Dave, this is a bit offbeat, but i want to know how do i go about buying a house. can you help me out?
Actually, I have bought two houses in the last eight years, so I think that I can help you out, even though this is a pretty unusual question for us to get here at Ask Dave Taylor. What I like about this, though, is that it fits in well with a presentation I made to a Realtor conference that explored how modern Internet technologies are making real estate agents obsolete in many ways.
The first threat to the modern realtor is that us consumers can now use tools like Zillow to (roughly) ascertain the going price of different houses on a given street. For example, when we lived in the Santa Cruz mountains, we knew our house was pretty valuable, but when we went to buy it, we had no data other than what our real estate agent told us about comparables and estimated valuation upon which to decide if it was a good deal or not.
Today if I were considering buying a house, I’d investigate the street and neighborhood on Zillow:
Now, I don’t know how accurate this data is, but it’s sure interesting to see the approximate value of the different houses in that neighborhood, a capability that’s traditionally only been accessible to realtors.
But figuring out the value of a given house is just part of the job, of course. The greater task is finding a property in the first place, and that’s where the many different real estate database sites can come in value. From Craigslist to the local paper, if there’s a house on the market, it’s a good bet that it’s going to be something you can stumble across and find online.
Remember that you also have to be able to qualify for a mortgage or mortgage loan too: many people find that renting a house or apartment while they save up so that they don’t have painfully large mortgage payments is a far smarter way to get started.
As CNN/Money suggests:
- Don’t buy if you can stay put.
- Start by shoring up your credit
- Aim for a home you can really afford
- Don’t worry if you can’t put down the usual 20 percent
- Buy in a district with a good school
- Get professional help
- Choose carefully between points and rate
- Before house hunting, get pre-approved for a mortgage
- Do your homework before bidding
- Hire a home inspector
There are, of course a ton of other things to know about when you’re buying a house. There are a lot of good books on this subject too. A quick glance at Amazon offers How to Buy Your First Home, How to Buy and Sell Your Home Without Getting Ripped Off and How To Buy A Home.
Between those and the many more you can find in the Dummies and Complete Idiot’s series, among others, I’m sure you can get a good start on your house hunt. Good luck!
I’ve been a Realtor in the Savannah, Georgia area since 2005. Prior to becoming a Realtor, I was very upset that the process of buying a home wasn’t something that I had ever learned about.
So, I took a 3 month course and obtained my real estate license and am amazed at how much I now know.
For example, did you know that when shopping for a home, if you call the Realtor listed on the sign in front of a home, you’re going to be speaking with someone who is fully representing the seller? And did you know that anything you tell them in confidence, such as how much you’re willing to spend or have been pre-approved for, that they’re obligated to share that information with the seller?
That’s why more and more people are starting to use the services of a “Buyer’s Representative”. A Buyer’s Representative is a licensed real estate agent who fully represents you and looks out for your best interests. And what’s even better, is that in most cases, the fee for the Buyer’s Representative is paid for out of a portion of the Seller’s commmission that is paid to his/her Realtor.
For more information about the Savannah real estate market, visit http://www.SavannahRealEstateMarketplace.com.
Never heard of Zillow before but I agree it’s very interesting to see a map and satellite view of estimated house values. Although, when I tried to find the value of my house I discovered they hadn’t mapped it. Evidentially, they are not available in some parts of the country. Of course, the only way to find the real value of a house is either to buy or sell one.