Explore Your Area Choices The first step is to decide what general area you prefer. Do a preliminary investigation of the quality of the neighborhood, schools, freeway access, shopping and other factors.     Determine Your Wishes & Desires Build a profile of your ideal house as a starting point, and then begin to make it more practical and consistent with the area you have chosen.  What are your basic requirements, i.e. Number of bedrooms, baths, and additional living spaces?  Do you have a minimum square footage requirement?  Do you need large acreage or prefer a small lot?  What size garage or RV parking do you need? Consider the maximum distance from town you desire to be.  Create wish list - What extras would your dream home have?     Determine Price Range Evaluate how much you can afford. This depends on many factors, including your income, how much you can afford to put down, and your credit rating     Get Professional Help While the internet does offer buyers vitually unlimited options in finding home listings, it is still a good idea to use an Agent.  Bradley Realty will have your interests at heart and can help you with strategies throught the entire home buying process.

How to Determine Your Offer  As you are thinking about your offer to purchase a home, look at the condition of the home, what other homes have sold for in that area recently, how many other people are making offers, and how badly you want the home.      Looking Up Comparables Sales  The county recorders office records the sales of homes about   six to eight weeks after the sale. You may also be able to get this information more quickly from the MLS service or your real estate agent.       What's Too Low  If you make an offer which is too low you run the risk of losing out to a higher offer and or alienating the seller.    What's Too High Most buyers’ are unlikely to make an offer that is too high, but in some cases people just fall in love with a certain house and offer over the market value. The danger here is that if they pay too much, and the home does not appreciate past that amount, they could lose money at the point they decide to sell in the future.       Negotiable Costs In addition to the offer on the home price, buyers may choose to ask the seller to cover some of the other costs associated with the transaction as a bargaining tool.

How Banks and Mortgage Brokers Differ When you're looking for a home loan, you might work with an officer at a bank or other lending institution, or you might choose to work with a mortgage broker.     Bank Loan Officers The loan officers at a bank, credit union or other lending institution are employees. They often have a wide variety of loans types to draw from, but all originate from that specific lender. The loan officer takes your application and works to find a loan product that suits your needs. If your personal credit is approved, the officer moves forward to process the home purchase transaction. Using a local bank can sometimes be a plus. Their underwriters generally understand the specifics of local properties, but a distant lender who doesn't will delay closing until questions are answered     Mortgage Brokers Mortgage brokers are professionals who are paid a fee to bring lenders and borrowers together. They usually work with many different lenders, not as employees, but as freelance agents. They find and evaluate homebuyers, analyzing each person's credit situation to determine which lender is the best fit for that person's needs. The broker submits the homebuyer's application to one or more lenders in order to sell it, and works with the chosen lender until the loan closes. A good mortgage broker can find a lender for just about any type of credit. Shop around to make sure the terms are reasonable. Mortgage brokers can often find a lender who will make loans that a bank refuses. Problem credit is one example. Loans for unique or commercial properties might be easier to secure through a broker     Base Your Lender Choice On The Best Loan Terms You Can Find Ask questions about the transaction's time frame. There is no overall "best" solution; every buyer's loan needs are different. Ask for referrals from your real estate agent and from friends who have recently bought a home.  Pull Your Credit Reports Order your credit report sand scores from all three major credit-reporting agencies. Personal copies of current reports should provide enough details for a bank or mortgage broker to give you an opinion of the types of loans they can offer you. The lender you decide to use will pull your credit files, but taking your personal copies to the initial interview avoids multiple credit pulls that can lower your scores (requesting your own credit reports does not affect your scores).

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