Top Home Buying Mistakes

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RealEstate.com suggests buyers get to know these common home buying  mistakes.

Doing it alone:  Buying a house is a complex transaction.  You’ll need a real estate agent, lender and an inspector to help get through the transaction.

Getting emotionally attached:   Buy a home that fits your budget and your lifestyle. Be sure the home is in a community and neighborhood you desire. Do your homework with your Realtor and make sure you can afford the home and it fits your needs.

Shopping without being pre-qualified: Being pre-qualified gives you a general idea of how much you can afford to borrow. It gives you some bargaining power and keeps you from getting emotionally attached to a home you can afford. 

Overbuying:  Home buyers buying more than they could truly afford, in part, led to the collapse of the housing market.  Analyze all your monthly costs including debts, food, transportation, entertainment, and savings. Ask about average utility costs and taxes.  Don’t forget to budget closing costs (your lender is rquired to supply a Good Faith Estimate), plus moving, redecorating and maintenance.

Misplaced trust:  Ask family, friends, co-workers, professionals and others you trust for referrals, but don’t take their word for it. Make sure you are comfortable with your Realtor and trust that they have your best interest in mind (not their own)

Get everything in writing. The home inspection, disclosures, the contract. Always. Should a dispute arise, you’ve got the details documented.  Fortonuately with the new lending laws, everytime anything changes your lender must disclose the change!

Read the fine print: Make sure your Realtor explains all the contractual docuements. Don’t sign anything without feeling comfortable with what you are signing.  If you Realtor struggles to explain any parts of the contract, run away!

Ignoring resale potential: Avoid buying a home that costs a lot more than neighboring homes. Reconsider buying the most expensive home on the block. Check on foreclosures in the neighborhood and make sure your Realtor does his/her homework on the market analysis.

Protect yourself with these contingencies:

• Mortgage financing. You may be preapproved but is the house? A formal appraisal confirms — or not — that there is sufficient value in the home to confirm a loan. If the house appraises lower than the sales price, the loan will be declined.

• Inspection. Never buy an existing or new home without a thorough home inspection. Walk through the home with the inspector to learn more about the house and any concerns he or she may have.

Contact your Carolina Living Agent for all your Charlotte NC real estate needs.

Customer vs. Client

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Agency Disclosure laws are in effect in North Carolina and as a result, all buyers MUST sign either a Buyer Agency Agreement or a Subagency Disclosure with their REALTOR before the REALTOR can assist the buyer in any way.

The Law mandates that before an agent knows anything about you, your needs, wants or desires of a real estate nature, or discuss available properties with you, the agent must have first discussed with you how two of you will be working together. This means the agent must have written authorization from you that they are either your Buyer’s Agent and you are their Client, or they are a Subagent of the seller and you are their customer.

This is a requirement of all North Carolina Real Estate Agents. If any Agent does not discuss the laws of agency with you prior to any other conversation about your real estate needs, he or she is putting their license and their company’s license in jeopardy.

What Services and Information Can Your Carolina Living Agent Provide?

As A Client
Provide information on available properties
Show Properties
Help distinguish wants versus needs
Fill out contract forms following
customer’s instructions
Honestly answer all material fact questions
Disclose all material facts
Provide information on:
• Financing
• Use of experts
• Previous sales in the area
• Customary escrow & settlement procedures
• Sources of other information

Advice and counsel on
• Price to offer
• Getting defects fixed or paid for
• Asking for seller financing & getting favorable terms
• Interpretation of comparables
Promote and protect your best interests
Negotiate the best price and terms for you
Ability to show For Sale By Owners (FSBO’s) and
get the buyer the best possible price

As a Customer
Provide information on available properties
Show Properties
Help distinguish wants versus needs
Fill out contact forms following customer’s instructions
Honestly answer all material fact questions
Disclose all material facts
Provide information on:
• Financing
• Use of experts
• Previous sales in the area
• Customary escrow & settlement procedures
• Sources of other information
NO ADVICE OR INTERPRETATIONS

Become a Carolina Living Real Estate Client Today for your Charlotte and Lake Norman area needs.

Contact your Carolina Living Agent for all your Charlotte NC real estate needs.

Foreclosure Help for NC Homeowners

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Two new North Carolina laws passed in NC provide some additional protection to homeowners facing foreclosure:

First, Beginning June 1, once a homeowner in North Carolina requests a loan modification, all foreclosure actions must be suspended. Currently, the law allows mortgagors to continue pursuing foreclosures against homeowners who are waiting to have their loans modified.

The second law requires mortgagors to provide clear and timely communications if a homeowner requests assistance.

The North Carolina Commissioners of Banks has established a website to offer lots of solutions. www.ncforeclosurehelp.org. If you are facing foreclosure here in North Carolina, there is help available. Please contact us for more advice on saving your home from foreclosure.

NC Foreclosure Statistics by County

Contact your Carolina Living Agent for all your Charlotte NC real estate needs.

Charlotte Real Estate Investor Services

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Charlotte NC Real Estate Investors

 

Carolina Living Property Management provides a comprehensive package of property management and maintenance services to our client’s property throughout the Charlotte region. Our goal is to make the ownership of investment properties both profitable and worry-free. We know the concerns that all owners have, and handle each and every property as if it were our own.

How we assist investors with their real estate investments.

  • New Listings for Properties to Purchase Delivered to you Daily
  • Arranging Financing for Investment Property Purchases
  • Aggressive Marketing of your property For Sale or For Rent
  • Prospective Tenant Interviews and Screening
  • Security Deposit and Rent Collections
  • Maintenance Services
  • Equity and Cap Rate Analysis on your current Investment Property Portfolio

If you would like a financial analysis of your current properties, don’t hesitate to let us know. It’s free!

Please call us for a list of investment properties currently for sale at (704)-746-3937. You may also email us at info@YourCharlottePropertyManagement.com

Determining The Value Of Your Charlotte Area Home

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charlotte real estate

Mortgages depend significantly on the value of the property that is involved. Consequently, it become important to know how much a property is worth before heading into refinancing plans, looking for a home loan, or selling a house.

One way to do this is to determine the market value of the property. A simple way to do this is to look at other comparable homes in the same neighborhood and see what prices they have been sold recently. One of your Carolina Living Realtors can assist you with this and will come at no cost to you.

Another way to find the value of your property is to find its appraised value. To do this you need to pay for the help of a trained and licensed professional. They will take into account a variety of factors, including the home’s square footage, construction quality, floor plan, design, surrounding neighborhood, proximity to important services and locations, as well as the landscaping, among other factors. An appraiser will usually cost anywhere between $200 and $300. In the current Lake Norman real estate environment, appraisals have become pivitol in the actual sale of the property. Short sales and foreclosures in the Lake Norman area have caused some of our appraisal values to decrease causing transactions to fail to close.

An appraiser can also tell you the replacement value of the property. This is how much an appraiser estimates it will cost to build a similar house on an unoccupied lot. The appraiser will take the age of the home into account to make a better estimate with deterioration and depreciation in mind.

One important thing to note is that a home’s estimated value is not the same as its worth. A home’s estimated value is defined by one of the methods listed above, while its worth is eventually established by what potential buyers are willing to pay for it.

Some things we have experienced in the Charlote and surrounding areas.

  • Tax value does NOT determine value of the home. It has nothing to do with market value.
  • Neighbors do not know the value of a home. Of course they are wanting values of homes to be very high.
  • Current list prices of homes, while helpful, do not determine the value of a home.