Real Estate Advice

Think you can’t find your dream home and get a great deal on it at the same time? Think again! This article will provide you with the step by step way to kill two birds with one stone. You can find the home you’ve been dreaming of, and not break the bank. This article is one you’ll want to be sure to share with your friends and family. Absolutely anyone can succeed in buying their dream home at a great price by using this formula. It might cost a little bit of money to do it, but a little goes a long way. Read below to find out how to get the very best deal on the home you’ve been looking for.

How you can get a fantastic deal on your dream home…and don’t think you can’t!

It’s usually assumed that you can find your dream home, but that you’ll have to pay an arm and a leg for it. Most people don’t think you can have the best of both worlds; your dream home, and money in the bank. Many people know about techniques in order to get a great deal on a property, but they don’t think they can apply those same things to get a great deal on their dream home. Know that what is described in this article is going to help you get an amazing deal on your dream house.

It applies to so many people. Maybe you’re renting a home because you have horrible credit, you just came out of a foreclosure, or have been turned down by potential landlords. Or, you may be someone that has excellent credit, a nice chunk for a down payment, but don’t want to pay the retail price-tag for the dream home? The end-goal for everyone reading this article is to get your dream home for a steal.

What, exactly, is meant by a “great deal”?

This can mean various things based on each individual situation. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to get your $1.5 million dollar dream home for $200,000. Perhaps getting a great deal for renting just means:

▪ sliding through an application process because the landlord doesn’t do thorough background or credit checks
▪ getting a lower rental rate than the market is calling for
▪ finding a place in a certain area you want that is so high in demand that it’s hard to ever find anything there

The point is, a “great deal” means different things when it comes to renting. And, for owning, a “great deal” can mean other things as well. Whether it has to do with a rental, or a purchase, the goal is to either rent or buy at less than retail value. Perhaps you can’t get a great deal because you don’t have a high enough down payment. The “great deal” might be working out financing terms with the seller.

Should you keep renting, or purchase a house?

Should you own your own home or keep renting? Sometimes, statistics can answer that question for you. A word of caution, though, statistics can sometimes be outdated. Or flat out wrong. It’s generally a toss up. The short answer is that if you don’t plan on living there long, rent. If you plan to be in the area for years to come, you’ll want to own. If you don’t think you’re going to be in the area for at least a few years, you want to continue renting. No matter how badly you want to own your own home. Many people want to own just to own, but they don’t think into the future about what they really want to do. It’s very common for younger people that make this mistake. They’re young, they’re making money, and want to buy for the thrill of it, or because they can. Yet they aren’t even settled in their career. Many end up buying and having to relocate and sell soon thereafter.

Renting: Renting can be pretty tough. Especially if you’re looking to relocate. It can be hard to find a realtor who will work with you long-distance. This is because real estate agents make their money off of commissions. They do receive commissions on rentals, but it’s usually not really worth their time. For the most part, they’ll do a few rental listings here and there. Mostly, they have personal ties with the owner and do it out of obligation. They have to spend their own gas money driving people around (or meeting them) to show the apartment. The commission they make off of rentals usually covers their gas and they break even. The average rental is about $1,000 or so. They make pennies off of the commission on it.

So, how can you go about finding your dream house?

#1 You’ve got to know exactly what it is that you want!
In order to find your dream home, you’ve got to know exactly what you want. Most people in life don’t really know what they want. They have general ideas. But no firm decision set in mind. What ends up happening is they drive around looking at houses, searching online. They find something they like and go see it, but aren’t really that sure about it. That’s one of the things that really irritates realtors. Buyers don’t really know what they want. They just see a pretty house and have the time to look at it for fun, or, “just in case.” You need to know what your dream home consists of. How many square feet? How high do you want the ceilings to be? Where is it located? In a cold climate, or on the beach? You’ve got to be extremely detailed when deciding what a dream home means to you before you go out searching for it. Know exactly what it is that you want. The main things you need to know are:

#2 The area: You’ve got to know the area. Where do you want to live? This is probably the biggest decision, and it should be the first one you write down. It’s more important than anything else on that list. Perhaps you’ve narrowed it down to a specific subdivision or zip code. You must know exactly where you want to live. If you don’t have a concrete idea yet, that’s fine. But don’t go shopping before you’re certain. What happens too often is that people don’t have a firm idea of what they want their dream home to be. So, they find one that’s the beautiful on the inside and out, and move there. If you don’t have a clear-cut description of what you want your dream home to be, you’ll be blinded by certain aesthetics or a location. If you need to do additional research, that’s fine. It’s encouraged! You must have the specifics of what you want in terms of the area nailed down.

What you “must have”

What do you have to have? What are your dream requirements? Is it a certain square footage? A mud room? A driveway? A side-door entry? A certain number of bathrooms? A home theater? Whatever it is, you write down your “must-haves.” If you don’t, you’ll end up sacrificing certain things you really wanted for a specific house because you became blinded by one aspect of it, or even a gorgeous room.

What do you “want” to have?

Once you’ve written down your requirements, what are your wants? What do you want to have in your dream home that you don’t necessarily have to have? A wet bar? A swimming pool? Your “want” list is anything that you’d love to have, but would be fine if it weren’t there.

#2 Formulate a target list: There is an incredibly unique and useful tool unlike any other called listsource.com. This website is a master mailing list service that allows you to choose whatever homes fit your wants. You generate a list, pick out where you want to be, and List Source gives you a list of all of the homes that fit your criteria. It really is incredible, and everyone looking for their dream home needs to use it after they’ve made their list.

#3 Write a handwritten letter to everyone on your target list: After you’ve created your list, you write a hand-written letter to those people. The letter should say something such as “if you’re selling your house, or know someone who is selling in the area, please call. My wife and I are looking for a home in the area.” Vice-versa, if you’re looking to rent, “if you are renting your house, or know someone, I’m looking for a rental in the area.” Be sure to write your phone number. Sound simple? It is! In fact, don’t complicate it by writing a long letter. It’s got to seem genuine. The end-goal here is to get a response. If you send out 75 of these, you’re likely to get at least 8 responses. Now, this means that you’ve got awareness that others don’t. You’re also not competing against any other person, and can work side by side with the actual owner. And, if you are working directly with the owner, this means that you can work out creative owner financing terms. What does this mean? Read below.

What is creative financing?

Creative financing is the term used to describe a way to get a loan without having to go through the bank. Don’t go overboard with optimism, and think you’re going to hear right back (or back at all) from the owner. It’s possible that if you do hear back, many of the homes or rentals that they suggest are not going to be what you’re looking for. If you don’t hear back from someone, keep mailing until you do. Now, don’t mail a letter Monday through Friday, but you can try once every month or two months. You don’t want a restraining order, but it’s okay to be persistent within reason.

This is going to take a while. Don’t expect instant gratification. And don’t sit at home refreshing the tracking number of the letter. You’ve got to practice patience when you do this. If you do get a call-back, inquire about the house. Ask them the questions you want to know about. How many bathrooms are there, what is the address? How many cars fit in the garage, is there an office? Ask all the questions you want to know when they call you back. Now, if you are looking to purchase a dream home, read on.

Purchasing your dream house

You may be surprised that using a real estate agent hasn’t come up yet. Well, if you can find the property yourself and work directly with the owner, that might perhaps be the way to go. But, you’ll have to hire an agent and pay the commission.

*Useful tip on dealing with all of the paperwork: If you’re purchasing a house, you’re going to want to hire a realtor to handle all of the paperwork. In some cases, you can use a closing attorney and ask them to do it. The company you’ll have to pay anyway is at the closing, so consider just having them handle it all.

Make sure your realtor has your e-mail updated in his system for the MLS

There’s another great benefit to utilizing a realtor if you’re purchasing. That benefit is that they have access to the MLS. They can put you in the system, and when a house that meets your needs and wants comes up, they’ll notify you. You get to be the first one to respond to the house when it goes onto the market.

When it comes to finding a rental:

Be sure to look on websites such as Zillow, Hotpads, Trulia, and so on. The reason is that these sites will show how long they’ve been listed for rent. That means, you’ll know if you’ve got an advantage or not. You sometimes can even see the amount of requests that a place has gotten regarding inquiries. Be wary though, because sometimes a realtor or owner will send requests to themselves on the property so that it will look desirable.