Home Buying Guide: Tips for First-Time Home Buyers

Buying a new home is one of the most life-changing and financially overwhelming decisions anyone will ever make, especially for first-time home buyers. The following tips should be taken into consideration before finally deciding to buy your very own first home:

1. Think about your finances. Financial stability is easily the be the biggest and most important concern you'll have when purchasing a new home. Assess your credit score and see how qualified you are for a mortgage or any financing option. Prepare yourself for all the expenses associated with owning your own home, such as cost of repairs and maintenance, including the expenses involved in completing the transaction.

2. Get to know the basics. Always prioritize your needs over wants. You might get overwhelmed with the plethora of available homes for sale that you would end up going for a property that doesn’t actually suit your needs and budget. Create a checklist of the amenities that you actually need, vis-a-vis what you can actually afford, and then document your research and plans. Never be in a rush to close a deal unless you have everything covered.

Home buying not only entails financial stability, but also emotional- and mental-preparedness. See to it that you have thought about this endeavor thoroughly, compare the pros and cons of buying and renting, and consider the advice of certified real estate agents. An experienced and well-connected real estate agent can make it easier for you to find and secure a rewarding home purchase.

The Advantages of Multiple Listing Service (MLS)

Selling a property can become a challenge when its value goes up, simply because it means higher costs for the potential buyer. It's therefore not surprising to find some real estate properties taking months or even years to sell. This difficulty to sell is also the reason why property sellers make huge investments on advertisements to scour the state, or even the country, for potential buyers. Considering that this task is quite daunting and time-consuming, property owners trying to sell their properties resort to hiring real estate agents.

Real estate agents not only have a working knowledge of how the market works, but also have a network of contacts that can help them complete the sale. One of the tools they use to help their clients is the multiple listing service (MLS). This is a type of service which involves posting the property for sale and all its details in a database where potential buyers can check it out.

With MLS, potential buyers can enjoy choosing from the many options on hand, allowing them to find the property that matches their criteria without leaving the comforts of their homes. With the MLS, they can already make a short-list of properties they're interested in, thereby making their ocular visits more convenient.

Established MLS provides other significant information, including mortgage, taxes, and utilities. Photos of major rooms and features of the house and property are also included. The listing will hasten the process and reduce potential risks.

A Licensed Vancouver Real Estate Agent Can Help Market Properties

"While selling a home on your own is perfectly possible, having a real estate agent at hand can really help close the deal. With their wealth of knowledge on the current market and the trends affecting it, agents can capably promote a home for sale and even set a reasonable and enticing price for the property. Agents can also arrange for home staging and open house visits to lure in prospective buyers, as well as promote the property through online channels. Basically, having an agent help out in selling can increase the marketability of a particular property. Fortunately, there are numerous real estate agents in Vancouver that homeowners can go to for assistance. The key to a successful sale is to enlist an agent who’s both reliable and experienced, such as Jamie Hooper."

http://jamiehooper.com/blog.html/a-licensed-vancouver-real-estate-agent-can-help-market-properties-2889194a

Reasons To Settle In Vancouver

It's hard to ignore the city of Vancouver if the Economist Intelligence Unit has listed it as the 3rd most livable city in the world for 2013. The criteria, which includes stability, culture and environment, education, health care and infrastructure, are enough to convince a potential home buyer to live in the home of The Canucks.

Why shouldn't you consider a city that values its natural resources? Vancouver is a densely forested area and its nature preserves are well protected. Its neighbourhoods are aligned with trees and you can cycle or walk for hours and find places of refuge. You can choose to hike, climb mountains, or take pleasure in its scenic views. Vancouver also has plenty of amenities that residents can access, such as parks, markets, and golf courses.

Best of all, Vancouver has an excellent community that practices a high standard of living that has lured people from all walks of life. Diversity is evident yet harmony thrives within, making it a good place to socialize and learn. Of course, community leadership has played a part in boosting Vancouver's rankings up the charts. Combine this with sustainable food, outstanding health care and a myriad of other commendable options and you'll get a place worth living.

Tips for First-Time Home Buyers

The idea of waking up to a house that is the product of one’s own hard work induces a feeling of accomplishment and happiness.

Due to this fact, there are a lot of first-time buyers that tend to panic and commit mistakes when choosing their first home. These mistakes may cause buyers to land in a house not suitable to their needs or at the expense of their financial security.

There are ways to prevent these things from happening. Here are a few of them.

Make a realistic wish list

Everyone has that dream home in their minds, where everything they ever wanted is in reach. First-time buyers should know that their dreams, in terms of finding a home, can only go as far as their wallets allow them to. Stick to a good price range and list the important features as these will cater to your needs.

Get a pre-approved mortgage

One of the things that may stop someone from buying that first house is the fact that there are no means available for the buyer to buy it. Mortgage helps, but it is important to be pre-approved for one to qualify for it.

Coordination with real estate agents

Sticking around with a reliable real estate agent in the area where the potential home is located is a good thing to do. They know the ins and outs of the market and give professional advice on what to do next.

Three Things to Consider Before Searching MLS Listings in Vancouver

"People use a multiple listing service (MLS) to find and buy homes. However, some of them feel overwhelmed if MLS listings in Vancouver show many choice homes for sale. An MLS offers numerous benefits to people ready to buy homes. How Stuff Works has more on this: As a buyer, you enjoy the benefit of instant access to listings that match specified criteria, beyond price range and location. Maybe you want to see homes with a big yard, a garage and a lake view, or homes in a certain school district or close to public transportation. Many multiple listing service sites can also tell you how much you should expect to pay in real estate taxes, mortgage payments, and utilities on a particular property. This service has saved everyone involved in real estate transactions -- buyers, sellers and their agents -- time and legwork in sorting through the millions of properties on the market."

http://jamiehooper.com/blog.html/three-things-to-consider-before-searching-mls-listings-in-vancouver-2889189

What You Should Know About Real Estate Agents

It's hard to deny that real estate is big business, with homes selling for hundreds of thousands—if not millions—of dollars. When it's time to sell a house, many people choose to hire a Vancouver real estate agent to help them through the process. In fact, here are some important things that you ought to know about real estate agents:

While you can indeed sell a house without an agent, the truth is that real estate transactions are governed by complex laws that you might struggle to understand. Fortunately, real estate agents are well-versed in local real estate laws. They also know the ins and outs of the real estate industry, allowing them to give their clients an accurate selling price based on market trends.

Since there would be a number of homes competing with your property, having a skilled real estate agent at your side can be advantageous. He can come up with a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) report, for instance, so you'll be able determine the market value of your home and price it competitively. An aptly priced property can attract more prospective buyers and encourages a faster sale.

Leading Vancouver real estate agents are genuinely concerned about helping home sellers and buyers in acquiring the best deals available. It is the goal of real estate professionals to turn each and every transaction into a win-win situation.

What is a Multiple Listing Service?

The internet is rapidly becoming the world's favorite and major encyclopedia. If you need to find information about something, you're only a few mouse clicks away from being better informed. These days, entrepreneurs even harness the world wide web's capacity to deliver information to make their products more visible to buyers, as evidenced by popular online stores and businesses.

Similarly, real estate brokers use the Internet to make information about property listings more accessible, facilitating easier sales. Real estate brokers cooperate with one another to build what is called a multiple listing service, a searchable database of properties for sale in a given area. For instance, if a broker has a Vancouver property he wants to sell, he can post it on the MLS so that other members can view details about it like the asking price, square footage, and number of bedrooms. Due to the wider network of brokers or real estate professionals viewing the property, it would be faster to find suitable buyers. If a property is sold via the MLS, the listing broker will simply share part of the sales price as commission.

Multiple listing services are now an important part of the real estate industry. It is a bridge that links buyers, sellers, brokers, and properties.