Browsing Category Buyers

Free Credit report

in Buyers General Real Estate on

From my newsletter – THE FAIR and Accurate Credit Transactions Act is finally in effect for those in Virginia…. This is one of the best things you can do to ensure that 1) your identity remains yours and 2) when you go to purchase a new home, you will not be surprised by an inaccurate credit report.

There is only one official Web site for requesting free reports- http://annualcreditreport.com -or you can call 877-322-8228. (Don’t contact the individual credit agencies) or you may go through the FTC’s Web site, which has a link to the correct Web site.

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C’Ville’s bubble

in Affordability Albemarle Buyers Charlottesville General Real Estate Sellers on

My short answer is “maybe.”There has been an awful lot of discussion here and elsewhere about the possibility of a real estate bubble locally and nationwide…. What happens in California (they have 17 of the top 20 “extremely overvalued” markets) does not have a direct, nor a necessarily indirect effect on the Charlottesville/Central VA market. What their data can do is give us guidance of sorts.When California Association of Realtors starts issuing an Amendment titled “Market Conditions Advisory,” which states, “In light of the real estate market’s cyclical nature it is important that buyers understand the potential for little or no appreciation in value, or the actual loss in value, of the property they purchase.”… One would expect our market to be more valuable than many markets, especially in light of the recent news that we are the Number One Best Place to Live (again, ranked by USA Today).

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Home inspections are good

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Thanks to the Realestatejournal.While potential buyers may be eager to close the deal for the right price, it’s important to take the time to do a thorough home inspection before finalizing the purchase. There are several national home inspector associations, including the American Society of Home Inspectors and the National Association of Home Inspectors, that can direct you to inspectors in your area…. Find out what home inspectors do and don’t look for when they review a property. Plus, learn the codes of conduct governing ASHI and NAHI because not all states regulate home inspections.

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Is this really “News”?

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In the hottest markets, owners whose homes have skyrocketed in value find themselves in a frustrating paradox. They were supposed to be the lucky ones: they bought in frenzied real estate markets like New York and Los Angeles three or more years ago and have amassed hundreds of thousands of dollars on paper.But as they try to roll that considerable equity into a bigger home, many are unpleasantly surprised to find that the cost of real estate at the higher end has outpaced their ability to buy. For homeowners who have watched the torrid housing market create wealth as if by magic, scanning the classified ads or visiting a few open houses serves as a harsh reality check.From the NYTimes.

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First steps in buying a home

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One aspect of the article with which disagree is this – Start by going online and checking rates advertised by big lenders on their Web sites — Countrywide.com, LendingTree.com, E-loan.com and WashingtonMutual.com, to name a few. These sites all post rates for a 30-year-fixed loan and a 15-year-fixed loan, as well as for some adjustable loan rates. If you have your credit pulled my multiple lenders outside of a certain period of time (I believe it is one month) your credit score will most likely go down.

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Why should you get Title Insurance? … and what is it, anyway?

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A title search should turn up any liens attached to the property, from, say, unpaid construction costs, owed taxes or even outstanding parking tickets. There may be unknown missing heirs that suddenly show up to claim the house or there could be disputes over a will.This situation happened very recently…. The cost of title insurance varies, but can be seemingly expensive at Closing; the cost of independently hiring an attorney and dealing with the IRS would be far more expensive.Read more at the New York Times.

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Pre-approved?

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More than half of the participants in a nationally representative statistical sample of realty agents identified unreliable or bogus preapproval letters as a key cause of breakdowns in transactions…. I generally regard “pre-approvals” from internet lenders as less valuable and less credible than those issued by either national or local lenders…. No preapproval letters are worth looking at, Wilson added, if the lending institution has not thoroughly checked credit files, income and cash on hand.As always, knowledge is power.

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