Are You Ready To Buy A Home?

Are you considering a home purchase?  We at The Puffer Team are ready to help you with all of your real estate needs.  Below are a few things to be mindful of when getting started.

Full article here

• Check Your Credit - know what's hanging out there needing to be resolved to bring your score/affordability up

• Pay Your Bills - stay current, late payments and high debts can affect your overall score and also your ability to qualify for a certain amount

• Save Your Money - you can ask a seller to help you with some closing costs but your lender will want to see reserves in your account to ensure you can afford to make payments on your new home after the closing.

• Arrange Your Financing - we have a great network of lenders we'll be happy to refer you to when the time is right to start discussing your options; having a pre-approval in place is highly recommended prior to beginning your home search.

• Make up Your Mind - decide what it is you want in a home

• Hire a Real Estate Agent - you will want to have a professional by your side to help you navigate the process, we have a team of Buyer Specialists ready to assist you.

   

Are you ready to get the process started?  Call The Puffer Team today, 828-771-2300, or visit our website and meet our team, www.homefinderasheville.com.

Renting Vs Buying, The Pros & Cons

Buying vs. Renting Your Home

Is now the right time for you to buy a home? You have many options to consider and choices to make. Buying a home is a big responsibility, financially and emotionally, but, most people want to own a home. Homeownership often is referred to as "the American dream." Why is it so special? Among the reasons: Real estate often is an excellent investment, perhaps the number one source of wealth-building for families.

Owning a home has many benefits. When you make a mortgage payment, you are building equity - and that's an investment. Owning a home also qualifies you for tax benefits that may assist you in dealing with your new financial responsibilities - such as homeowners' insurance, real estate taxes, and upkeep - which can be substantial. But given the freedom, stability, and security of owning your own home, they are definitely worth it! Owning your own home also can be a great source of pride and stability.

But homeownership may not be for everyone. It's a big financial commitment - starting with the initial shock of your purchase (including a "down payment" and fees paid to a real estate agent, the lender and others) followed by years of monthly mortgage payments, real estate taxes, property insurance and maintenance costs. When you decide to purchase a home, you accept responsibility for paying for these expenses. They are additional costs to your monthly mortgage payment and should be included in your budget estimates: Property Taxes and Special Assessments, Home/Hazard Insurance, Utilities, Maintenance, Home Owner Association (HOA) Fee if applicable.

One of the advantages of renting is being generally free of most maintenance responsibilities and the flexibility of moving almost as soon as you decide. But by renting, you lose the chance to build equity, take advantage of tax benefits, and protect yourself against rent increases. Also, you may not be free to decorate without permission and may be at the mercy of the landlord for your housing needs. There are many considerations in choosing between renting and buying:

• Do you want to spend several years in a house and in a neighborhood?
• Do you enjoy lawn and garden work?
• Might you need to move suddenly to care for family?
• Do you want to keep your assets accessible in the bank, or do you want to invest long-term in a home?

There are tax advantages to homeownership in both the short and long terms. The mortgage interest and real estate taxes are tax deductible, which allows you to subtract part of your housing-related expenses from your taxable income, which could reduce your tax bill. In many cases, the amount of money a renter spends on rent can be about the same as or less than the amount a homeowner spends on a mortgage. With the tax benefit for homeowners, the savings can be significant.

Buy vs. Rent: Pros and Cons . Advantages Considerations Buy Property builds equity Responsible for maintenance Sense of community, stability, and security Responsible for property taxes Free to change decor and landscaping Possibility of foreclosure and loss of equity Not dependent on landlord to maintain property Less mobility then renting Rent Little or no responsibility for maintenance No tax benefits Easier to move No equity is built up . No control over rent increases . Possibility of eviction

Buy vs. Rent: Cost Comparison The chart below shows a cost comparison for a renter and a homeowner over a seven year period. The renter starts out paying $800 per month with annual increases of 5%. The homeowner purchases a home for $110,000 and pays a monthly mortgage of $1,000. After 6 years, the homeowner's payment is lower than the renter's monthly payment. With the tax savings of homeownership, the homeowner's payment is less than the rental payment after 3 years. Yrs Rent Mortgage Payment Monthly Diff. After Tax Savings Yearly Diff. After Tax Savings 1 800 1000 -200 -50 -2400 -600 2 840 1000 -160 -10 -1920 -120 3 882 1000 -118 +32 -1416 +384 4 926 1000 -74 +76 -888 +912 5 972 1000 -28 +122 -336 +1464 6 1021 1000 +21 +171 +252 +2052 7 1072 1000 +72 +222 +864 +2664 8-30 . . Savings increase every year

   
There has never been a better time to buy than now with rates as low as they are, however, inventory is shrinking, so the best homes are going fast.  If you need a professional to help you start the process we're happy to help.  Give The Puffer Team a call today, 828-771-2300, or visit our website, www.homefinderasheville.com.

Multiple Offers? 5 Ways To Beat Out The Competition

via Zillow

As the real estate continues to pick up in many parts of the country, real estate agents from small towns to the big cities are blogging, tweeting, ranting and raving about multiple-offer situations.

A seller’s asking price is just that: an asking price. The seller may choose to price their home above, at or well below what the actual market will bear. Then, with luck, come the offers from buyers. Sometimes, there are multiple offers all under the asking price. Other times, all offers come in right around the asking price.
But in some situations, there are more than six offers coming in over asking price. Depending on where you live, you, as a potential buyer, may be forced to compete with other buyers in a bidding war. Here are five steps you can take to beat the competition in a multiple-offer situation.

Hire a good local agent

 

In most communities, 80 percent of the business is done by 20 percent of the agents. These agents are experienced in the local market and have relationships with other agents as well as inspectors, contractors, mortgage brokers and appraisers. More than anything, these 20 percent of agents “get” it.

A seller is looking for a sure thing and a smooth, clean escrow. With stakes high, who wouldn’t want a sure thing? In fact, the last thing the seller (or their agent) wants is to enter into escrow with an inexperienced or out-of-the-area agent.

That’s why, when faced with multiple offers, a seller, guided by their agent, may choose to work with a lower-priced offer because that buyer has a good agent. Many times, a lower priced offer will be countered up to match the price of a buyer with an unknown agent.

 

Get your financial ducks in a row before making an offer

 

Before you can make a strong and winning offer, you need to have your finances in order. This means being pre-approved for a loan and staying in regular contact with your lender or mortgage broker. Have an auto email alert set up from your real estate agent’s MLS. Know the new listings as they hit the market and be prepared to visit them right away. Be ready to make a move when the right house comes along.

An informed buyer has been in the market for some time. They’ve seen multiple properties, either at open houses or private appointments. They come to the multiple-offer situation fully prepared, knowledgeable of the market and ready to present themselves as a strong, motivated buyer. The seller and their agent will appreciate that.

 

Don’t wait

 

Many times, a new listing is sold before the first open house. If a desirable property hits the MLS on a Tuesday, you need to see it Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. As agents tell sellers all the time, your first buyer is likely your best buyer. The buyers who don’t rest on their laurels get the home. They show that they are on it, they’re motivated and they really want the property. This often translates into a successful deal or smooth escrow for the seller and the listing agent.

If you’re serious about buying and have your financial ducks in a row, don’t wait for the open house. As soon as you see the listing, let your agent know you’re interested or have them start doing the research.

 

Make a ‘clean’ offer

 

There’s an assumption that the successful bidder simply pays the most money. But this isn’t usually the case. While price is a huge factor, the terms and conditions are as important, if not more so.  To make your bid the most compelling, be as flexible as possible to the seller’s needs. If you know the seller needs a quick escrow because they just bought a place, give it to them. If they just had a baby and need some extra time, go with a longer close or offer to close quickly but give them a “rent-back.” If you’re going to have inspections, check with the inspector and see if you can get an appointment soon after getting your offer accepted. That way you can remove your inspection contingency quicker.

The same holds true with an appraisal. If your lender is able to pre-schedule an appraisal or at least check their schedule, it can only help. The last thing a seller wants is to accept an offer, only to wait 14 or 21 days to discover the buyer can’t get a loan or the leaky roof scared them away. Make your offer clean with swift timeframes for contingencies. There have been times when a seller leaves 2 to 3 percent on the table; just to be sure the deal will close “cleanly.”

Present yourself in the best possible light

 

Presentation can’t be emphasized enough. Make sure your agent presents your offer to the seller in a professional way. The offer should, when possible, be presented in person. A contract should be typed, not handwritten. Without a doubt, a pre-approval letter from your bank or broker should be attached to the offer. A cover letter from you or your agent presenting you, as buyers, to the sellers should always accompany your offer. If there are disclosures presented to you prior to your making an offer, sign off on them. Make it clear to the seller that you’re serious, motivated and ready to move ahead should they choose to work with you.

Strong and clean is the way to go

It’s the common sense stuff that will help differentiate you from the pack. Be up front, show that you’re motivated and look at the big picture of your offer — not just the dollar amount.

Of course, many times the highest bidder wins. But every day, there are dozens of buyers who kick themselves because they would have paid the price that it took to win the bidding war. Presenting yourself and your offer in the strongest and most clean way will go a long way to assuring you come out on top.

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Are you ready to begin the home buying process?  Give The Puffer Team a call, 828-771-2300.  Feel free to also visit our website, www.homefinderasheville.com.

Sit Back & Enjoy The Mountain Views

There are many reasons people choose to buy in Asheville, NC...arts, food, scenery, etc.  The mountains seem to be one of the main features that attract buyers to our area. Our team recently listed some great homes with awesome mountain views, take a look and see if we have something you may have been looking for.

165 Pinkerton Corner, Fairview, NC  28730

39 Galax Lane; Black Mountain, NC  28711

 

192 Echo Mountain View Road; Fairview, NC  28730

298 Patton Hill Road; Swannanoa, NC  28778

If you have any questions about any of these homes or would like to see what else may be available, call The Puffer Team today, 828-771-2300, or visit our website, www.homefinderasheville.com.

See also:

Homes For Sale in Black Mountain

Homes For Sale In Fairview

10 Worst Things to Forget Before a Major Move

So you're moving out of your current home, now what?  Here are 10 things to be mindful of when packing up and moving out.

By Jason Notte of TheStreet (soucrce)


1. Your local government
If you don't have a driveway for a moving truck to pull into or a storage container to be dropped in, chances are you need to put it on the street. If that's the case, in some places you're going to need a permit. To get that permit, you're going to need some sort of proof that the company you're working with is insured or bonded with the local government. That's the case in Massachusetts, Florida and elsewhere. It can really put a crimp in your moving plans if you don't check first and your belongings end up in the impound lot.

2. Your hidden belongings
It seems pretty obvious, but taking another few sweeps around the house can help you avoid leaving grandma's china to the new tenants or going without holiday decorations for a season or so. AMSA spokesman John Bisey says the easiest items to forget are those tucked away in crawl spaces, attics and built-in cabinets. If there's a spot in your house or apartment that's out of sight, chances are that's where your last box full of stuff is coming from.

© Chronoscope/The Image Bank/Getty Images

3. Your items on loan
Wondering where your reciprocating saw or popcorn maker got off to? Check in with the neighbors. The AMSA says items lent to neighbors, family or friends tend to cause customers the greatest headaches once they realize they're gone. Take a quick inventory and make some rounds at the going-away party.


4. Your sleeping arrangements
So you've packed up the truck or container and are ready to take off in the morning. That's great, but where are you going to sleep tonight? The first night at the new destination isn't that big of a problem, as you'll get to your bed eventually, but the last night after the big load-up can be tough if you don't pack the bed last or plan to stay with someone else.

5. Your records
It's a lot easier to do things electronically these days, but that's not always the case with medical, dental or school records. Sometimes it's just easier to keep these things on hand, so try to get copies from everyone as soon as you're ready to pack them up. Once you have them, keep them all in the same place so they're easy to refer to once you're setting up your new home.

6. Your heat and lights
If you don't turn the electricity, gas or oil heat on, nobody's going to do it for you. The AMSA advises turning off all utilities two to three days after you load out and turning them on at the new place two to three days before you move in. It's not great to get a bill for lights that someone else is using forwarded to the address you're already being charged for. Speaking of forwarding ...

7. Your mail
Oh yeah, you're going to want to check in with the Postal Service and make sure it knows you're leaving. It will forward mail to your new address only if you check with it in advance, and even then it's not permanent. Forwarding basically gives you a couple of months to change your mailing address with various institutions. At some point, that yellow forwarding label will stop appearing.

8. Your insurance
"Be careful when referring to 'insurance,'" Bisey says. "Very few movers offer true insurance, which is regulated by the states and is offered by an insurance agent."

The best you can get from the movers themselves is valuation protection, which covers only a percentage of what your goods are worth. In May, a federal regulation took effect requiring interstate movers to include the cost of full-value protection in their initial written estimate. This should give consumers some second thoughts about choosing the minimal valuation option, which is only 60 cents per pound.

9. Your paid labor
If you tip someone for carrying a tray of food to you, you may want to consider tipping the people who just lugged a dresser to your fourth-floor walk-up. There's no hard-and-fast rule about this, but if you're not at least offering some water afterward, you have no sense of empathy whatsoever.

"Not sure if people forget to tip or if they just don't think they should," Bisey says. "It's certainly not a requirement or even expected by most movers, but it is appreciated."

10. Your mess
Whether there are a few nail holes left in the walls where your family photos once hung or a huge paint spot in the closet from when you knocked over a gallon of Periwinkle Blue, it's usually in your best interest to take care of it immediately. Your security deposit or even a sale could hang in the balance.

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Hope that was helpful, we thought it might be.  If you aren't in the process of moving just yet but are beginning either the home buying/selling process in the Asheville area, give The Puffer Team at Keller Williams Professionals a call, 828-771-2300, www.homefinderasheville.com.  We're happy to help with all of your real estate needs!

8 Steps To Buying An Asheville Area Home. . . Are You Ready?

A couple of weeks ago we talked about the home buying process and the steps a buyer will need to take from beginning to end, we wanted to elaborate on that just a little bit more:

(the following provided courtesy of www.kw.com)

 

Step 1: Decide to Buy

The decision to purchase your first home is one of the biggest and best decisions you could ever make. After all, a home is the largest (and most emotional) investment most people will ever make. So, how do you know if it's the right time for you to buy your first home?

• There is never a wrong time to buy the right home. The key is finding a good buy and taking the time to carefully evaluate your finances.
• A home purchase is an important step in the path to long-term wealth. Purchasing your own home is a great investment that provides specific financial advantages, including equity buildup, value appreciation potential and tax benefits. It's also an automatic savings plan that you cannot get from renting!
• Here's the most important rule for keeping your stress to a minimum: you don't have to know everything. At The Puffer Team we are ready to help you through every step of the process.

Step 2: Hire Your Agent

When you're looking for a real estate professional to help you, know that above all else, good agents put their clients first. This is your dream, and your agent is your advocate to help you make your dream come true.

A great real estate agent will:

1. Educate you about the current conditions of the market.
2. Analyze what you want and what you need in your next home.
3. Guide you to homes that fit your criteria.
4. Coordinate the work of other needed professionals throughout the process.
5. Negotiate with the seller on your behalf.
6. Check and double-check paperwork and deadlines.
7. Solve any problems that may arise.

Step 3: Secure Financing

Ultimately, your lender will pre-approve you for a certain amount, but YOU will decide what you're comfortable paying every month. Remember, your lender only sees your finances on paper. It's up to you to decide how much you're willing to stretch your budget in order to get into your dream home.

Be sure to follow these six steps to financing your home:

1. Choose a loan officer.
2. Make a loan application and get preapproved.
3. Determine what you want to pay and select a loan option.
4. Submit to the lender an accepted purchase offer contract.
5. Get an appraisal and title commitment.
6. Obtain funding at closing  

Step 4: Find Your Home

So you are preapproved and ready to begin your search. But how or where do you begin? There are a lot of homes out there and diving in without a guide can become overwhelming and confusing. A great agent will help you more accurately pinpoint homes that fit your criteria. The right home will meet all your important needs, and as many of your additional wants as possible. Some questions you might ask yourself include:

• What do I want my home to be close to?
• How much space do I need and why?
• Which is more critical: location or size?
• Would I be interested in a fixer-upper?
• How important is home value appreciation?
• Is neighborhood stability a priority?
• Would I be interested in a condo?
• What features and amenities do I want? Which do I really need?

You'll learn as you look at homes, your priorities will probably adjust along the way.

 

Step 5: Make an Offer

Once you've found a home you love, the next step is making a compelling offer. While emotions are probably in high gear once you've found a home you love, it's important to remember that a home is an investment. Your agent will research similar properties in the neighborhood to help you determine the market value, and fair price, for your home. Look to your agent to explain and guide you through the offer process.

• The three basic components of your purchase offer are price, terms and contingencies.
• Price is the dollar amount you are approved for, willing and able to pay.
• Terms cover the other financial and timing factors that will be included in the offer.
• Contingencies are clauses that let you out of the deal if the house has a problem that didn't exist or which you weren't aware of when you went under contract. They specify any event that will need to take place in order for you to fulfill the contract. 

Step 6: Perform Due Diligence

Just because you love a particular property doesn't mean that it's perfect. In fact, this is where reason has to trump emotion. You'll need to have a property inspection (which we highly recommend you attend) that will expose hidden issues. This way you'll know what you are getting into before you sign closing papers.

• Your main concern is the possibility of structural damage. This can come from water damage, shifting ground, or poor construction when the house was built.
• Don't sweat the small stuff. It's the inspector's job to mark everything discovered no matter how large or small. The inspectors report may be long, but, things that are easily fixed can be overlooked for the time being.
• If you have a big problem show up in your inspection report, you should bring in a specialist and if the worst-case scenario turns out to be true, you might want to walk away from the purchase.
• Even if your home passes inspection, you'll still need to buy a home owner's insurance policy that protects you against loss or damage to the property itself and against liability in case someone sustains an injury while on your property.

Step 7: Close

Once you've made your offer and have completed the inspection process, you're in the "home" stretch! But, in order to ensure that you don't put your closing date, or your mortgage at risk, you have a few pre-closing responsibilities that you'll need to be mindful of. These include:

• Staying in control of your credit and finances. If you are tempted to make any large purchases during this time, it's best to talk to your lender first.
• Keeping in touch with your agent and lender, returning all phone calls and completing paperwork promptly.
• Communicating with your agent at least once or twice a week, and verifying with your lender that all mortgage funding steps are completed.
• Conducting a final walk-through of the home with your agent.
• Confirming with your agent, home insurance professional, and lender that you have the settlement statement, certified funds, and evidence of insurance lined up prior to closing.

Step 8: Protect Your Investment

Congratulations, and welcome home! The home-buying process is complete, but just like any big process, there's a maintenance plan! It's now your responsibility, and in your best financial interest, to protect your investment for years to come. Performing routine maintenance on your home's systems is always more affordable than having to fix big problems later. Be sure to watch for signs of leaks, damage, and wear.

And remember, just because the sale is complete, your relationship with your agent doesn't need to end! After closing, your agent can still help you - providing information for your tax returns, finding contractors and repair services, and even tracking your home's current market value.

Ready to get started?  Call The Puffer Team at 828-771-2300, and feel free to visit our website: www.homefinderasheville.com.

Buying A Home? Why You Need A Home Inspection

Before signing on the dotted line and getting the keys to your new home, there are many hoops you will have to jump through, one of the major ones is getting a home inspection.  Below is a great article on common red flags to look for.

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12 Red Flags That Should Raise Concern

By Michele Dawson

Indeed, more than 40 percent of the previously owned homes on the market have at least one serious defect, according to HouseMaster, a major home inspection company with offices in more than 390 cities in the United States and Canada.

"Virtually every 'used' home needs some repair or improvement," said Kathleen Kuhn, CEO and president of HouseMaster. "That's to be expected. But with today's high prices, you want to make sure that you are aware of any major problems in a house you are considering purchasing, and what it will take to remedy the situation."

Drawing from their own findings from more than one million home inspections, HouseMaster says the most serious home defects to be on the lookout for are:

1. Cracked heater exchange
2. Failing air-conditioning compressor
3. Environmental hazards including radon, water contamination, asbestos, lead paint, and underground storage tanks
4. Moisture in the basement
5. Defective roofing and/or flashings
6. Insect infestation -- termites or carpenter ants
7. Mixed plumbing
8. Aluminum wiring
9. Horizontal foundation cracks
10. Major house settlement
11. Undersized electrical system
12. Chimney settling or separation

Kuhn says most of these problems can be repaired. However, depending on the specific problem, the cost can be substantial, particularly if the defect involves one of the major systems. The cost could become a factor in whether you ultimately buy the house.

For example, a new air conditioning compressor could cost you up to $1,200. A new roof or repairs can cost at least several thousand dollars. A wet basement could cost up to $5,000 to remedy.

If you enter negotiations to buy a particular house, your agent should advise you to provide a provision for renegotiating or backing out of the contract if a home inspector finds major problems.

"If the property inspectors find that little or no corrective work is required, you have little or nothing to negotiate," say Eric Tyson and Ray Brown in their book, Homebuying for Dummies. "Suppose, however, that your inspectors discover the $200,000 house you want to buy needs $20,000 of corrective work for termite and dry-rot damage, foundation repairs, and a new roof. Big corrective work bills can be deal killers."

If repairs are needed, there are several ways to proceed if you still want to buy the house, the Dummies book advises.

• The sellers can leave enough money in escrow to cover the cost of repairs, with instructions for the escrow officer to pay the contractors as the work is completed.

• The lender can withhold part of the full loan amount in a passbook savings account until the work has been done.

• The sellers may give a credit for the work. Lenders may disapprove of this last alternative because there aren't assurances that the repairs will be made.

A home inspection usually costs between $250 and $400. Hire a qualified inspector. Try to get referrals from friends or anyone you know who has had a satisfactory experience with a home inspector. Also, look for affiliations with organizations like the American Society of Home Inspectors or the American Association of Home Inspectors. Both groups require its members to be certified, meet professional qualifications, and adhere to specific business ethics.

Once you make an appointment with a home inspector, it's important to be there.

Your investment of spending these few hours with the inspector could prevent headaches and save time in the future. As the home inspector examines the various systems and components of your home, ask him or her to explain what problems may be encountered down the road, what signs to look for, and how to prevent them. Try to learn how things work and how to maintain them. The inspector may also point out little flaws or oddities that don't measure up to being mentioned in the report, but may warrant keeping an eye on.

Says Kuhn of HouseMasters, "A pre-purchase inspection is your best protection against buying a home based more on emotions, rather than as a sound investment."

Copyright © by Realty Times

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Are you ready to begin the home buying process?  We have a great team of Buyer Specialists ready to walk you through every step of the process and point you in the direction of great vendors to help make it a seamless process.  Call The Puffer Team today, 828-771-2300, www.homefinderasheville.com 

Buying the Land for Your Future Dream Home

Are you looking to build a custom home but still need to find a piece of land to put it on?  Below is a re-post of a great article courtesy of Home Gain laying out all the steps you will need to take to procure your perfect piece of property.  (source)

With the real estate market at or near the bottom, now may be the perfect time to buy the land for your future dream home. It’s important to do your due diligence before making an offer on any piece of land. You don’t want to end up with an asset that is a hassle, doesn’t meet your building requirements or that causes you unforeseen expenses. As a home builder, I have a checklist that I go through prior to purchasing any piece of land. Let’s go through some of these as they can save you a bundle of money and help keep you out of trouble.

Check Zoning: The zoning basically tells you what can be built on the property and what can be built around it. Obviously you want to make sure you can build a house on your property so it should be zoned residential. You will also want to check what the zoning is for neighboring properties as you don’t want a big industrial building being built next to your home. Your real estate broker can typically give you this information. If not, it is readily available at the local zoning or building department. The zoning will also tell you the distance required between your future home and the lot lines (called setback requirements) and any height restrictions for the home.  Once you have the zoning setback requirements, you can start to get an idea of what size home you can build.

Review HOA (homeowner’s association) Requirements: You will also want to check with the homeowner’s association (if there is one) to find out if there are any restrictions on the height of homes or if they limit the distance to the body of water. Some municipalities have instituted setback requirements from the ocean or lake to preserve the natural beauty. The homeowner’s association will also be able to give you any architectural restrictions including maximum and minimum size of home, material requirements (siding, roof,…etc.), and architectural style requirements.

If you decide not to buy the lot directly on the water, you will want to consider the height requirements (if any) of the properties in front of you. It would be very disappointing to have your view taken away in the future by your neighbor’s new third floor addition! Also ask your real estate broker if there are any easements on the property. Easements give the right to enter the property for a given reason…maybe to run utilities or repair utilities in the future or maybe to provide access for the neighboring property. You won’t be able to build in these areas so it’s good to know where they are located.

Review Utilities: You will also want to know what utilities are run to the site. This includes electric, phone, cable, gas, sewer and water. If some of these are not available, you will most likely have additional building costs. Sometimes the utility companies will bring service to your site in order to get your business but it really depends on how much effort/expense is involved. If you don’t have city sewer or water available, you will need a septic system and well. Check with the current owner to see if a perk test has been done. This test determines the capacity of the soil for the septic system and will give you an idea of the type of system required.

Determine Fees to Build: Before purchasing your dream lot, you will want to make a trip down to the local building and public works department to get a list of fees for building your new home. Be sure to ask if they know of any other fees from their municipality. These would include permit fees, driveway connection fees, impact fees, tree clearing fees, and water and sewer connection fees (if available). Some community impact fees run into the tens of thousands of dollars and can impact your budget in a big way so be sure to check on them.

Tally Holding Costs: If you don’t plan on building your dream home right away, you may want to check out what I call “holding costs”. These are the costs associated with owning the lot before you actually build. These include real estate taxes, insurance, sewer and water availability fees, homeowner’s association (HOA) fees, maintenance requirements, club dues…etc. As far as maintenance goes, you may need to have the property mowed periodically…see if this is required by the HOA and if so, does the fee cover it? Sometimes a community is part of a resort that may require monthly club dues for use of the facilities including golf, pool,…etc. These can be quite expensive so be sure to ask about them. From an insurance standpoint, you may want coverage for liability and if you have trees, you may want coverage in case one decides to fall on the neighbors house!

Contract Review: As with any real estate transaction, you will want your attorney to review the contract. She will most likely recommend you have a title search done (if you are paying in cash…if you are getting a loan the bank will require it) to make sure there are no liens or encumbrances on the property. In today’s world of real estate this is a must. You may also want to have a clause added to the contract to protect you from any abnormal subsurface items. Since you cannot see under the ground, you may want to protect yourself in case the soil is unsuitable to support the home or an environmental hazard is found (for example, an old underground fuel tank must be disposed of).

Visit Property at Different Times: One last item to think about when evaluating potential properties…visit them at different times of day and different days of the week. You will want to look for any nuisances or annoyances that may not be there all the time. For example, airport traffic patterns change with wind conditions. The first time you visit, they may be using a runway that puts your lot out of the flight path. Or, maybe the train rolls through only at night.

Building your own home is a great way to get exactly what you want and save money. And with the current slump in real estate, you can also save big time on the home site. If you consider these tips before buying the land for your future dream home, you will avoid being surprised by extra expenses and hassles.

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We have a great team of Buyer Specialists ready to get to work for you in your land search and put you in touch with local builders, feel free to give us a call to get your search started, 828-771-2300.  Be sure to also check out land listings available in the Asheville area at www.homefinderasheville.com.

5 Ways to Course-Correct When Your House Hunt Takes Too Long

Buying a home is one of the biggest purchases a person makes in their lifetime.  The process can have it's ups and downs and can take some time.  Here's a great article from Trulia on how to be sure the buying process goes smoothly and with the least amount of stress possible.

(source)

Some people have home-finding stories that are the real estate equivalent of the sky written marriage proposal tales. They drove by their dream home, knocked on the front door and the elderly owner offered it to them for a song. However, most recent home buyers have tales on the other end of the charming-and-easy spectrum; tales of year-long house hunts and fruitless offer after fruitless offer, followed by a nerve-wracking, hair-pulling, interminable negotiation with the bank are much more typical. 

If you've been in the market for a home for what seems like a very long time to no avail, here are five strategies for getting things back on track.

1.  Know how long is (truly) too long. If you've been saving up, primping your credit and fantasizing about your dream home for 5 years, then waiting for exact right moment in your life and the market to pull the trigger for 4, viewing 15 houses over 3 weeks might seem like an interminable amount of time.

And if you make an offer that is rejected? The agony of that defeat is outweighed only by the pain of your dream (home) being deferred. 

Be aware that today's market is a very slow-moving one. It's completely normal in some areas for buyers to view dozens of homes over as many months, and have several offers rejected before getting into contract. Talk with your agent about how long local buyers normally have to prowl today's market before getting some home buying satisfaction.

2.  Identify where your process is breaking down. In order to course-correct your wayward house hunt, you first have to figure out what the problem actually is. If you're looking at lots of homes, but not finding anything that suits you, you might have an expectation issue. These range from having champagne tastes on a beer budget to being part of a pair of buyers with conflicting expectations that no home will ever be able to satisfy (e.g., husband wants a fixer, wife wants move-in ready). 

If you're finding places you like, but your offers are consistently being shot down, you might need to work on bringing your home picks into alignment with your budget by increasing your price range, decreasing your wish list, or looking at a lower price range and making higher, more competitive offers.

Fact: an experienced buyer's agent is an expert diagnostician of house hunt ailments. If your agent told you 7 months, 43 prospective homes and 9 offers ago that your expectations are out of whack or that you need to consider some compromises, you might circle back to that advice - and consider taking it.

3.  Remember how many houses are in the world, but don't try to see them all. It's easy - but unproductive - to get upset about "the one that got away;" counter that frustration by reminding yourself that you are house hunting in a market relatively flooded with housing inventory.  On the other end of the getting-out-of-your-own-way spectrum, if you do find a home that really works for you in your price range, get over the idea that you have to see everything in town before you make an offer.

One more mindset reset along these lines: understand that the *perfect* house does not exist - at any price range. Petra Ecclestone just dropped $80 million in cash to buy Candy Spelling's Hollywood home and reportedly had the whole place gutted because the decor was not to her taste. In the same way people with curly hair wish they had straight and vice versa, people who have hilltop vistas wish they lived nearer to the grocery store and people who can walk to the store wish they had better views. No single home will ever satisfy every single one of your preferences, so don't hold out waiting for one that will.

4.  Rethink your deal-breakers. The greater the number of absolute deal-breakers you've communicated to your agent, the fewer prospective homes you'll see. And the more flexible you can be about which listings you'll look at, the higher the chances you'll find something you like.  I recently read an article in an architectural magazine about a woman who house hunted ad nauseum in a very small neighborhood she needed to be in, only finding success when her agent showed her a fourplex she could convert into the single family home she was looking for.

If you think your agent simply doesn't understand what you want, ask them to remove all pricing filters and send you homes that reflect what they think your dream house really is.  Alternatively, drive around and find homes for sale or visit Open Houses that you think are closer to what you want - then investigate their list prices, or send the addresses of "suitable" homes that aren't for sale to your agent to find out what that house would go for today. 

These exercises will get you and your agent communicating on the same page; will help you understand tradeoffs, wants and needs more concretely; and will very likely flick some of your mental switches around what you can expect from a property at various price ranges.  This strategy is especially useful for reality-checking the expectation of home buyers relocating to a town with a higher cost of living than their current hometown.

5.  Ignore the peanut gallery. People who have not bought a home in your town, your desired neighborhood and your price range at the same moment in time you find yourself house hunting are not authorities on any of the following:
     (a) how dirt cheap 'those foreclosures' are,
     (b) how much of a discount you should be able to negotiate,
     (c) how much is too much for you to pay, or
     (d) how desperate the banks or sellers are to sell.

That lack of authority, though, will not stop your family members, friends and neighbors from chiming in and offering their own critiques, exasperation, suggestions, or "what I would do if I were you is. . ."-style analyses of your own home buying strategies. Many a would-be homeowner has remained just that - a would-be homeowner - by following the advice or suggestions of someone who read a headline but has no idea of the real market dynamics you face.

Depending on where you're buying, those dynamics might include:

• banks that refuse to do repairs and may take 6 months to green-light a short sale,
• sellers who are so upside down they can barely afford to sell for the list price -- and certainly can't afford to sell for less, and
• areas in which the norm is for foreclosed homes to sell above asking after receiving multiple offers.

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Are you ready to begin the home buying process with a real estate Professional?  Call The Puffer Team today, 828-771-2300, www.homefinderasheville.com.

6 Unexpected Advantages of Having the Right Agent

Another GREAT article from Trulia, this one is on reason on why it's so important to find the right agent to assist you with your home search.  We at The Puffer Team pride ourselves on providing the BEST in customer service; that's why our motto is "Committed to Excellence....Producing Results".

(source)

I once worked with a buyer who had to fly to the other end of the world within a couple of days after we placed her offer. Needless to say, she was agitated and anxious about the prospect of being so far away during inspections and contingency removals, especially since I’d earlier stressed how important it was for her to be present.

Rolling with the punches and poor timing, we sat down just before she left and talked through the timeline, including which events would take place on every day of her absence - including some harmless glitches that commonly arise along the way.

I never will forget her laughter when the occasional glitch of this sort did, in fact, come up. She would say: “I would have been stressed out by that. But since I knew to expect it, I’m not!”

The list of pleasant surprises in real estate matters is really, really short. Normally, we all want things to tick along precisely according to plan, and almost anything unexpected causes us inconvenience or plain old stress. But there is one relatively common set of real estate surprises that is actually quite delightful: the unexpected perks of working with the right real estate pro.

Most sellers come to their real estate agent relationships expecting help selling their home on a particular time frame, and marketing the place to make that happen.  Buyers are most often seeking an agent’s help finding the right home and negotiating to buy it.

But both buyers and sellers are often pleasantly surprised at the other resources, strategic counsel and expertise their agents ultimately provide.Here are some of the biggest benefits that catch them off-guard:

1.  Insider knowledge.  In a recent survey, home buyers said one of the biggest benefits they got from their agent was an understanding of how the buying process would unfold. When it comes to something as infrequent, complex and high stakes as buying or selling a home, having an insider advisor who is dedicated to your success can alleviate your anxieties and otherwise put you in a power position, when it comes to making smart decisions and moves.

2.  Lifestyle design advice.  I recently spoke with Tim Ferriss, author of The Four Hour Workweek, The Four Hour Body and his brand-new book, The Four Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything and Living the Good Life. I asked Tim flat out what would be in his dream kitchen, if he were in the market for a home and he answered without hesitation: a six-burner Viking range.

And that was it. No Carrera marble. No European soft-close drawers. To a world class cook, what really matters is the stove. In fact, he explained, he was briefed on the importance of the range, and only the range, to a great chef’s kitchen by chef extraordinaire Alice Waters.

The right agent can and often does precisely what Alice Waters did for Tim Ferriss: they can course correct you around what home features, transaction terms and even timing nuances will help further the lifestyle you are trying to create - and which won’t - based on their past experiences working with buyers and sellers in similar situations.

You might think that you are desperate to live in a particular neighborhood, but your agent can help you understand the realities of the commute in a way you didn’t before. You might want to wait to list your home until the summertime, but your agent can point out the wisdom of getting started prepping the place during your holiday vacation time so that you’ll be poised to take advantage of pent-up cold weather demand at the first thaw. Of course, for your agent to be able to do this, you have to give them as much information as possible about the lifestyle you aim to create.

3.  Save you from yourself.  As we discussed last week, there are many instances in which even the smartest buyers and sellers are their own worst enemies, committing unintentional acts of self-sabotage like overpricing, lowballing, overspending and the like.  If you equip your agent with a deep understanding of the overall life picture, financial picture and then home picture you’re trying to create with your buy or sale (or both), they can help point out when you’re about to take an action that will be inconsistent with or counterproductive to what you say is important to you.

Ultimately, it’ll be your decision whether to take a given red flag-waving step or not, but your agent can be a very valuable coach to gently point out when you might be getting in your own way.

4.  Stop you from buying the wrong house.  A surprisingly high number of home buyers report that their agent actually talked them out of buying the wrong house for them. Whether because the inspection results come back and are deeply worrisome, the sellers simply want more money than you can healthily afford or experience has taught them that a buyer with your priorities will not be happy with a house like that, the majority of agents would rather sell you the *right* home for your family next month than sell you the wrong one right now.

5.  Devise an pre-buying or -selling action plan. What a tangled web we weave, when first we fail to properly plan and prep to buy or sell our home. Okay, so it doesn’t have quite the ring as the original saying, but you get the gist nonetheless. Agents love nothing more than to get a call way in advance of when you think you’ll be ready to make your move. Calling them in advance allows them to sit down with you in an unhurried, unpressured environment to map out an action plan that sets you (and them) up for successfully achieving whatever your real estate goal is.

And that, in turn, can help you prevent the overwhelm, procrastination and eventual last minute scrambling and freak-outs that arise when your ducks are not all in a row.

Things an agent can help you plan out, significantly in advance of your target move-in or move-out date, include, among many others:

• Referrals to mortgage brokers, financial planners, contractors, stagers and relationship counselors (just kidding on that last one!).
• Setting up action steps you need to take and helping you understand when you need to take them to meet your target time frames.
• Getting clear on the relative costs (and financial prep it will take) to buy in any of several neighborhoods, cities and even property types that you are considering.

6.  Illuminate options you weren’t aware were even possible. There’s no shame in not knowing everything there is to know about real estate - even very active real estate consumers will only buy or sell 5, maybe 10 homes in a lifetime. But your agent does this all day, every day, for their entire career. So off the top of their head, they might be able surface options in terms of

• properties
• neighborhoods
• pricing plans
• contract terms
• marketing tools
• negotiation strategies
• and even post-closing protections and service providers

that you would never have known existed, if not for them.

The theme here is this: don’t limit your agent and the help they can provide you by what you *think* their job is, or what you think they do or don’t know.  Make sure that when you’re getting referrals or meeting agents online and in person early on in your agent selection process, you pay attention to their references and marketing plans, but also to how well your personalities mesh.

Ideally, you’ll find and work with an agent in whom you can confide everything from your big picture life vision to your truly confidential financial details.

Bottom line: The more you feel comfortable sharing with your agent, the more likely you are to be pleasantly surprised with the ways they can help you.

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Call The Puffer Team today, 828-771-2300; www.homefinderasheville.com.  

The 5 Most Expensive Ways Buyers & Sellers Sabotage Themselves

Trulia always has great articles available, check out this one on how not to self-sabotage a real estate deal:

(source)

It’s easy to see the experience of buying or selling a home as an adversarial one: you vs. the people on the other side of the bargaining table, with one chess move by your opponent potentially costing you thousands of dollars.

In my experience, though, the average real estate consumer’s biggest potential enemy is him or herself. Buyers and sellers routinely take approaches, make moves and make omissions that cost themselves much more than anything the other side could ever do.

The first step of any cure is diagnosis. Here are some clues to detecting the costliest cases of real estate self-sabotage so you can stop them in their tracks, get out of your own way and get back to the business of buying or selling your home:
1.  Hesitating.  I’m a big proponent of buying or selling - making any real estate move, really - on whatever time frame makes sense for your life, your family and your finances, rather than trying to time the market. That said, once you’ve done the math, saved your pennies, prepped your property and otherwise decided to move forward on your home buying or selling plan of action, hesitation can cost you.  

• Buyers who hesitate to make an offer can lose out on a home entirely - or can wait so long another offer comes in, forcing them to offer more to beat the other folks out.
• Sellers who hesitate to take an offer can lose out on a buyer, when a new listing comes on the market that catches their eye or better meets their needs.
• Mortgage borrowers who wait too long to lock their interest rates can end up paying more when rates creep up instead of down.

And here’s one more for buyers: hesitating to move forward after you get into contract can also cost you untold stress and deal complications if it snowballs into a situation where you run late removing contingencies - having to ask the seller repeatedly for extensions can cost you negotiation goodwill that you could otherwise have leveraged into repairs or closing cost credits.

I’d say 90% of hesitation is a result of fear, and fear most often arises when

• we second-guess our life decisions connected to the real estate transaction,
• we don’t understand or are intimidated by a subject, or
• we feel powerless to make a wise decision because we don’t know our options all the factors we should be taking into account.

Accordingly, you can eliminate hesitation-related self-sabotage by:

• working through the life and financial decisions that are intertwined with your real estate matters completely and on paper before you start the process, so you can revisit them if and when you’re tempted to hesitate

• getting as educated as possible in advance about your local market dynamics and neighborhood home values, as well as the home buying or selling process in general, and
• diving head first into the discomfort and uncertainty that everyone experiences when they make these major decisions, sitting down with your agent and other pros involved to get every question you have answered in a timely manner so you can move forward, rather than putting decisions off and “sleeping on it” night after night.

2.  Not taking expert advice.  Have you ever taken an indecisive friend out to dinner, watched them hem and haw over the menu, ask the server what their favorite dish is and then order something totally different than the server’s choice? That same phenomenon takes place every day in real estate. Many smart buyers and sellers invest much time and energy into agent-finding, asking around for referrals, checking agents out online, interviewing them and even calling around to check references, only to completely disregard their advice!

If you have a reputable, competent agent, you might be surprised at how often they can save you money with simple nuggets of experience-laden advice specific to a given scenario, like:

• act fast
• list it lower
• offer less/more
• counteroffer for more
• be aggressive
• take the bank’s terms
• don’t buy that house
• get one more inspection/bid
• don’t remove contingencies yet/remove contingencies now
• ask for X, Y or Z repair, price reduction, credit, free rent-back, furniture, or longer time to close.

Experienced, local agents have a strong sense for some of the precise things that are so tricky for a buyer or seller to wrap their heads around, like pricing and negotiations. You should definitely ask your agent for data and the logical rationale behind their advice, and should keep asking until you understand and are comfortable with the decision that you make (whether or not it agrees with their recommendations). By no means am I suggesting that you blindly take every piece of advice you are given by any agent, trusted or not.

That said, if you’re having a hard time getting satisfaction or making progress on your home buying or selling aims and your typical reaction to advice from your agent is to reject it, at least consider that being more receptive to that advice might actually help you get out of your own way.  

And if you have a truly hard time trusting your agent’s advice for whatever reason, consider that you might simply not yet have found the right agent for you.

3.  Overpricing or lowballing.  It might run contrary to conventional wisdom, the idea that asking for more money or offering less can be acts of self-sabotage, but ignoring the damage that these acts can do to your real estate plans is unwise. In real estate, pricing is just more nuanced than that. It’s not the case that you can simply pick your price, ignoring the financial complexities involved and the psychologies of the folks on the other side, and expect for good things to magically happen.

Those nuances include these truths: setting a list-price that is significantly above what other, similar homes have recently sold for will not only not get you that price, it poses the potential to turn buyers off, keep them from coming to see your home, make your place sit on the market longer than it needs to and ultimately, it can result in low or no offers. At the extreme, overpricing can force you to cut the price, sometimes dramatically, to activate buyers who have learned to disregard the obviously overpriced listing in their online house hunt search results.

And buyers beware: making lowball offers significantly below the fair market value of target homes has a similar impact. Sellers ignore them or counter them up higher or they get beat out (often repeatedly) by more realistic buyers. I have seen the tendency to lowball cost buyers thousands over the months they are trying to get a fantasy-land deal, in terms of home price increases or money that same buyer ends up throwing at their eventual home, out of desperation and frustration.

Don’t let your emotions be the ruler of your pricing or offer decisions. Motivation is one factor to consider, but the data on recent, comparable sales should be given much more weight, to keep the threat of price-related self-sabotage in check.

4.  Cutting corners.  Getting a home ready for sale is a marathon endeavor, not a sprint - especially if you’ve been living there for a number of years. Same goes for working on your credit, savings and financial plans in advance of making your first buy: smart buyers-to-be start years in advance. So, it’s tempting to get near the end of your preparation action plan, lose patience and start cutting corners on staging, property preparation, even vetting your own financials and family wants and needs.
 
Don’t submit to temptation - well, don’t submit without the input of your agent and loan officer.  

Depending on your situation, there are some corners that might be okay to cut - the ones that will have very little impact on the eventual outcome of your real estate endeavors. But give the pros you ‘hired’ the opportunity to give you their input before you unilaterally skip steps on your original action plan. If you tell your agent you need to cut your property preparation budget down by a bit, they can help you decide where the corners you cut will have the least impact on your home’s overall presentation to buyers. If your loan officer says that paying a particular credit account down by $4,000 instead of $5,000 won’t really do too much to your qualification status, you might be fine kickstarting your house hunt a few months before you had planned to.

Unfortunately, it’s all too common to see homes where the sellers have poured cash into great, fundamental repairs and neglected some essential, inexpensive cosmetic items - or buyers who have fallen just a tad short in cash or credit and end up scrambling to boost one or both under pressure. Bring your professional team into the conversation before you cut any corners, and ask them to help you understand and minimize any consequences of cutting costs.

5.  Failing to read documents all the way through. Hundreds of your signatures will be requested and required during the process of buying or selling a home. But perhaps the single-most expensive way real estate consumers stab themselves in the back is by failing to read and understand nthe documents they are given - from contracts to disclosures to inspection reports and even closing/loan documents - all the way through.

Many a condo owner has been surprised to learn that they are being assessed a hefty special bill for common area repairs, when that “surprise” was predictable from a few of the hundred pages of HOA disclosures they received before closing escrow. Seller disclosures can be cryptic and boring, but also often contain red flags to guide buyers and their inspectors to the real areas of concern. (Their guiding power is nil if you don’t read them, though.)

And the same goes for sellers - your agent should read and help you understand offer(s), buyer’s inspection reports and requests for repairs or credits, estimated closing statements and everything else, but ultimately you are responsible for reading and understanding all of these influential, binding documents before you sign them.  

So read them. And don’t be afraid to ask questions or insist on clarifications and corrections, if indicated. If you were quoted a certain interest rate or monthly payment, make sure that matches up to what you see in your closing docs - or that you understand and accept the reasons why it doesn’t, before you sign. This sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised at the major lender-borrower disputes and buyer-seller legal dramas that have arisen over the years because of errors in loan or closing documents that could have been detected and resolved simply, easily and inexpensively before closing.  Don’t be one of them.

How have you sabotaged yourself - or seen others do the same - in the process of buying or selling a home?

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Need an experienced buyer's agent or listing agent to help you through the buying/selling process? Call The Puffer Team, 828-771-2300, www.homefinderasheville.com.