Sunday, July 29, 2007

Mississippi home buying tips.

There are lots of great articles that I have written on buying real estate in Ocean Springs and Biloxi Mississippi (MS). If you will scroll down the right side of this website you will come to my archive, I recommend you look through some of those articles. But as always, I've gotta give you more so hear goes.


1. THE MARKET: Today's market is different than the market was a year ago. After Katrina we real experience a Seller's Market here in Biloxi and Ocean Springs; actually the whole Gulf Coast. Seller's market really means the seller has the advantage because there are not many homes available but there are lots of people trying to buy them. During this time a seller could charge almost anything they wanted to charge for their house and many of them did. Unfortunately that left many people living in homes that aren't worth as much as they owe now; but that's a different subject all together. Today we find ourselves in much more of a Buyer's market, meaning that we now have way more homes than people buying them. Before homes would sell in a matter of days literally, now it's still a matter of days, about 140 of them to be precise. The average days on the market has dramatically increased. So as a buyer this is a good thing for you. You can negotiate a much better price and even some incentives like closing costs and home warranties to be provided by the seller. If you want to know more contact me, I love to help people.


2. Inspections and Disclosures: Sellers are required to provide you the buyer with a Seller's Disclosure." This tells you anything and everything that has happened to the house, that way you can make an informed decision on whether or not to purchase the home. This is a great tool but it CAN NOT take the place of a home inspection. A seller may provide you a disclosure and say everything in his house is fine but the electrical could be messed up, the roof could be about to bust, or whatever. Doesn't mean the seller intentionally mislead you, they may have just not known. Inspections are very important, I made this mistake on my first house and I'm still fixing things that could have been spotted by an inspector. But hey, I was uneducated and was taken advantage of by an investor. BE CAREFUL!! Get a Realtor if you don't know, for your sake guys.
3. Price: As a colleague always says; PRICE IS KING!! Don't over pay for a home. If you do, you will find yourself in a pickle when it comes time to move. This is especially true if you are military and will be moving in 3 years or so. Make sure you get the house at a fair price. Even Realtors can't predict the market, so we can't promise your house will appreciate or depreciate but we can help you get a fair price based on today's market.
I know this whole article has sounded like I'm trying to sell you on using Realtors, I'm not. I just want you to make good decisions, buy your house right, and live happily in your new home. If you don't know what you are doing, contact a professional. I'm an agent and I still ask questions everyday. There is A LOT to this real estate world and you can get burned really fast and really hard if you aren't careful. Hope this helps.
Blog Done. Carry On!!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

David, I think your comment in item #3 about not trying to sell people on the idea of using a Realtor is very candid. I think though, that you, I and many others in our industry would agree that buyers and sellers are generally well served when they have representation.
I hope your market's improving as 140 days is a long time to get something sold. High inventory must be frustrating. We have that situation outside of Boulder in a town called Longmont, CO.

Sergeant Real Estate said...

Boulder,

I just try to give it to the people straight. I think honesty goes a long way no matter what the business.

140 days is a very long time. My first house I sold about Aug of 06 was under contract in 2 weeks, with my first showing within 30 minutes of putting it on the MLS. Man times have changed quick.

Thanks for dropping by and checking out my blog. Hope to hear from you again sometime.

David

Anonymous said...

When going to buy or sell a home, your first step should be finding a honest and hard-working realtor.


When going to buy or sell a home, your first step should be finding an honest and hard-working realtor. You can find a real estate agent by keeping an eye out for advertisements, calling your local real estate broker, or through the internet.

The role of a real estate agent is to represent your best interests in a real estate transaction. They work off of a commission, normally 6% of the sales price of the home. In most cases, that commission is split equally between the realtor representing the buyer and the realtor representing the seller. For a person buying a home, the service of the real estate agent is free, because commission is paid by the seller. The buyer, however, is responsible for most of the closing costs. The closing costs will be explained to you by your realtor and will be on the documents you sign when you go to the title company. Closing costs can also be negotiated on during the contract process.

The real estate agent, through their broker, has access to all of the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) listed homes in your area of interest. If you are a home buyer, the realtor can provide you with information about homes for sale that meet your criteria. They will then bring you to these homes and let you inside to see them. If you are selling a home, the realtor will list your home in the MLS, post a "For Sale" sign in your yard, and hold open houses to attract buyers. Be wary of discount realtors that offer to list your home for a lower commission. Studies show that, in most cases, your home will stay on the market longer and you end up selling it for a lower price than what you intended.

A real estate transaction is a complicated process that involves many steps and is best done with the help of a trained, licensed professional. A realtor can save you the headache of dealing with the other party in the sale, getting together the contract, and submitting all the documents to the title company. So when you are ready to buy or sell a house, contact the local real estate agent.
I had come to know these kind of information through the realtor site which I have recently visited www.realestateinwoodstock.com

This site shows much useful information about the real estate business

Anonymous said...

Hi,

This is a nice post. These are really good tips to get some home when you are in the market looking for some. I think this is go on help buyers a lot. They should practice so to get some good results and avoid any ambiguities.