***if you know
anyone who is thinking about buying a home, our next classes
are:
Monday, October 22, 2012, from 5pm-8pm, at the
Marshall Center, conference room at 1009 E. McLoughlin Blvd. (kitty corner from
Clark College)
Saturday, October 27, 2012, from 1pm-4pm at the
Vancouver YMCA located at 11324 NE 51st Circle (corner of SR-500 &
112th/Gher Road). Remember….with reservation…we will throw in lunch! 🙂
…we also have other class dates/times…check out the website
Please go to www.learningtobuyahome.com, or www.traciedemars.com for information on ALL upcoming
Free Community Home Buyer Classes. I do keep all updated information, and
directions there… I would love to hear from you about when you might like to
see the classes. These classes are for you, so please, I love your comments and
feedback!! 🙂 ***
>>>sorry
if this is a duplicate email! It is Monday morning and I received an error
message from my computer/aol regarding my emails yesterday so I am resending
everything because I figure it is better to be safe than sorry!! Have a great
week!! 🙂
Happy Sunday
morning!
Got your pumpkin
yet? Yeah? I don’t…I feel kind of bad, but we just haven’t been able to make
it out yet to get my toddler to the pumpkin patch….maybe we will skip it this
year? Sshhh…don’t tell the teenagers I just said that!! 🙂 I am having a
difficult time getting into the Halloween spirit today, but maybe that is
because I am a little cranky. I just woke up cranky, but I think that has a lot
to do with feeling frustrated.
It is a frustrating
time right now….I have buyers who are ready to go, but who can’t find homes.
There is a distinct absence of homes for sale right now…there just isn’t that
many homes… I can’t change what the market is, and it is very competitive for
the homes that are available. It is frustrating for everyone so I am just
preaching patience…. Be patient…, and be looking at the available homes on
the market that are in your price range. The market has gone up, considerably,
and anything under $200,000 is a sellers market. Next week I am going to talk
more about fall/winter homes. I will also be talking about short sales this
next week because I have clients who are frustrated with the available homes on
the market that they keep looking at all those short sale homes. Please
remember that, as a buyers agent, my job is to help you find a home that you can
love, that you can afford, and that you can actually purchase. As I say, it is
my job to be a matchmaker, not a heartbreaker….but more on that next
week!
This week let’s go
over the 4 legal reasons to back out of an offer and get your earnest money
refunded to you. I have been saying that I will get to it, but I keep getting
side tracked, so let’s talk about this. 🙂 When you make an offer on a home,
it is a LEGAL contract. You are offering to purchase this particular home with
the contingencies in place that are there to protect you. These contingencies
are also your legal reason to back out and get your earnest money back. I know
that each agent differs here, but I really urge my buyers to only make ONE offer
at a time. Again, the offer is a legal contract that if accepted means that you
are in contract to purchase this home. You do have some legal reasons to back
out and get your earnest money refunded, but just deciding not to purchase the
home doesn’t cut it….you lose the earnest money. When a buyers agent writes
up your offer our job is to protect you, the buyer. We will put in
contingencies to protect you, and the standard contingencies are: Insurance
(addendum), Inspection (addendum), Financing (addendum), and Appraisal (on the
second page of the financing addendum). What does this mean?
Insurance
Many people contact their
insurance agent for a binder as one of the last things they do….this is wrong.
The first person you should call after you write up an offer is your insurance
agent! You need to inquire about any previous water, or other insurance claims
that could increase the cost of the homeowners insurance for you. Yep….you
read that right…IF there was a previous water or other insurance claim in the
last 3-5 years on the home you are interested in, YOUR homeowners insurance will
be at a higher premium as that claim follows the home you want to buy, as well
as the sellers on to their new home.
Inspection
As we talked about a
couple of weeks ago, and again last week a bit…inspection is a big thing; the
cost of which is non-refundable. However, if you back out of the contract based
upon the homes failure to pass an inspection, you will receive your earnest
money back.
Appraisal
Remember from last week
that this is one of those fees that you pay to the lender, but the lender hires
the appraiser. The appraisal is non-refundable, like the inspection, but if the
home doesn’t appraise for the amount of the agreed upon purchase the price, the
seller has the right to not lower the price to the appraised amount. IF this
happens, you, the buyer, have the right to back out and have your earnest money
refunded to you.
Financing
If you lose your financing
for whatever reason, you have the right to back out of the purchase sale and
have your earnest money refunded to you. Sometimes it happens that the home
just can’t be financed, at least not with the state or government loans…if
this happens you also have the right to back out and receive your earnest money
back.
Remember that your buyer’s
agent will help you with each and every step of the process, and will help you
as you look at homes to go over any possible defects that could prevent a home
from passing an inspection, or to not qualify for financing. An agent, of
course, is not a home inspector, and in many cases it isn’t what you can see
that could be the problem, but what you can’t see….that is why the home
inspector is so important to you.
Hope this
helps….as always, give me a ring, text, email, or facebook me if you have any
further questions!
Please call, email, text, or even facebook me (at Tracie DeMars Real Estate) anytime with any questions, or if
there is anything I can do to assist you with your home buying adventure! As
your buyers agent, I am, as always, here to help!!
😀
Thank you
again for your business and for your referrals!
…as always…if you
have already purchased a home, or no longer would like to receive these emails
from me, please let me know and I will be happy to remove you from receiving any
more.
Thank you again for
attending the home buyer education classes, and I hope that you will continue to
refer the classes out to your friends, family, and co-workers. Upcoming class
dates and times are located at www.freehomebuyerclasses.com. Just click on the link
on the left hand side. Or you can go to www.learningtobuyahome.com and click the
links.
We appreciate your
referrals and word of mouth! Also, if you have somewhere that we can place the
flyers at, please let me know….
:-D
Next Week: Fall/Winter homes…what you need to know
to look for…..or types of heating and what they mean
Last Week:
Explanation of who is involved in your loan, and what they do.
Remember
that you can always go to ‘Tracie DeMars Real
Estate’ on
Facebook for all of my weekly blogs
and upcoming class dates/times/locations.
I post the weekly blogs
on there as well.
Have a great day, and I will talk to you soon,
;-D
