Thinking of buying a piece of real estate? These simple tips will keep you on track.

1 Shop around for a loan, you need to know your real price range, be optimistic but also realistic, the perfect house will never be regretted unless the bank takes it back, try speaking to a mortgage broker let them compare the loans based on your needs and answer your questions, their quotes are free and they manage the loan for the life of the loan, thats got to be of value

2 Use the real estate agents to help, they are keen to sell, your keen to buy, let them help you, your the customer and your always right so let the expert help but stay in control

3 Know what you want, keep a folder of everything and priorities needs, wants etc. Keep this list close by and dont let others make you loose track of that. Also remember location location location, also dont forget the properties where the property is located! Invest for the future, location is their for good but any one can renovate or maybe rebuild

4  Check the neighborhood. Drive around the block. Look at the houses in the neighborhood, what is their condition. Look at the cars parked in the street. Old cars normally can tell you a lot about the neighborhood. Trash on the sidewalks can spell less than great neighborhood. Which in turns means you should buy and sell quickly (most of the time). Renting in those neighborhood could be challenging, especially for the new investor.

5 Inspect the property, Foundations, Roof, Heating and air conditioning systems, Ventilation, Common areas (for apartments), Septic tanks, wells or sewer lines, Insulation,  Plumbing and electrical systems, Ceiling, walls and floors, Doors, Hazardous materials concerns. many things can be fixed by the seller, make the requests and if they wont then consider its a price reduction.

6 make an offer, get an idea of were things, research prices in the area, look at sold properties, ask the agent about the vendor they might let something slip, ask a neighbor then use this to decide a fair offer then offer a little under, don’t low ball them and get them off side, but be worried about about a knock back first offer.

7 Get advice, ask friends, family, your mortgage broker what they think, every opinion is worth hearing.

8 Sign with a clause, The agent and vendor will be eager to sign, but let you solicitor or conveyances  look it over. Get the property under a contract first with a safety clause, think about what you still need to do before being 100% committed and make sure the contract allows for this.

9 Final inspection, make sure the owners are out and what you see is what you will get, don’t be afraid to really poke around the property is nearly all yours and you don’t want surprises though its pretty much a closed deal so be realistic.

10 Get the keys, now you can celebrate and start the big job of getting all those boxes to fit.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 28th, 2009 at 1:36 pm and is filed under Buying Real Estate Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.