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The title and escrow for your home are some of the most important aspects of the real estate buying process, but even most seasoned homeowners don’t fully understand what these terms mean.
In this video Diann Patton of Coldwell Banker Grass Roots Realty gives you a simple explanation of what these two terms mean and why they are so important.
The following post comes from Coldwell Banker Vanguard Realty, Inc. agent, Kim Knapp. Kim is an experienced agent in Northern Florida and has a great team who has worked with countless first-time home buyers. Below is Kim’s list of questions you should ask your home inspector before agreeing to use them.
Before you make your final buying or selling decision, you should have the home inspected by a professional. An inspection can alert you to potential problems with a property and allow you to make an informed decision. Ask these questions to prospective home inspectors:
1. Will your inspection meet recognized standards?
Ask whether the inspection and the inspection report will meet all state requirements and comply with a well-recognized standard of practice and code of ethics, such as the one adopted by the American Society of Home Inspectors or the National Association of Home Inspectors. Customers can view each group’s standards of practice and code of ethics online at www.ashi.org or www.nahi.org. ASHI’s Web site also provides a database of state regulations.
2. Do you belong to a professional home inspector association?
There are many state and national associations for home inspectors, including the two groups mentioned in No. 1. Unfortunately, some groups confer questionable credentials or certifications in return for nothing more than a fee. Insist on members of reputable, nonprofit trade organizations; request to see a membership ID.
3. How experienced are you?
Ask how long inspectors have been in the profession and how many inspections they’ve completed. They should provide customer referrals on request. New inspectors also may be highly qualified, but they should describe their training and let you know whether they plan to work with a more experienced partner.
4. How do you keep your expertise up to date?
Inspectors’ commitment to continuing education is a good measure of their professionalism and service. Advanced knowledge is especially important in cases in which a home is older or includes unique elements requiring additional or updated training.
5. Do you focus on residential inspection?
Make sure the inspector has training and experience in the unique discipline of home inspection, which is very different from inspecting commercial buildings or a construction site. If your customers are buying a unique property, such as a historic home, they may want to ask whether the inspector has experience with that type of property in particular.
6. How long will the inspection take?
On average, an inspector working alone inspects a typical single-family house in two to three hours; anything significantly less may not be thorough. If your customers are purchasing an especially large property, they may want to ask whether additional inspectors will be brought in.
7. What’s the cost?
Costs can vary dramatically, depending on your region, the size and age of the house, and the scope of services. The national average for single-family homes is about $320, but customers with large homes can expect to pay more. Customers should be wary of deals that seem too good to be true.
8. What type of inspection report do you provide?
Ask to see samples to determine whether you will understand the inspector’s reporting style. Also, most inspectors provide their full report within 24 hours of the inspection.
9. Will I be able to attend the inspection?
The answer should be yes. A home inspection is a valuable educational opportunity for the buyer. An inspector’s refusal to let the buyer attend should raise a red flag.
The following post comes from Coldwell Banker Vanguard Realty, Inc. agent, Kim Knapp. Kim is an experienced agent in Northern Florida and has a great team who has worked with countless first-time home buyers.
Here are her 8 tips to help make finding that first home go as smoothly as possible:
1. Research before you look.
Decide what features you most want to have in a home, what neighborhoods you prefer, and how much you’d be willing to spend each month for housing.
2. Be realistic.
It’s OK to be picky, but don’t be unrealistic with your expectations. There’s no such thing as a perfect home. Use your list of priorities as a guide to evaluate each property.
3. Get your finances in order.
Review your credit report and be sure you have enough money to cover your down payment and closing costs. Then, talk to a lender and get prequalified for a mortgage. This will save you the heartache later of falling in love with a house you can’t afford.
4. Don’t ask too many people for opinions.
It will drive you crazy. Select one or two people to turn to if you feel you need a second opinion, but be ready to make the final decision on your own. You will be the one that will be ultimately living in the home and paying the mortgage payment.
5. Decide your moving timeline.
When is your lease up? Are you allowed to sublet? How tight is the rental market in your area? All of these factors will help you determine when you should move.
6. Think long term.
Are you looking for a starter house with plans to move up in a few years, or do you hope to stay in this home for a longer period? This decision may dictate what type of home you’ll buy as well as the type of mortgage terms that will best suit you.
7. Insist on a home inspection.
If possible, get a warranty from the seller to cover defects for one year.
8. Get help from a REALTOR®.
Hire a real estate professional who specializes in buyer representation. Unlike a listing agent, whose first duty is to the seller, a buyer’s representative is working only for you. Buyer’s reps are usually paid out of the seller’s commission payment.
You’ve heard the term before, but do you really know what it means? Don’t feel embarassed, I didn’t really understand what it meant or the importance of being pre-approved for a mortgage until I started the process of searching for my first home.
In this video and a number of other videos, we’ll be sharing this week Diann Patton of Coldwell Banker Grass Roots Realty will be defining some real estate terminology and explaining the basics of some of the most common but misunderstood parts when buying your first home.
Watch the video above or click here to view it on the Coldwell Banker On Location YouTube channel.
According the National Association of Realtors, nearly a third of real estate home buyers this year will be entering the housing market for the first time. As a first time buyer, you’ll soon find out that there’s so many roads that need to be navigated before moving into that first home.
That’s why at Coldwell Banker Real Estate we’re dedicating this entire week to helping the first time home buyer as they venture into the world of home ownership. Throughout the week on this blog as well as on the Coldwell Banker Facebook and Twitter profiles, we’ll only be sharing content that’s geared toward first time home buyers.
While we’re producing all new content this week, the first time home buyer has been the focus of a number of posts we’ve already written. One of our most popular, and useful ones, is on 5 Tips for Saving for a Down Payment to help first time home buyers prepare financially for the big move.
Moving from the financial side of things to the emotional, Coldwell Banker Real Estate also conducted a study on the emotional impact of buying a home with your spouse and even consulted famed psychotherapist Dr. Robi Ludwig, to help provide some insight.
Also, there’s a tendency as a first time home buyer to jump on that first property that catches your eye, but there’s really value in shopping around. Here’s our post titled, Why First Time Home Buyers Should Shop Around.
The most provocative question posed in real estate this year came from one of our writers who was debating whether to enter the real estate market in 2013. The question she asked was: Is the F Word Stopping You from Becoming a First Time Home Buyer?
And finally, I wanted to share a lesson that I learned upon buying my first home and how I came to believe in working with a real estate professional.
We hope first time home buyers will find all the content being shared this week useful to their initial home shopping experience. But for those who’ve been through the process before, we want to hear from you and have you share what you wish you knew when you were a first time home buyer.
Join the conversation throughout First Time Home Buyer Week by following the hashtag #FirstHome and of course we welcome your opinions, insights and questions in the comments.
Here’s to making 2013 the year you experience the joy of home ownership for the first time.
If you thought spending a few thousand on a diamond was rough, multiply that by 50 or more and you have what is being referred to as the new engagement ring…buying a home.
In fact many married couples considered buying a home together did more to strengthen their relationship than any other purchase.
On Monday, Coldwell Banker Real Estate will be releasing the full results of a very interesting study that shows a growing trend of engaged couples buying homes before their nuptials. Some major media outlets got a preview of the study this week and the video above from Newsy and this video from AOL Morning Rush teases some of the highlights and findings that will be unveiled this coming week.
Come back to the Coldwell Banker Blue Matter blog on Monday morning to see the full results. I’m pretty sure a few of the findings will surprise you.
Image courtesy of Flickr user base2wave
What do Matt Damon, Suzanne Somers, Don Imus and Dr. James Naismith have in common? Coldwell Banker Real Estate.
We are used to our brand representing some celebrities and trophy homes, so no surprise last week when word came that Coldwell Banker agents were involved in representing so many star-studded homes, including the historic Canadian property basketball inventor Dr. Naismith grew up in.
Matt Damon’s home received quite a bit of fanfare when the Wall Street Journal broke the story of “The Jills” – Jill Eber and Jill Hertzberg – of Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate in Miami Beach being selected to sell his $20 million home. The Jills set a Coldwell Banker record last year by racking up a 125 transactions resulting in a new record of over $474,769,883 in sales. Clearly they are not slowing down!
Their Coldwell Banker Previews International colleague Joyce Rey, who works at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Beverly Hills, also routinely represents trophy homes. So it’s no surprise that the former Three’s Company star Suzanne Somers has listed her $15.5 million Palm Springs estate with Joyce.
The third listing we learned about last week piqued my interest as a huge basketball fan. Dr. James Naismith’s childhood home in Almonte, Ontario, Canada (yes he was Canadian) is available for $1.195 million. Partners Cindy Whitehead and Sara Stackhouse, of Coldwell Banker First Ottawa Realty, have the listing. The home on Highway 29 and Naismith Way is of obvious historical value along with its 45 acres of rolling farm land.
And now we come to a celebrity sale last week. Darlene Letersky and Emily Gordon of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Westport, CT, listed and sold, respectively, the 10,000 square foot, six-bedroom waterfront home of Don Imus’ for $14.4 million.
Just another week at Coldwell Banker!
The Coldwell Banker Real Estate video series World’s Most Expensive Homes has primarily taken us to bright and sunny locales, so for this episode in Aspen we experience a number of different elements as we explored this incredible property called Jigsaw Ranch.
The video above will highlight even more of the incredible features of this amazing estate that wouldn’t fit into the feature video, but I wanted to take the chance to share a little bit of what went into creating this video.
You may have noticed that for this episode we have a new host, Christina Collard. Christina is originally from Australia and was a great addition to the video. She also introduced me to the finer points of Australian rules football which I will forever be indebted to her for.
Brian Hazen, who is the listing agent for Jigsaw Ranch with Coldwell Baner Mason Morse, was a pleasure to work with as well. He and I are both total sports nuts so in between takes you would often find us chatting about how we would run NFL teams and the current state of college basketball. At one point Christina mentioned that she didn’t know if I could talk about anything other than sports. She’s pretty much right.
But let’s get into some of the unknown details of the home. First off there are absolutely no shoes allowed. Much like mother taught me all shoes have to come off as soon as you enter. Since the property is completely surrounded by snow for most of the year, this rule #1 allows for the already immaculate home to stay that way.
My favorite feature of the home is the incredible view from every single room. Doesn’t matter if you’re in the master bedroom, the kids room, the laundry room or the kitchen. Every room has majestic views of the Rocky Mountains. A lot of times these luxury homes can feel a bit cold and almost like a museum. Not Jigsaw Ranch. The owners did an incredible job of making a sprawling property feel very livable and intimate.
The best room for me was the study. From the desk to the bookshelf to the fireplace to the view, I just fell in love with this space. I could have spent hours there whether I was getting work done or not.
One feature of the home that I completely forgot to take a picture of and include in the video is the refrigerator. I’m telling you this was the biggest fridge you’ve ever seen. Had to be like 6 plus feet wide and could have housed 10 Thanksgiving turkeys. And there wasn’t just one, but two that size! Makes me hungry just thinking about it.
So enjoy the behind the scenes video of Jigsaw Ranch above or if you haven’t seen the feature video be sure to check it out on the Coldwell Banker On Location YouTube channel as well as the first episode of World’s Most Expensive Homes featuring the Versace mansion.
Want to guess where we’re headed next? Go ahead and take a guess in the comments. We’ll let you know in a future post.
Welcome to the world premier of Episode 2 in the World’s Most Expensive Homes video series from Coldwell Banker Real Estate.
As we leave the sun, sand and shores of Florida from Episode 1 with Casa Casuarina, the famed mansion of Versace in Miami Beach, we head to the Rockies for the ultimate luxury mountain retreat called Jigsaw Ranch in Aspen, currently on the market for an astounding $47,000,000.
This home, listed with Brian Hazen of Coldwell Banker Mason Morse, is beyond spectacular and stands out for so many reasons. Just minutes from downtown Aspen, this “small alpine village” features rustic charm set among magnificent Evergreen trees and seamlessly integrates natural elements of the surrounding backdrop for a relaxing escape from the hustle and bustle of the world. With more than 40 acres of privacy abounds, Jigsaw Ranch offers every available amenity imaginable and leaves a lasting impression that will make you never want to leave.
From a national perspective, this must-see home speaks volumes of what you’ll find in Aspen. Coldwell Banker Previews International® released its Luxury Market Report, which measures the value of luxury real estate in today’s market. It featured Aspen ZIP code, 81611, as the No. 2 luxury real estate market for sales $10 million and above–coming behind Beverly Hills ZIP code, 90210, and top luxury market, New York City. With the gorgeous architecture, lifestyle and undeniable landscape, it’s no wonder that Aspen achieved 16 completed sales of $10 million and up in 2012 alone, trailing only the 21 sales of the same value in Beverly Hills and 41 sales in the Upper East Side of New York City for the same time period.
In fact, Aspen also ranked at No. 3 in the highest volume of listings, with 54 total listings at $10 million and above. As you may have guessed, California and New York City were the only two other markets which precede Aspen and repeatedly lead in the same price range.
The reason for the increased sales and activity in the Aspen luxury market is due to a number of contributing factors. With inventory in areas such as 81611 being at its lowest since 2009, there has been a renewed interest from higher-income brackets, followed by a rebound in wealth. Aspen home prices have reset in 2012 giving way to an increase in buyer confidence, and with that, a surplus of buyers have descended on this luxury market.
In addition to taking you inside the top U.S. luxury markets, the Luxury Market Report offers an exclusive “Luxtimate” look at how to price ultra-luxury homes and gives a sneak peek of undiscovered areas, some of which happen to be situated just outside of leading neighboring communities. If Aspen doesn’t fit your budget, try nearby Castle Pines Village, Colorado.
For more on the top cities and ZIP codes with the most luxury listings in the $1 million+, $5 million+ and $10 million+ price ranges, check out the full Coldwell Banker Previews International Luxury Market Report, available at http://www.previewsinsideout.com/luxurymarketreport2013.
Welcome to baseball season. Sure March Madness has its Final Four still to come and the NBA is winding down its regular season, but this time of year is special for baseball. The Major League Baseball season has begun. Stadium across the country today are filled with hope and wonder as every team starts their season with the goal of winning a championship. While the outfield grass is trimmed and watered, as homeowners we’re doing much of the same as we’re prepping our lawns for mowing.
Baseball is the American pastime and holds a special place in our hearts. And a monumental occasion, like MLB Opening Day, deserve a perfect place to enjoy it. So I set out to find the perfect home for baseball’s opening day. You’ll never guess where I found it…Woodway, WA. Continue reading
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