First Time Home Buying Tips Can Ease The Stress!
If you are buying a home for the first time, chances are your stress level is going to slowly rise until the entire process is over. Unlike any major decision in your life, this too shall pass, but there are some simple tools you can arm yourself with to make this process easier.
Educate yourself. There is a plethora of websites out there that can educate you on first time home buying decisions, namely my website. Go to www.christophersmithrealtor.com and go to my First Time Home Buyers button. Also, read the middle paragraph on my homepage. After the "facts" section, there are first time home buyers sections highlighted in blue and underlined to take you to a link; one is my link and another will take you to another website to educate you. Be sure and come back to my website though. My server gets lonely and starts to whine after a while if knowone visits! Talk to a Realtor. A Realtor is trained to educate you, the consumer in all aspects of buying/selling real estate. That's why 90% of For Sale By Owners return to a Realtor to sell their home. The overwhelming reason people choose to work with Realtors is because of what they know. Okay, it would also be great if they were nice to work with also.
Communication, Communication, Communication. Oh, and did I mention communication? Asking questions will put your mind at ease with the person you are working with. What kind of forms are used and can we see them, what types of disclosures are sellers required to give to buyers, are home inspections and title searches necessary and required, does your company have a closing department that handles all of this, do your services cost us anything if we are buyers, how long does it take to close on a home once the offer has been accepted.
Remember to direct any problems you are experiencing to your Realtor and keep your cool. It does knowone any good to blow up over a situation that could have been prevented with good communication between parties (hey, didn't I talk about communication somewhere).
Money Makes the World Go 'Round. Well, in this case, it helps you buy your first home. Iowa has a first time home buyer program to help you purchase your first home with little or no money down. I have lenders who charge no origination fees (that's typically how a lender makes his/her money off of the loan applicant), which can literally save you thousands of dollars at closing. Good credit or not so good credit, I work with lenders who work with your credit score. Heck, you might start out with a slightly higher interest rate on your loan but in a few years on a "financial diet" your credit score will be lean and mean so you can refinance at a lower interest rate.
Realtors like myself are trained to take the stress completely out of the first time home buying experience. To relieve this stress, call your "Service With a Smith" Realtor, Christopher Smith at 319-329-5988 or visit his award winning website at www.christophersmithrealtor.com for more information.