You Won’t Use Zillow Again After Reading This

Did you know that by using Zillow you’re missing out on a ton of listings?! National Real Estate Websites focus on Big Geographic Areas and spend most of their money on advertisements making it harder to find accurate information regarding the properties you’re interested in. As a Local Realtor, Buying/Selling/Renting, Market Data, and Neighborhood Resale History are conversations that I have daily. Don’t roll the dice on one of the Largest Financial Transactions you will have by using National Real Estate Websites. If you’re searching for a home and want reliable information you can trust visit my MLS Search at https://ginavillanellrealtor.com/search-mls/ and take advantage of all the properties you won’t be seeing on the other sites!

Questions, Comments or Concerns? Please Feel Free to Contact Me using the ‘Contact’ Button in the upper right corner or to Text/Call (954) 812-2832, I look forward to speaking with you!

Gina

House Hunting: 10 Tips for a Smoother Home Search

House hunting is one of the most exciting parts of the home buying process. But it’s also where a lot of first-time buyers make mistakes. Without a solid plan in place, the house hunting process can be a lot of effort with little reward. That’s where this checklist comes in!

Here are ten tips to help you get the most out of your house hunting experience.

1. Create a Realistic Checklist

Get out a sheet of paper, put on your “realism” hat, and start writing down the things you need in a home versus the things you want. You can organize them on the page however you like, as long as you separate the needs and the wants. Put a box next to each item, and then make photocopies.

When you visit a home, take a copy of the checklist with you and write the home’s address at the top. Then move through the house and check off what it does and does not offer. This will help you remember which house had what, especially when you’re looking at many properties.

2. Be a Proactive Hunter

Your real estate agent will help with the house hunting process. (You are using an agent, right?) But don’t rely solely on your agent. Go out there and do some hunting yourself. Check out the websites listed below for starters, and then start driving through neighborhoods and communities.

3. Get Web Savvy

The Internet can reduce your house hunting time by 50% or more. By previewing homes and researching neighborhoods online, you can weed out the ones you don’t want to visit. This will save you time, energy and gas money! At a minimum, check out Realtor.com, Trulia.com, and Zillow.com. If you’re considering foreclosure homes as well as regular listings, check out RealtyTrac.com as well.

4. Play Detective

When visiting a home, don’t be shy about asking the sellers (or their agent) plenty of questions. Be friendly about it, but be thorough. Likewise, feel free to do a reasonable amount of “snooping.” Don’t violate the seller’s privacy — just be sure to look in all the dark corners, the basement, tools sheds and the like.

5. Validate the Asking Price

If asking prices were set in stone, they would be called “selling prices” from the start. But that’s not how it works. You should always compare the asking price of a home to recent sales in the area. Your agent should be expert at providing such “comps” to help you validate (or debunk) the seller’s asking price.

6. Visit During Rush Hour

That peaceful property you visited at 10:00 in the morning might be totally different at 5:30 in the evening. By visiting a home during rush hour, you’re evaluating two things at once. First, you’ll find out if traffic snarls make it hard to enter or exit the neighborhood. Secondly, you’ll be able to judge the noise factor at its loudest time of day.

7. Test the Drive

While we’re talking about rush hour, why not test out the morning commute to your work? It might seem silly to do a rush hour commute from a home you’re only considering, but think about how much time you’ll spend commuting day after day. It’s a major quality-of-life issue, so it deserves some consideration.

8. Look into the Future

Will that beautiful meadow across the street be a shopping center or a highway in two years? You won’t know unless you do the research. Talk to the city or county to find out what their plans are for the area around the home. Don’t expect the sellers to volunteer such information, because it’s not in their interest to deliver bad news about the neighborhood. Nor are they required to provide such information.

9. Bring a Digital Camera

Digital cameras are ideal for house hunting. You can take pictures of the homes you visit and save them in labeled folders on your computer. Which home had the swimming pool? Which one had the wood floors and crown molding? Just look at the photos and you’ll remember.

10. Bring a Devil’s Advocate

When visiting a home that could potentially become your own, it’s easy to be emotional. That’s good and bad. Sometimes, emotion has a way of clouding our better judgment. You can counter this by bringing a friend or family member along on house hunting trips. In addition to keeping you company, a “disinterested witness” can offer an objective point of view. This is crucial when making such a large purchase.

January 7, 2017Buying, First Time Home Buyer, Moving, Real Estate, Tipschecklist, florida, fort lauderdale, house, house hunting, hunting, miami, Real Estate, south florida, tips[email protected]

Should I Buy My First Home in 2017?

Happy New Year! Will 2017 be the year you buy your first home? Are you still on the fence about it? Here is some updated information to help you make an informed decision, and to answer the question: “Should I buy my first home in 2017?”

Buying Your First Home in 2017

In most U.S. cities, buying a home makes a lot of sense right now. The housing market is stable, with rising home values reported across the nation during 2016. The job market and the broader economy have improved significantly since the recession years. And in many areas, owning a home is actually more affordable than renting right now.

But these are just the external factors. There are personal considerations as well. You have to make sure buying a home makes sense for you, based on your current financial and lifestyle situation.

For starters, ask yourself the following questions:

Do you plan to live in the area for at least the next few years? If so, buying might make sense for you.
Do you have steady and reliable income right now, with a reasonable expectation for continued employment and income? If so, you can put another check mark in the “buy” column.
Would owning a home improve your quality of life in some way?

If you answered yes to these questions, then 2017 might be a good time to buy your first home.

Mortgage Rates Have Risen

As a first-time home buyer, you should be aware that mortgage rates have risen in recent weeks. In fact, by the last week of December 2016, the average rate for a 30-year home loan had risen to its highest point in more than two years.

At the start of 2017, the average rate for a 30-year mortgage was 4.32%. Analysts with the Mortgage Bankers Association expect rates to rise gradually throughout 2017, possibly reaching 4.7% (for a 30-year loan) by the end of the year.

The point is, if you postpone your home-buying plans until later in 2017, you could end up paying more for a home — and for a mortgage loan. So a strong case could be made for buying sooner rather than later.

I Can Help You Every Step of the Way

I specialize in helping first-time home buyers succeed. I can help you find a home that meets all of your needs, and make a smart offer based on current market conditions. This is the first step to success when buying your first home, and it all starts with market research. This is one of my key skills.

I can help you navigate the complexities of the local real estate market in order to find the ideal home. Please contact me at your convenience so we can talk about your home buying needs.