Are you thinking to yourself “Can I buy a home after my foreclosure?” It is not impossible to buy a home after a devastating financial event. In fact, people who have cleaned up their credit and are financially sound and qualified to get a mortgage can buy a home as soon as they have surpassed a prescribed waiting period after the bankruptcy, foreclosure or short sale
Buying a short sale home? Be willing to commit to to deal! In the state of Washington, this occurs on the 22-SS Short Sale Addendum. You need to agree to commit to that purchase for a set period of time to allow for lien holder approval. Now, if it takes longer than what you agreed [...]
Not all agents are selling short sale properties, but I do and because of that I field a lot of questions from buyers that have never encountered short sale listings before. In fact, asking them about their experience with short sales homes is one of my first questions. Because so few buyers are educated in [...]
If you are just jumping into this series of articles, we are talking about how to most effectively work with a real estate buyers agent. A buyers agent is the real estate professional that is representing the buyers in a real estate transaction. The opposite of this would be the listing agent that represents the [...]
Don’t drive your buyers agent nuts with what you are looking for! When you start shopping for a home, you need a clear idea of what you are looking for. When I start working with clients, one of the first things we discuss is what they are looking for. I will be completely honest in [...]
Buying and selling homes is always a negotiation. Sometimes one side is in a better position than the other, but there are always points to negotiate. Assuming that the offer you have in your hand is the best your buyers can do, to me, weakens your ability to work in their best interest which is getting them the home they want at a price they are comfortable with.
To be the best at real estate negotiations as possible for my clients, I discuss with them what is important to them, what points are negotiable and what we are not willing to give on. Not knowing these things means I can not be flexible when I am talking to the sellers agent, and that is bad for my clients.
The big question is ‘where do I start?’ when it comes to finding a deal on a short sale home. I will skip over the steps of determining where you want to live, how much you can afford or finance, and what type or size of a home you want. Those are subjects in and [...]
Do you abuse your buyers agent? After quite a few years in the real estate business it is interesting to see how people interact with their buyers agents. If you aren’t familiar with the term Buyers Agent, you may want to review my article on ‘What is a Buyers Agent’. If you have bought a [...]
Two years ago if you had a heartbeat and one hand to sign loan documents, you could purchase your first home. Times have changed and now lenders are requiring documentation of income again, solid credit scores and expect a sizeable down payment. Now purchasing a home seem almost impossible for most first time home buyers. [...]
Home sellers are acutely aware that they have to be very careful when choosing a listing agent, but quite often buyers stumble into the agent that they wind up using, either from attending an open house or calling about a sign or an ad. This poses a real problem because a bad buyer’s agent can [...]
© Jacquie Cliff – Professional Seattle Area Real Estate Broker with Champions Real Estate Services
