First Time Homebuyers
Advice for the special circumstances of the first-time homebuyer.
What are Real Estate Agents?
- Real estate agents are go betweens for buyers and sellers for real estate property.
- All real estate agents have to be licensed by their state or such as of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
- Every real estate agent has to be affiliated with a real estate broker. A broker is a real estate profession with higher educational requirements and a minimum of 3 years of full time real estate experience.
- A realtor and broker have to be a member of the National Association of Realtors.
- Both realtors and brokers agree to follow the high standards of ethics and participate in any continuing education programs.
- A real estate agent represents a buyer or seller, renter or landlord, having their best interest at heart.
- Agents can work in a dual capacity in certain circumstances representing both parties.
- A real estate agent’s duty is to truth and honesty and will explain what obligations state law imposes.
your realtor
It is alright for you to shop around and decide on which agents and agencies you could work with comfortably, it is fair and ethical that you work with only one agent to help you buy or sell your home. This is the reason why real estate agents will ask you if you already have representation prior to working with you.
Forget the ‘Starter Home,’ New Buyers Want More
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First-time home buyers once set out to buy a “starter home,” which refers to an entry-level property that is affordable and often needs some updating. But new buyers are forgoing the “room for improvement” home, and are getting more choosy in their home shopping.
Eighty-seven percent of first-time home buyers said they want to purchase a home that is move-in ready, according to a survey from Coldwell Banker Real Estate, which surveyed 300 first-time home buyers in the last year. First-time home buyers made up half of the market in 2010, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.
“There’s a real ‘aha’ moment for sellers revealed by this survey that the condition and quality of their home matters a great deal to first-time home buyers,” says Diann Patton, a consumer real estate specialist with Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. “On top of that, our agents have reported that on average, first-time home buyers now look at more than 11 homes before making decisions, which is higher than in the past. They can be choosy about what appeals to them and are recognizing the benefits of the low prices and wide selection of homes in many areas.”
Location is a key deciding factor when looking for a home: 78 percent of new buyers said the home had to be in an area convenient to shops and services, according to the survey. What’s more, three-quarters of buyers said it was important to be near their workplace, and nearly two-thirds said it was important to be close to “highly rated” schools.
Many first-time home buyers said the current real estate market offered them more opportunity than they had expected. For example, half of new buyers said they found a home in a more desirable neighborhood than they expected; 61 percent were able to get the home at a better price; and 40 percent got more space than expected.
Source: “Coldwell Banker Real Estate Survey: First-time Buyers Demand New Kind of ‘Starter Home,’” Marketwire (Feb. 8, 2011)
Title Insurance: More Important Than Ever
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Understanding the tenets of title insurance is especially important considering the turmoil in the real estate industry.
Title insurance is intended to protect the insured from improper titling, including defects in foreclosure proceedings, forgery, or impersonation or cases in which no title is legally conveyed. Other defects are partial, such as a neighboring fence or garage encroaching on the insured person’s property.
The title insurance industry recently set down strict guidelines for when and if they will insure a title to a property on which there has been a foreclosure.
The buyer should be equally vigilant, insisting on a 60-year search and paying for an owner’s policy as well as the lender’s policy that the bank will demand.
Source: Washington Post, Harvey S. Jacobs (11/27/2010)
