Mistakes home buyers can make when purchasing a home

Protect yourself when buying real estate from these common pitfalls.

The home buying process can be full emotions. Ultimately, these stressful emotions can push you in the direction of making one of the 'Deadly Mistakes' which are common among home buyers.

#1. Making an offer on a home without being prequalified.
Prequalification will make your life easier - so take the time to speak with a lender. Their specific questions in regard to income, dept, etc., will help you determine the price range you can afford. It is an important step on the path to home ownership. Check this calculator as a starting point of what you can afford.

#2. Not having a home inspection.
Trying to save money today can end up costing you tomorrow. A qualified home inspector will detect issues that many buyers can overlook. See this home inspection checklist.

#3. Limiting your search to open houses, ads or the Internet.
Many homes listed in magazines or on the Internet have already been sold. Your best course of action is to contact a Realtor®. They have up-to-date information that is unavailable to the general public and are the best resource to help you find the home you want.

#4. Choosing a Real Estate Agent who is not committed to forming a strong business relationship with you.
Making a connection with the right Realtor® is crucial. Find a real estate agent who is dedicated to serving your needs - before, during and after the sale.

#5. Thinking there is only one perfect house out there.
Buying a home is a process of elimination, not selection. New properties arrive on the market daily, so be open to all possibilities. Ask your Realtor® for a comparative market analysis. This compares similar homes that have recently sold, or are still for sale.

#6. Not considering long-term needs.
It is important to think ahead. Will the home suit your needs 3-5 years from now?

#7. Not examining insurance issues.
Purchase adequate home owner's insurance. Advice from an insurance agent can provide you with answers to any concerns you may have.

#8. Not buying a home protection plan.
This is essentially a mini insurance policy that usually lasts one year from the close of escrow. It usually covers basic repairs you may encounter and can be purchased for a nominal fee. Talk to your real estate agent to help you find the protection plan you need.

#9. Not knowing total costs involved.
Early in the buying process, ask your Realtor® or lender for an estimate of closing costs. Title company and attorney fees should be considered. Pre-pay responsibilities such as Homeowner Association fees and insurance must also be taken into account. Remember to examine your settlement statement prior to closing.

#10. Not following through on due diligence.
Buyers should make a list of any concerns they have relating to issues such as: crime rates, schools, power lines, neighbors, environmental conditions, etc. Ask the important questions before you make an offer on a home. Be diligent so that you can have confidence in your purchase.

Copyright Buffini & Company
 
Find a real estate agent, compare qualifications, and negotiate home buyer rebates at DoorFly.com.
 

Home Buying? Find out About America's Most Congested Cities

Do you want to be regularly stuck in a "traffic jam"? Probably not. If you are home buying in a new location, congestion is an important factor to consider.

Los Angeles California is the most congested city in America according to Yahoo Real Estate and Kirkland, Wash.-based research firm Inrix, which provides real-time, historical and predictive traffic information to television stations and other groups across the U.S.

Consider this story from an average commuter.

For two years, 26-year-old marketing associate, Stefani Cole, commuted from her home in Long Beach, Calif., to her job at a radio station in Burbank. The 40-mile drive takes about 45 minutes without traffic but averages between two to two-and-a-half hours during rush hour.

"I would try to get to the office early and work later so that I would miss the major traffic," says Cole. "But if there was a wreck or something, forget it. It was going to be bad no matter what."

In September 2008, Cole decided enough was enough. She packed her bags and moved to Burbank. She now lives just eight miles from work. Her commute, however, is still 25 to 30 minutes. That shouldn't have come as much surprise, since the roads of Los Angeles are the most congested in the country.

The top five congested cites are:

1. L.A.
2. New York
3. Chicago
4. Dallas
5. Washington, D.C.

Resources

• See pictures of America's most congested cities.
• See traffic reports for cities you are considering.
• Most cities have a Transportation Authority that will outline various transportation option. For Central Indiana, see the Central Indiana Regional Transportation Authority.

There are many things to consider as a home buyer. If you are looking for a realtor and hoping to negotiate real estate agent fees, check out DoorFly.com. A rebate realtor will offer you back a portion of their commission in exchange for your business.

As Spring nears, so does planning

I was looking at my calendar this morning, and I realized next weekend will be the start of March!

As Spring nears, I remember when my wife and I bought our first home. If only we could go back and do some things differently!! Like maybe plan a little!

For instance, if we had taken the time to get our finances in order, been pre-approved, found the ideal real estate agent, researched our desired home features, and on and on... things probably would have went a little smoother, cost a little less, and most importantly saved us a lot of time!

This leads me to the question...Are you planning on buying a home or looking to sell your home in the coming months? If so, than it's safe to say you've either started your planning or are thinking about it?

Besides getting the finances in order and being pre-approved, the next most important step is finding the right real estate agent to help guide you through the process. A real estate agents main role is to serve your best interests when buying or selling real estate. To have a qualified professional in your corner can make a huge difference when locating the right home, attracting interested buyers, or going into price negotiations.

This is where DoorFly.com's services best fit in. Buyers and sellers post details on their current or desired home for real estate agents to see. Agents will see your posted details and will compete with other agents to win your business. They do this by showcasing their knowledge and experience with an additional incentive. If you choose them, they will give you a rebate from their commission at closing!

It benefits both you and the agent. You choose the real estate agent that fits your needs and is willing rebate back to you some needed cash. The agent gains a new client!

Start the home planning off right. Find a real estate agent that has your interest first. Learn more.

Cool Websites and Tools - DoorFly: Find the Best Realtor

DoorFly ranked #2 on MakeUseOfIt.com's February 21, 2009 list.

Here is the top five list from today:

(1) BehindTheName - It is a comprehensive resource that lists thousands of names, using this site you will be able to find out things like; name meanings, origin, popularity and more. Read more: BehindtheName - Find Out What Any Name Stands For.

(2) DoorFly - Connects home buyers, sellers and real estate agents, with the main focus on home buyers helping them to find the best realtor. The best part is that the buyer does not actually have to search for anyone, the agents find buyer via his DoorFly listings and even offer rebate from their commission.
Read more: DoorFly - Find The Best Realtor

(3) Fonomo - Dead simple video conferencing app that lets you quickly create virtual room and video chat with others online.
Read more: Fonomo - Easy Online Video Conferencing App.

(4) LovelyCharts - Online diagram editor that allows you to create professional looking diagrams and charts quickly.
Read more: LovelyCharts - Free Online Diagram Editor.

(5) Shutterborg - Online word processor that runs in your web browser and makes life easy by allowing you to edit documents online.
Read more: Shutterborg - Edit Documents Online.

These are just half of the websites that MakeUseOfIt discovered in the last 3-4 days. If you want us to send you daily round-up of all cool websites we come across leave your email here. Or follow us via RSS feed.

About Makeuseofit.com
Makeuseof.com is very different from most of the other tech blogs/websites. It’s unique and original in what it reviews and how it does it. On makeuseof we don’t write about any new web applications that come around but only about ones that are COOL, FREE and USEFUL. Or as it says in our tagline: cool websites, software and Internet tips. It may be a subjective judgment but that’s how it is. We also try to keep it simple and accessible, so that even newbies who never used such sites like Digg and Delicious or ones who think AJAX is famous washing powder brand can easily find their way around.

Read the full submission for DoorFly about how to negotiate real estate agent fees and earn a home buyer rebate. Rebate realtors are available when you are buying real estate and DoorFly helps you find one that is qualified and meets your needs best. Check out DoorFly today.

Most affordable housing market in at least five years!

Crashing home prices have led to the most affordable housing market in at least five years, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index released Thursday.

Indianapolis is at the top of the real estate affordability list!
Topping the list of most affordable U.S. metro areas, which ranks areas with more than 500,000 in population, was Indianapolis. This is the city's 14th consecutive quarter in first place; it boasts a full 93% of all homes sold being affordable to median family households.

Affordability in Indianapolis, the 33rd largest metro area in the United States with 1.7 million people, was buoyed by fairly high median income of $65,100 and rock-bottom home prices. The median price for a home sold during the quarter was just $103,000, according to the National Association of Home Builders report.

Those prices, combined with reasonable mortgage interest rates, make home-buying in the area a snap. A buyer of a median-priced home putting 20% down would pay only about $450 a month in mortgage expenses.

But even though house buying costs are reasonable, the city's weakening economy meant it did not escape the foreclosure plague. More than 20,000 homes, representing nearly 3% of the city, received a foreclosure filing of some kind in 2008, the 26th highest rate in the nation.

Other most affordable home buying towns were: Warren, Mich. (89.6%); Youngstown, Ohio (89.4%); and Detroit (89.3%).

New York is at the bottom of the real estate affordability list. 
The least affordable was the New York City metro area, where only 13.9% of homes sold met the criteria.

In the New York City metro area, home prices took a steep dive during the quarter, to $455,000 from $500,000 three months earlier. But even that was not enough to dislodge the city from its rank as the most unaffordable metro area in the land.

Median income in the area is $63,000 less than in Indianapolis and, with home prices more than four times higher than in the Midwestern metropolis, only 13.9% of the homes sold there were affordable to median income families.

That was still a major improvement from two years ago, when only 5.1% of homes sold during the fourth quarter of 2006 were affordable. And New York households have been barely brushed by foreclosure so far with only 0.71% receiving some kind of foreclosure filing during 2008.

Other least-affordable metro areas included San Francisco at 20.6%, where affordability improved greatly from 5.7% during the second quarter of 2007; suburban Long Island, where 25.5% were affordable; and Los Angeles, where 26.9% were.

Source: Yahoo! Finance

With affordability at a high-point, buying real estate is appealing. DoorFly can also help you find a real estate agent and earn a home buyer rebate. Real estate agents offer you money back from their commission as an incentive for your business. Check out DoorFly.com today.

DoorFly makes finding an agent "Easy"

One of my favorite features of DoorFly is its simple user experience. A home buyer or seller can literally sign up and have agents making bids for their business in a matter of a few minutes.

It's really that easy.

A buyer or seller selects their location, enters a few home details, and then provides their contact information for the winning agent. Review and submit and you're done!

The new auction becomes live for agents to view. Buyer and sellers can then sit back and watch as agent bids come pouring in.

So, if you're in the market to buy or sell your home and are looking for a painless way to find a real estate agent, you will not be disappointed using DoorFly's simple signup process.

Have questions? Learn more on how DoorFly works.

Cool Technology for Real estate agents

Adam and Kimberly Small, owners of Connective Mobile, offer a new communication tool for real estate agents.



What is Connective Mobile?
Connective Mobile uses the latest voice and text technologies to help real estate agents reach potential home buyers.

Their software is an innovative lead generation tool that utilizes both text messaging and hosted toll free numbers to ensure that home information is always available to prospective buyers.

How does it work?
Agents use a web-based interface to create messages that are automatically turned into text messages and voice messages (for the 800 number) when potential home buyers text the advertised number for more information about a home.

Key Features: 

• Immediate response to customer inquiries.
• Online reporting including usage statistics and contact
  information of leads.
• Automated weekly reports delivered by email.
• Easy to use online web portal providing sophisticated mobile marketing account management. 

For example:
A young couple drives around on Sunday morning looking for a new home. They pass many 'for sale' signs and call the agent numbers listed on the sign. When the agent is not available, they leave a message or hang up == A  potentially lost client. When/if the agent calls back, the couple has likely moved on or does not remember exactly which house they called about. If there is a flyer at the home, they jump out of the car and grab it. However, it is a digital world and most young home buyers prefer using the Internet and phone text messaging for communication.

These are not issues with Connective Mobile. The same couple drives by a home advertised with Connective Mobile. They 'text' the number on the sign and all home information is automatically sent to them on their phone. It is like a phone brochure and stored for them to look back later. Also, the real estate agent now has their phone number from their opted in request and can send follow up text messages about the home for sale. If the home buyer prefers to call the 800 number on the sign, a voice message is already set up to describe all details of the home.

Adam Small says their services is "about using the preferred communication method of potential new clients." Kimberly mentions a newly added service for realtors -- virtual tours to accompany the text messages. 

Why should realtors use Connective Mobile?
"39% of home sales are first time home buyers and 65% of first time home buyers are between the ages of 18-35 representing the Gen X and Gen Y groups. These busy professionals are happier with sending one or two lines via text messaging rather than spending several minutes on the phone." According to the National Association of Realtors.

Fun Facts

• In June 2007, 28.8 Billion text messages were sent.
  This is 4 times the amount sent in June 2005.
• One third of all cell phone users send and receive text messages on a regular basis.
• The number of wireless subscribers in the US is now over 255 Million.

More Information:

• Connective Mobile Real Estate Information
• Mobile Plans and Features
• Texting Tips for Realtors

About DoorFly
DoorFly.com is an online service that helps real estate agents find home buyers and home sellers in an easy and automated system. Agents offer home buyer rebates to potential new client in order to win their business.

In turn, DoorFly increases real estate affordability by helping buyers and sellers negotiate real estate agent fees in a non-intimidating setting. Selling real estate can be difficult, especially in today's economy. It is important to find the right real estate agent, and DoorFly makes comparing offers and qualifications easy. Check out DoorFly.com today.