1. Get Pre-Approved - Not Pre-Qualified!

Do you want to get the best Burgaw or Pender County property you can for the least amount of money? Then make sure you are in the strongest negotiating position possible. Price is only one element in the negotiations, and not necessarily the most important one. A number of other terms, such as the strength of the buyer or the length of escrow, are critical to a seller.

It used to be that Pender County real estate buyers could get easily pre-qualified by a lender or mortgage broker over the phone in a matter of minutes. Even though you may get an official looking certificate for being pre-qualified to receive a home loan, none of your information has been verified by the lender, rendering this status useless in the big picture of buying a home.  While you can still get pre-qualified easily over the phone, it's not a step we recommend.

It often occurs that unknown problems are uncovered in the verification process.  Some of these problems may include recorded judgments, alimony payments due, glitches on the credit report due to any number of reasons both accurately and inaccurately, down payments that have not been in the clients' bank account long enough, etc.

So the way to make the strongest offer today is to get pre-approved for a home loan before starting your Burgaw home search. This happens AFTER all information has been checked and verified. You are actually APPROVED for the home loan and the only remaining factor is the appraisal on the property. The pre-approval process takes anywhere from a few days to a few weeks depending on your situation.  I highly recommend all my Burgaw and Pender County clients get a preapproval through their mortgage broker or lender.

2. Sell Your Property Before Buying a House

If you have a house to sell, do your best to sell it before selecting a house to buy! Contingency sales aren't nearly as strong as one that comes in with a ready, willing and able buyer. Consider this scenario: You've found the perfect house in Burgaw - now you have to go make an offer to the seller. You want the seller to reduce the price and wait until you sell your house. The seller figures that this is a risky deal, since he might pass up a buyer who DOESN'T have to sell a house while he's waiting for you. So he says OK, he'll do the contingency but it has to be a full price offer! You have now paid more for the house than you could have because of the contingency, and you have to sell your existing house in a hurry! Otherwise you lose the house! So to sell quickly you might take an offer that's lower than if you had more time. The bottom line is that buying before selling might cost you THOUSANDS of dollars.

If you're concerned that there is not a Burgaw or Pender County house on the market for you, then go on a window-shopping trip. You can identify possible houses and locations within Pender County without falling in love with a specific house. If you feel confident after that, then put your current house on the market.

Another tactic is to make the sale ''subject to seller finding suitable housing''. Adding this phrase to the listing means that WHEN YOU DO FIND A BUYER, you will have some time to find the new place. If you don't find anything to your liking, you don't have to sell your present home.

3. Judge a House on It's Substance

Before house hunting in Pender County, make a list of things you want in the new place. Then make a list of the things you don't want. You can use this list as a guide to rate each Pender County property that you see. The one with the biggest score wins! This helps avoid confusion and keeps things in perspective when you're comparing dozens of homes.

When searching for a home in Burgaw or greater Pender County, keep in mind the difference between ''STYLE AND SUBSTANCE''. The SUBSTANCE are things that cannot be changed such as the location, view, size of lot, noise in the area, school district, and floor plan. The STYLE represents easily changed surface finishes like carpet, wallpaper, color, and window coverings. Buy the house with good SUBSTANCE, because the STYLE can always be changed to match your tastes. It's best to try and imagine each house as if it were vacant.

Bottom line here - Consider each house on its underlying merits, not the seller's decorating skills.  

4. Don't Rush Into Choosing A House

Your Pender County real estate agent should show you everything available that meets your requirements. Don't make a decision on a house until you feel that you've seen enough to pick the best one.

A decade ago, homes were selling quickly, usually a few days after listing. In that kind of market, agents advised their clients to make an offer ON THE SPOT if they liked the house. That was good advice at the time. Today there isn't always this urgency, unless a home is drastically underpriced, and you'll know if it is.

Don't forget to check into the SCHOOL DISTRICTS of the area you're considering. Information is available on every school; such as class sizes, % of students that go on to college, SAT scores, etc.

5. Put Your Real Estate Agent to Work For You!

Beware of browsing the real estate section of the newspaper and finding ads for homes that seem to be the perfect match for you.  Don't get your hopes up.  Oftentimes, those homes are under contract or no longer on the market.  The listing is used as bait to get you to call the listing agent.

For this reason, I want you to be very careful when reading ads. Remember that the person writing the ad is representing the seller and not you! The most important thing you can do is have someone on your side looking out for your best interests. Your own Burgaw real estate agent will critique the property with an eye towards how well it meets your needs and will point out any drawbacks you should know about. So whether you decide to work with Vicki Foster or not, pick an agent you feel comfortable with and enlist the services of that agent as a buyer's broker. Then you become a client with all the rights, benefits, and privileges created by this agency relationship, and you're no longer just a shopper.

Did you know that many homes are sold WITHOUT A SIGN ever going up or an AD EVER BEING PUT IN THE PAPER? These "great deals" go to those people who are committed to working with one real estate agent. When an agent hears of a great buy, who do you think he's going to call? His client, who he has a legal obligation to work hard for, or someone who just called on the phone and said "keep your eyes open"? So to get the best buy on a property, I always recommend that you hire your own Pender County real estate agent and stick with him or her.

I hope these Burgaw home buying tips are useful to you.  If you're interested in learning more or hiring a Burgaw real estate professional to assist you in the buying process, please call Vicki Foster at:

1-877-259-7156

or email vicki@vickifoster.com

Thank you!