Real Estate Information Archive

I had to share this story about a closing I had last week.  Keep in mind I had the sellers! 

We went to an atty office I had not worked with before.  Of course, we meet new attys all the time so I thought nothing of it.  Boy did we luck up!  We got an attorney that felt he needed to explain every single sentence in the entire closing package!  We went through the HUD statement no less than three times.  Explaining interest amounts in the most confusing terms.

After two hours I turned to my sellers while the atty praddled on and said, "This attorney your buyer retained cost $400.  When we find your new house we will use Mr. ______ as your attorney.  He is $550 but I hope you understand the difference in closing."  

My clients were quick in responding they didn't care about the cost if it would be much less confusing for everyone.

My sellers and I were allowed to leave the attys office after two and a half hours.  He hadn't even gotten to the loan papers!  

Buying a home will likely be one of your most important transactions.  Don't leave it to chance with an atty you find with the internet or with a coupon!  Closings have enough bumps with the regular road.  There is no need adding issues or confusion by having an attorney you can't understand.  $150 is nothing to quibble over when you are talking about legal documents regarding one of your largest investments.

I'm often asked if this is a good time to buy a home. Some clients are concerned that home prices may fall further than they have already. They are assuming that the best course of action is to wait for the bottom in the market and then buy. The problem with this approach is that you don't know where the bottom is until you see it in the rear view mirror, meaning until you've missed it!

Home prices are one factor in determining your cost of ownership, but so are interest rates and financing availability. Even though interest rates have gone up in the last six months, they are still near historic lows. Since your monthly mortgage payment is a combination of paying down your principal and paying the interest owed, if home prices come down a little further but interest rates go up, it could cost you even more to service a mortgage on an identical home!

While a home is a major investment, it is also the center of your personal life. It's important to live in a home that reflects your taste and values, yet is within your financial "comfort zone." To that end, it may be more important to lock in today's relatively low interest rates and low home prices, rather than to hope for a further break in prices in the future.

Please give me a call if I can be of any assistance in determining how much home you can afford in today's market.