, plus buy-downs, refinancing, balloon payments and much, much more.
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Date: 3/8/2004
The best way to compare housing for sale in Prince William County Virginia is simply to jump right into your search. Houses that look good on paper don't always look good as you walk through. That's why an MLS listing alone will rarely sell a house.
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