Choosing the Right Home Builder For Your New Home

Not every person likes to buy an existing home when shopping for that dream spot on earth. For those who want to be the first one living in that new home, a home builder will pose the first obstacle in the building project.

In order to choose just the right builder for your project, you will first need to decide which type of house you will want to have constructed. There are two types of builders. The production builder and the custom builder.

The Production Home Builder

The production home is one that is designed on a large scale and mass produced as a „model“. These models are often changed up a bit with available customizations and upgrades to the home. These upgrades are offered as part of a package added onto a base model home.

Production homes are often offered at a base price with additional costs being added to the final price for those last minute touches. When choosing a production home builder, it is best to buy the home as a package with all of the appliances and upgrades included. Adding these items individually can drive the price up higher than the market value may allow; leaving the owner with immediate negative equity in the home.

The Custom Builder

For the potential home owner who wants to build a home from scratch, a custom home builder will be able to help you along the process of planning the home and attaining all of the permits needed for the build. The potential home owner will have to purchase a plot of land, have the land surveyed and choose a set of plans for their home.

When choosing custom plans for a home, remember that these plans are only a guide. A custom home builder will be able to adjust the plans to your specifications before the final plans for the home are set in stone.

As the home progresses, the extra costs associated with incidentals will need to be taken into consideration when pricing the home and staying within budget.

Real estate is an investment and while many people love the immediate nature of buying an established home, for those who want to own a home of their own that is customized to their wants and needs of a builder is one of the best options.

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg



Source by Julia Vakulenko

History of Real Estate Agency Relationships

In the beginning, real estate brokers were known as middlemen and optioneers. Back then, the customary practice was for a middleman to know about a property for sale, but to keep it secret from other middlemen. It was difficult for these middleman to collect a fee for their services so they would resort to tactics that were not always in their seller’s best interest. Optioneers, on the other hand, were usually more successful in collecting their fees because they would tie up the seller’s property on an option to purchase, sell the property to a buyer at a price over the option amount, pay the seller the option price, and then pocket the rest.

The early real estate brokerage business was loosely organized and used methods of brokering that were often dishonest, subject to fraud, and that took advantage of sellers and buyers. Eventually, a newer concept with the real estate broker being an agent of and owing a fiduciary duty to the seller and receiving payment for his services was developed. This new concept forced the seller and broker relationship to a higher level of service and duty. It also allowed brokers to list property for sale using contracts. These contracts are what we now refer to listings. The earlier forms of listings we called open listings. The open listing is a type of non exclusive listing contract authorizing a real estate broker to offer a property for sale, find a buyer and get paid for services upon the closing of that transaction.

Other brokers could also have open listings for the same property, but only the broker who actually found the buyer would receive a commission. In addition, no broker would get paid a fee if the seller sold the property. The open listing discouraged cooperation between brokers, since each broker could obtain their own open listing. To solve the open listing problem, the exclusive agency listing became popular.

The exclusive agency listing is a type of listing contract wherein the seller offers only the listing brokerage compensation if the buyer is procured through the brokerage’s efforts or the efforts of other real estate brokerages. This means that in certain situations, such as For Sale by Owner, the listing brokerage may not receive compensation when the property is sold. In the exclusive agency listing, the listing brokerage or another brokerage working with the listing brokerage must procure the buyer in order to have a claim on compensation.

The exclusive agency listing encourages competing brokers to find buyers for listing, since the listing brokerage pays the selling brokerage’s fee. However, the seller still does not pay a fee when a seller finds the buyer. The exclusive agency listing eventually gave rise to the exclusive right to sell listing.

The exclusive right-to-sell agreement, the listing brokerage is offered compensation in the event of a sale regardless of who procured the buyer. The exclusive right to sell listing guarantees that the listing broker will get paid a fee, even if a competing broker or the seller sells property. It provides the most protection for the listing broker and is considered in the best interest of the seller because the listing brokerage will put effort and resources into marketing the property, since a commission is guaranteed during the term of the agreement.

Even after the exclusive right to sell listing became popular, there was little cooperation between brokerages, since a buyer who wanted to buy a specific property would have to deal with the broker who had exclusive listings of interest. It was also quite clear to all parties in that the broker represented the seller and that the buyer had no representation.

By the 1950s there was pressure for more cooperation between brokerages. As a result, a broker working with a buyer would contact competing brokerages to to learn of their inventory and possible matches for their clients. Deals often resulted where the selling agent did not know the seller or their agent and the selling agent’s only dealings were with the buyer. Suddenly, the concept that the selling brokerage owed its fiduciary duty to only the seller was no longer a neat and logical concept. However, it would take many years before the unworkable agency concepts would be sorted out and lead to buyer representation.

As the 1950s and 1960s progressed, a more formalized cooperative brokerage system, known as the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), was developed. Through the MLS, the concept of subagency evolved. Simply stated, this meant the listing broker was the agent of and represented only the seller. The listing brokerage would hire sales associates who were considered subagents of the seller. The listing MLS brokerage was required to make the listing available to all cooperating brokerage within their MLS. These cooperating brokerages were also deemed subagents of the listing brokerage, who were agents of the seller. If the cooperating brokerage had sales associates, they were subagents of the cooperating brokerage, who were subagents of the listing brokerage, who was the agent of the seller. During this period, an agency relationship with a buyer was not possible, since the agency relationship was always with the seller. The only duty a licensee owed to a buyer was to not lie when asked questions about a property. The concept of „buyer beware“ was truly the reality of how the brokerage business operated and buyers were always unrepresented.

The rise of consumerism, as manifested in numerous court decisions, put pressure on the brokerage business to be more concerned with the interests of the buyer. Because of that, licensees working with buyers had an affirmative duty to disclose known matters affecting a property. For example, if the broker knew that a roof leaked, he would have to disclose this fact. This disclosure concept was later expanded by the courts to include conditions about the property that the brokers should or could have known.

By the 1980s, a government study found that nearly three-quarters of all buyers thought the brokerage they were working with was representing them as a client. The same study concluded that nearly three-quarters of all sellers also thought that the cooperating brokerage represented the buyer’s interests. It soon became obvious the concepts of agency law that the industry and governmental regulators had attempted to impose in order to simplify and clarify the agency relationships had not worked. Continued pressure from consumer groups and the courts finally led to the buyer representation movement of the 1990s.

In 1991, the National Association of REALTORS® formed an advisory group to study agency representation issues. Testimony was received from real estate practitioners, industry experts, the public, and state regulatory authorities. The advisory group’s report made the following recommendations:

  • The NAR’s multiple listing policy should be modified to make subagency offers optional. If subagency was not accepted by a cooperating brokerage, then the listing brokerage was to offer compensation to the brokerage representing the buyer.
  • The NAR would encourage state associations to promote changes in real estate law and regulations in order to promote disclosure of agency options. These options would include seller agency, buyer agency, and disclosed dual agency. The purpose of this recommendation was to assist consumers in making informed decisions regarding representation.
  • The NAR should encourage real estate brokerages to adopt written company policies addressing the handling of agency relationships with its clients and customers.
  • The NAR would encourage education of all members on the topic of agency representation. State regulatory agencies would also be encouraged to include agency as a mandatory topic in continuing education requirements for all licensees.

As of 1992, the National Association of REALTORS® adopted the following policy:

„The National Association of REALTORS® recognizes seller agency, buyer agency and disclosed dual agency with informed consent as appropriate forms of consumer representation in real estate transactions. The association respects the need for all REALTORS® to be able to make individual business decisions about their companies‘ agency practices. Furthermore, NAR endorses freedom of choice and informed consent for consumers or real estate services when creating agency relationships with real estate licensee.“

These NAR changes to representation policy modified the way the industry practices. Exclusive Right to Represent buyer agreements now allow a buyer to contract with a brokerage to find, and negotiate, the purchase of real property. Generally, these agreements are for a specified period and require the buyer to pay a commission upon the closing of the real property transaction. As an agent of the buyer, the buyer’s brokerage owes all of the fiduciary duties (care, loyalty, disclosure, obedience, and accounting) to his principal, the buyer.

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg



Source by Jeff Sorg

The Different Houses For Sale

When looking at the property market, there are many aspects of this that you need to know about, and thinking about it, I realise that there are many types of property available for you to choose from, and this can be down to the type of preference that you are going to have as an individual. This article would talk about the various areas of property that you might be interested in. Now, just note that these things are just a primary for the mind, if you need much more information on each section, you would need to go online and get more information from there.

One thing that you need to know is about the government properties, and they are the easiest forms of properties out there, and consequently the cheapest you would find. There are many subsidies and benefits for people who are going into the public property market, but of course, knowing this, these places are also the kinds of places that has the most restrictions, and this is because the government would want to actually corner this market for those who cannot afford to get private property as well. Now, when thinking about the public property, you need to understand all the rules and regulations that would be concerning them in the first place.

The next thing you need to look at are the landed properties, and of course, these are the self owned properties that might be the oldest but the most expensive. Landed properties are usually large properties that might come with lands of their own, and from there, you will be able to understand the large price tags on them in the first place. For one thing, landed properties are dealt normally off market, with owners preferring to sell one on one, and this is because of the large values of their property in the first place.

The last thing you need to know about are the property market is the private properties, and these might include things like condominiums and other forms of private apartments. For one thing, the price range for some of these things would be of course, the higher echelon. Now, if you are looking at this, for one thing, the market would be the most aggressively dealt with on the whole concept, and this is where you would need people like real estate agents to actually help you out with the whole selling and buying of the property in the first place. Now, these are some of the things that you need to know about when you are thinking about the different kinds of houses for sale. Now, while it might be a tad confusing when you are thinking about the whole concept of buying and selling at the property market, you can go online or call the property companies to get more advice. In the end of the day, no matter how complicated the whole thing is, you will be always be getting help somewhere.

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg



Source by Karen H. Ally

7 Factors To Consider Before You Buy A Home!

Although, we are, presently, experiencing, a Sellers Market, in housing, which, we have never seen, in recent memory, to this extent, and, resulting, escalating, home prices, and, far – more, qualified, potential buyers, than houses, for – sale, instead, of over – reacting, etc, a smart buyer, will take the time, and make a concerted effort, to better understand, and, truly, appreciate, those significant factors, which every buyer, should! These factors, are, of course, in addition, to closely, examining, the specific features, and quality, of the house! With, that in mind, this article will attempt to, briefly, consider, examine, review, and discuss, 7 key ones, and why, they matter.

1. Area/ region/ neighborhood: Consider, what you like, and don’t, about a specific area, region, and/ or, neighborhood! What are the strengths, weaknesses, and neutral considerations? If, you are familiar, with the area, why are you attracted to it, and what does it offer? If, you are not, do some research, speak to neighbors, and drive – around, and observe!

2. Your personal, present/ foreseeable – future considerations: Each of us, is unique, in certain ways! Since, for most, their home’s value represents, their single – biggest, financial asset, it is wise to pay keen attention, to what you are seeking, and differentiate between, your present and foreseeable – future needs, priorities, and goals, and how a specific house, might, serve your purpose! What attracts you, and not, and, why?

3. Real estate taxes: Remember, often, real estate taxes, are a significant component/ part, of your monthly costs, of home ownership! When, doing your calculations, don’t forget to seriously, consider, the impacts of these!

4. Safety/ crime: Examine the area’s relative – safety, and crime figures! For most, living in a safe neighborhood, is a most, significant factor! Look at the data, rather than, just asking someone!

5. Conveniences: How convenient is the location, especially, as it relates to your needs, and priorities? Is it, close to shopping, markets, drug stores, etc? How about access to mass transit? Is it easy and convenient, to use a car, etc?

6. School quality: If, you presently, have, or plan, to have a family/ children, or, even, if you don’t (because it affects, future resale values), examine the reliable data, regarding the quality of the local school system! Many states publish official data, etc!

7. Your personal comfort zone: What makes you feel comfortable, and how, would a particular property, enhance your enjoyment, etc? Do all the facts, fit into your personal comfort zone, especially, in terms of costs, monthly expenses, area, location, and all other relevant factors? Remember, if you aren’t comfortable, you probably, shouldn’t purchase that specific house!

Be a smarter home buyer! Consider these, and any other, personally – significant factors, carefully, before making a final decision!

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg



Source by Richard Brody

Buying Foreclosed Homes For Sale – How to Get Started

When buying foreclosed homes for sale, it is important to remember a few smart guidelines before closing the sale. While you can find a huge number of bargain foreclosures in the market, finding the right one for your investment requires a bit more perseverance, diligence and the right mix of knowledge and skills.

Choose Your Area

After you have determined your purchase goals, you should then choose the area in which you want to buy foreclosed properties. This will narrow and focus your search to specific areas and regions that you have targeted. Rather than sift through all the multiple listings that you have in your hands, having a specific target area will cut your search in half and focus your efforts on areas that you prefer to invest in. If you do not find any property that interest you in your priority areas, then it would be easier to tick them off your list and shift your attention to other localities.

Know Where To Find The Best Listings

Finding the best listings of foreclosed homes for sale is an essential step to the whole investing process. In effect, by relying on the best lists, you ensure the quality of your properties. And in foreclosures investing, quality does matter especially if we are talking about thousands of dollars worth of investment. Aside from your realtor, you can also find listings through the County Assessor’s Office, government foreclosure sites, bank listings, and local dailies. But if speed is important to you, an online foreclosures listing provider is your best bet.

Buy Only What You Can Use Or Sell

With thousands of low-priced properties that you will find among listings, it is not difficult to be lured in by every single ‚bargain‘ that you will see from those lists. However, not every bargain is good. The best rule is to buy only what you can either use or sell. This is to ensure that you do not get stuck with a property that you do not have use for or cannot even resell for various reasons. A property like this will only be a burden for you and your finances since you will have to maintain such property and pay its taxes and mortgage for as long as it remains yours.

The good news is that you can always inspect foreclosed homes for sale to determine whether they are in an acceptable condition for you. A qualified home inspector can tell you an estimate of how much it would cost you to do the necessary repairs. Just make sure that with the additional expense, you can still maintain a good leverage from the savings in the purchase price.

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg



Source by Joseph B. Smith

Can I Buy My House Back After It Has Been Foreclosed?

Foreclosure is never a pleasant experience, so it is important to be aware of where you stand once your property has been foreclosed. Once the proceedings have been put in place, you will have a limited amount of time to catch up on your mortgage payments before your lender accelerates the payments to the point where they will accept nothing less than full payment if you intend to keep the property. The amount of time you have for this will differ depending on the loan provider, but it will usually be no more than a couple of months.

If you are unable to meet these conditions in the timeframe provided, hope is not necessarily lost. There are a number of things you can do to try to maintain possession of the property, particularly if you have maintained a right to redemption on the property.

Your Rights

It is important to note that not every home is eligible for redemption, so it is important to find out if you even have the right before trying to exercise it.

To be eligible, your home will need to have been seized via a judicial foreclose order, in which the lender files a foreclosure suit in court. This process usually takes longer than other types of foreclosure, often lasting up to a year before the lender has undisputed control of the property. This offers you a timeframe in which you can try to buy back the home before it goes to auction.

Timeframe

As mentioned, a judicial foreclosure will often take a year to complete, which usually means that you have about that amount of time to raise the required funds to buy back your home. However, this is not guaranteed and there will be cases where you have far less time to achieve the same outcome.

This is particularly the case if the loan company brings the house to auction quickly and a buyer is found who will pay the full asking price for the property. In these cases you will only have about three months to match the offer ad buy the home back. After this period has passed you lose the right to buy your home.

The Price

The price you will pay to redeem your home is not necessarily going to be the amount that you owed to the lender at the time of foreclosure. In fact, you will often find that you end up paying more to buy the property than you would if you had just maintained the mortgage payments.

In most cases the amount you pay is going to be equal to the amount the lender would ask for if the property was placed in an auction, plus any associated interest charges. Furthermore, you will usually be asked to pay the owner for any repair work undertaken in addition to taxes and insurance for the period in which they owned the home. Furthermore, you will also be required to pay any subordinate liens attached to the property before you can buy back your home.

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg



Source by Bill Len

Photographing Your Home – How to Create Ads and Photos That Sell Your Home

Whether you are planning to sell your home, rent it out, or even use it as a vacation rental, you will likely market it at some point with an advertisement. Your ad will consist of a description and photos, and spending a little extra time to perfect these elements will pay off.

In general, the idea to keep in mind is that your ad needs to communicate all the vital information, and nothing more. If it’s too long, people won’t read it. If it’s incomplete, people might pass it over.

A good ad has these components:

Description

  • Where is your place located? What is it near, and how can people get around? Is a car required, or can people walk or use public transit?
  • How many bedrooms, and how big is each bed?
  • How many bathrooms?
  • How is the kitchen equipped? (Stove, dishwasher, microwave, coffee maker, etc)
  • What technology is there? (TV, DVD, Wireless Internet, etc)
  • What other key information will people need to know about your home? Describe your home aloud to yourself as though you’re telling someone about it. What are the first 5 things that come to mind?

Photos

Similar to home staging, you want to create a space that vacationers can imagine themselves in.

Take well-lit photos with a good camera (borrow one if you don’t have one). Photos make all the difference in the world, so spend as much time as it takes to get good photos. You can reuse them for years, so it’s worth getting them right. It might seem too obvious a point, but take photos during the day. It’s shocking how many people try to advertise their home with scary, dark nighttime photos. People want to see light, airy, peaceful spaces.

Spend some time cleaning and organizing your home before you take photos. Put away clutter and personal effects. Straighten the bed comforter. Fluff the pillows. People will be scrutinizing the photos to figure out what your home is like, so pay attention to the details and success will follow.

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg



Source by Rebecca R

Top 5 Best (And Worst) REALTOR Slogans

Let’s get right down to it, shall we:

Best REALTOR Slogans

#5. „My job is your future“– Good. So you understand how big of a deal a home purchase is for me.

#4. „Purveyor of fine homes to fine people“ – Not bad; a little boring, but you have a good command of the language and demonstrate strong commitment to a targeted market.

#3. „Sold in 100 days, or I’ll buy it“– Does this belong in the top 5? Yes – because you stand out, commit, and I know I’ll have a guaranteed sale within 4 months.

#2. „I Never Forget You Have a Choice“– That’s what I like to hear – you’ll always have the right motivations while we’re working together.

#1. „Anyone can sell your home. I can sell it for more.“ – Strong, assertive and straight to the point. Let me put you to the test.

Worst REALTOR Slogans

#5. „A Realtor You Can Trust“– Sounds like something your parole officer told you to say.

#4. „No Fancy Punchlines – Just Great Service“– Does this constitute an oxymoron? (Definitely a moron)

#3. „It’s the Energy!“– What does that even mean? I think your doctor over-prescribes stimulants… Out of curiosity, what’s his name (my friend wants to know…)?

#2. „Everything I Touch Turns to Sold!“ – Ha ha! It’s funny, I’ll give you that. But now that the joke’s over can you introduce me to a real REALTOR?

#1. „Spouses Selling Houses“ – Do you include domestic disputes with showings?

Conclusion

This was a tough article to write because there are at least 20 terrible catch phrases for every good one. Some rules of thumb:

  • Use common sense – No one wants to hear you state the obvious – and no one is interested in self-indulgence. There’s also not much room for humor (there are exceptions of course), so keep it professional.
  • If you say something bold in your slogan, make sure you’re willing to eat, sleep, and breathe by it.
  • If you can’t come up with anything good, don’t worry: Clients won’t notice that you don’t have a catch phrase, but you might lose clients if you have a bad one.

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg



Source by Samuel Prochazka

The Pros and Cons of Overhead Projectors

Despite the rise of LCD digital projectors, overhead projectors are still widely used in different settings such as classrooms and business meetings. They are very sturdy, easy to use, and fairly affordable. In short, an overhead projector can be rightfully considered as a practical tool for presenting visuals to a large group of people.

Read on and learn about the advantages and disadvantages of using this type of projector.

Pros

1. They are easy to operate. The most obvious benefit here is that these projectors are equipped with simple technology. It doesn’t have complicated parts nor does it have too many cables that’s why setting it up is never a hassle. You won’t have to worry about figuring out different settings and requirements such as software troubleshooting and others. This also means you will be able to avoid computer-related concerns which could possibly ruin your presentations.

2. They are less expensive to acquire and maintain. Compared with modern LCD projectors, overhead projectors require lesser amount of money to acquire and maintain. Purchasing from the right resources could lead you to about 50 percent savings and so this makes a nice choice if you are tight on budget. Look around and try browsing the available options. You will likely find projectors that have almost the same price as an LCD lamp.

3. Transparencies are available everywhere. Regardless if you are using an inkjet or laser printer, there are transparency films that are perfect for your device. These transparencies can be bought from nearby stores that carry office supplies and they are often available for a cheap price.

Cons

1. The heat. Although projector cases are designed to endure the heat of internal lamps, you as a user may still find it too hot to touch. Moreover, certain parts could even cause burns if you are not too careful. Also, be extra cautious not to place flammable materials beside it during or after use. This is important so you can avoid untoward incidents.

2. The toxins. There’s always the tendency for the projector’s plastic and metal parts to melt because of its heat level. When this happens, the machine will likely release toxic chemicals which may induce dizziness, skin irritation, and others. In case you suspect that you are are experiencing any of these symptoms after using the machine, then it’s always best to contact a professional technician to perform checks and repairs.

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg



Source by Shaan Berg

Best Way to Find Foreclosures – 5 Tips for Finding Foreclosures

Are you looking for foreclosures in your area? Conditions in various seller’s markets may be different but there are still ways in which you can easily find foreclosed homes for your ownership.

Tap the services of real estate agents. Real estate agents are given access to a system which is known as MLS or Multiple Listing Service. It is through this system that the agents are able to find foreclosed homes in a specific area. Thus, tapping such professional is one way to find a foreclosure.

Scout for real estate yard signs. Banks are still into the practice of putting yard signs into properties that have come back to their stables of possessions. There are variations of these signs but aside from foreclosure, included among the most common signs are bank-owned, bank repossessed, and bank repo. Typically, the real estate agent’s name is reflected on the sign. Take the opportunity to call whoever is written on the sign. with advanced thinking, you can already ask about forthcoming foreclosures in your area.

Join social media groups geared towards foreclosure buy and sell. Social media has become habitat to a variety of groups with different purposes and goals. Foreclosure groups are no different. They have thrived and lived on social media. If you are savvy enough, you will be lucky to find some groups over Facebook. Join them. You’ll not only find foreclosures in your area. You will also be up for learning from the experiences, tips, and suggestions that will be shared by other members.

Visit real estate websites. Apart from the real estate agents themselves, a lot of real estate firms maintain official websites. There are firms which concentrate on foreclosures. There are also those which offer the buying and selling of mixed properties along with foreclosures. Either kind, you can browse through their listings and filter those properties that are already foreclosed or those that are nearing repossession.

Make your own ads. Digital marketing, aside from being free, is powerful in terms of the number of reach it can have. A single post can reach multiple sellers. Utilize your social media accounts for free posts that you are looking for a foreclosed property to buy. Just patiently wait for responses, and you’ll be more than happy to see that there are indeed a number of persons who are willing to negotiate for their foreclosed homes.

Foreclosed properties are just near your place. By finding them and giving good offers, you are not only taking a step towards buying a dream house or an investment property. You are also making someone benefit from the amount that will be granted when deal is closed.

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg



Source by Desare A Kohn-Laski

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