Tips for Negotiating the House Price With a Seller
When you buy a home, there’s a 90% chance you’ll have to negotiate the house price with the seller. Why? Because many homes are overpriced when they first come onto the market. It’s a common “strategy” among real estate agents. It goes something like this: “We’ll come onto the market a bit high, because somebody might make an offer. If we don’t get...
Read MoreHow to Buy Your First Home in 2010
So, you’re thinking about buying your first place next year in 2010, and you’re wondering what steps you need to take here in the present. If so, you’ve come to the right place. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to buy your first home the right way, by starting with your budget and moving forward from there. This article assumes that you have already weighed the pros and...
Read MoreFree Property Listing Websites – My 3 Favorites
I fully admit to being a real estate geek, and to spending way too much time viewing free property listings online. If you’re like me, and you like to see how far your real estate dollar goes in certain areas, then read on! Over the last few years, the competition among free property listing websites has really picked up. Once upon a time, there was only one major site that offered real...
Read MoreUsing Your 401K to Buy a House – The Pros and Cons
A lot of people saw their 401K balances tumble downhill over the last couple of years. It’s enough to make you sick. It’s also enough to light a fire under you, and that seems to be what’s happening right now for a lot of folks. Many first-time home buyers are starting to use their 401K funds to make a down payment on a house. Cashing Out for a Down Payment When my wife and I...
Read More5 Great Tools for First-Time Home Buyers
First-time home buyers need all the help they can get. So I thought I’d compile a list of helpful tools for home buyers and share it through the blog. Many of the tools on this list are available through this website, and you can access them through the menus at the top and to the right. In particular, I’d like to focus on web-based tools that can make your home buying process much...
Read MoreHow Much House Can I Afford to Buy?
Reader Question: We are just getting started with the home buying process, setting our budget, etc. How do I know how much house I can afford to buy? Without a doubt, this is one of the most common questions asked by first-time home buyers. I’ve been answering real estate questions online for a few years now, and I’d put this one in the top-three as far as frequency goes. I’m...
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