Sitting the fence or MISSING the boat?

"Skip, I know home prices and interest rates are at all-time lows, and we've looked at a lot of homes and this last one was the best one yet!  But I'm thinking we should take a couple of days to think about it before we make an offer. What do you think?"

Ok, I'm with you--don't jump into something to quickly and allow a snap decision to get you into trouble.  Let's take a step back and look at this with the big picture in mind. If you are looking at homes and have taken the time to get a pre-approval lettter from your lender, you've already given a lot of thought to this idea of buying a home, right?  Most likely you have spent nights thinking about this and have decided, "This is it, we are going to do it!"  So tell me what is going to happen if tomorrow morning you lose this home to someone who was ready to make the decision--you know, "pull the trigger"? 

"But Skip, buddy, this home has been on the market for three months and no one has snapped it up yet. I think I have a couple of days, really, what is the rush?"

Well, I realize it has been on the market for a while, but in that time there have been other people looking. If they are like you, they wanted some time to think about it, and they may be ready to put their offer in.  Plus as you stated, you have seen the other homes in the area that compare to this one, and it is the one that is the best value in a grerat location.  If you have come to that conclusion, so have three other couples! 

My best advice? If you have thought this through and you are ready to buy a home, you have done your homework, you know a good deal when you see one. . . go ahead make the offer!

 

Grace & Peace....

Skip Geiser

(850) 221-6442

SkipGeiser@Live.com

www.SkipGeiser.com

The Geiser Team with Main Street Properties

  

"Can you show us houses?"

This is one of the most exciting times of your life,  and one of the most expensive.  The questions are, where do you start, how do you get started,  how fast can you get into your new home, and should you start packing now? At this point, I usually get the call..."Skip can you show us houses this afternoon?"  No question--I can show you houses. The problem is, YOU may not be ready for me to show you houses. "WHAT!  I just told you we are going to buy a house...what else do you need?  Let's go kick some doors down!"

Hold up there, killer, we may need to do one or two things first. As we get started, we need to know what your comfort level is with price. "Man, Skip, I just don't know. I think we would like to be around $100,000. What would the monthly payment be on that?" At this point we need to bring in the expert on mortgages so we can get you pre-approved for a loan.  As we move forward, this pre-approval will be critical in presenting offers to the sellers.  If you want a seller to take you seriously, you must attach the approval letter with your offer. This letter also guarantees we are looking at houses in the right price range.  If you think you about it, starting with a pre-approval keeps you from wasting your time looking at homes that are too high or too low.  Let's just say we started out looking at homes in the $220,000 range and found one you were absolutely in love with--after which you go for the pre-approval only to find you are only approved for $175,000. Ouch!  Take it from me, if you start in the higher price range and find you must come down, it will be difficult to reset your thinking to look at homes in the lower price range.

 Grace and Peace...

Skip Geiser

(850) 221-6442

http://www.skipgeiser.com/

SkipGeiser@live.com

The Geiser Team with Main Street Properties