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Buyer Tips

Buying a home can be one of your most significant investments in life. Home Buying Articles and Advice provides detailed information to assist you in making an intelligent and informed decision.

Home Buying Articles and Advice

Buying a home can be one of your most significant investments in life. Not only are you choosing your dwelling place, and the place in which you will bring up your family, you are most likely investing a large portion of your assets into this venture. The more prepared you are at the outset, the less overwhelming and chaotic the buying process will be. The goal of this page is to provide you with detailed information to assist you in making an intelligent and informed decision. Remember, if you have any questions about the process, or if your looking to buy or sell real estate in Philadelphia, Delaware County, Chester County, Montgomery County and surrounding areas in Pennsylvania Contact Anthony DiDonato Call 610-659-3999 {Smart Phones Click to Call}

 

Benefits of Owning Your Own Home (Click to see full information on the below topics)
  • The Best Investment
  • Income Tax Savings
  • Stable Monthly Housing Costs
  • Forced Savings
  • Freedom and Individuality
  • More Space
Important Things To Avoid Before Buying a Home (Click to see full information on the below topics)
  • Don’t Move Money Around
  • The Effect of Changing Jobs
  • No Major Purchases of Any Kind
Don’t Buy a Car – or Did You Already Buy One? (Click to see full information on the below topics)
  • When Income Grows and You Want to Buy “Stuff”
  • Debt-to-Income Ratios and Car Payments
  • How Buying a Car Reduces Your Purchase Price
The Business Cycle and Buying a Home (Click to see full information on the below topics)
  • Recession and Expansion
  • Supply and Demand
  • Should You Try to “Time the Market”?
Comparable Sales and Your Offer Price (Click to see full information on the below topics)
  • Determining Your Offer Price
  • Comparable Sales in the Public Record
  • Comparable Sales in the Multiple Listing Service
  • Comparable Sales – Pending Transactions
  • Other Factors Influencing Your Offer Price
Major Factors Influencing your Offer Price (Click to see full information on the below topics)
  • How Property Condition Affects Your Offer
  • How Home Improvements Affect Your Offer
  • How Market Conditions Affect Your Offer
  • How Seller Motivation Affects Your Offer
  • The Final Decision on Your Offer Price
Offering to Purchase Real Estate- the Basics (Click to see full information on the below topics)
  • Introduction and Overview
  • Contingencies in a Purchase Offer
  • Earnest Money Deposit
  • The Closing Date
  • Transfer of Possession
Writing an Offer – Safeguards Regarding the Property (Click to see full information on the below topics)
  • Disclosures From the Seller
  • Condition of the Property Upon Transfer
  • Inspections You Should Require
  • Final Walk-Through Inspection
How Financing Details Affect Your Offer (Click to see full information on the below topics)
  • Down Payment
  • Interest Rates
  • Closing Costs and Financing Incentives
  • Seller Financing
  • Cash Offers
  • Other Financing Details in Your Offer
How FHA and VA Financing Affects Your Offer (Click to see full information on the below topics)
  • Extra Costs for the Seller
  • VA and FHA Appraisals
Selecting Service Providers (Click to see full information on the below topics)
  • You and the Seller Must Agree
  • Escrow and Settlement
  • Title Insurance
  • Termite and Pest Inspection


Benefits of Owning Your Own Home

Benefits of Owning Your Own Home: The Best Investment As a fairly general rule, homes appreciate about five percent a year. Some years will be more, some less. The figure will vary from neighborhood to neighborhood, and region to region.  Five percent may not seem like that much at first. Stocks (at times) appreciate much …

Important Things To Avoid Before Buying a Home

Other Things to Avoid Before Purchasing a Home Don’t Move Money Around When a lender reviews your loan package for approval, one of the things they are concerned about is the source of funds for your down payment and closing costs. Most likely, you will be asked to provide statements for the last two or …

Don’t Buy a Car – or Did You Already Buy One?

Don’t Buy a Car When an individual’s income starts growing and they manage to set aside some savings, they commonly experience what may be considered an innate instinct of modern civilized mankind.  The desire to spend money.  Since North Americans have a special love affair with the automobile, this becomes a high priority item on …

The Business Cycle and Buying a Home

The Business Cycle and Buying a Home Recession and Expansion   There are times when the economy is brisk and everyone feels confident about his or her prospects for the future. As a result, they spend money. People eat out more, buy new cars, and…they buy new homes.  Then, for one reason or another, the …

Comparable Sales and Your Offer Price

Determining Your Offer Price When you prepare an offer to purchase a home, you already know the seller’s asking price. But what price are you going to offer and how do you come up with that figure?  Determining your offer price is a three-step process. First, you look at recent sales of similar properties to …

Major Factors Influencing your Offer Price

How Property Condition Affects Your Offer Since you have toured the property you are interested in, you should know how it compares to the general neighborhood. All you have to do is put the home in one of three categories – average, above average, or below average.  When evaluating a home’s condition, there are a …

Offering to Purchase Real Estate- the Basics

Writing an Offer to Purchase Real Estate Once you find the home you want to buy, the next step is to write an offer – which is not as easy as it sounds. Your offer is the first step toward negotiating a sales contract with the seller. Since this is just the beginning of negotiations, …

Writing an Offer – Safeguards Regarding the Property

Writing an Offer – Safeguards Regarding the Property Disclosures From the Seller Although you have toured the property, looked at the walls and ceiling, turned on the faucets and played with the light switches, you have not lived in it. The seller has years of knowledge about his or her home and there may be …

How Financing Details Affect Your Offer

How Financing Details Affect Your Offer Most buyers do not have enough cash available to buy a home, so they need to obtain a mortgage to finance the purchase. Since you will probably make your purchase contingent upon obtaining a mortgage, the seller has the right to be informed of your financing plans in order …

How FHA and VA Financing Affects Your Offer

How FHA and VA Loans Affect Your Offer   Extra Costs to the Seller   If you are obtaining a VA or FHA loan in order to finance your purchase, you must include that information in your offer. This is because government loans place additional financial and performance obligations on the seller. Non-Allowable Fees   …

Selecting Service Providers

Selecting Service Providers You and the Seller Must Agree Buying a home does not occur in a vacuum, involving only you and the seller. There are all kinds of people and services involved behind the scenes to make it happen. Since some of these services affect both you and the seller, there will have to …