Four Stages To Becoming A First-Time Homebuyer
October 25, 2008
The Homebuying Process
Buying a home is a complex experience, especially if it’s your first time. We have broken down the process down into four easy-to-understand stages and offers helpful tips and advice for each one.
Stage 1: Evaluate Your Life and Finances
Owning a home is like any major commitment. You need to be mentally and financially ready for it. What stage of life are you in? Are you financially stable? Do you move around a lot?
Before you even look at homes, take a good look at your situation and crunch the numbers to see if this is the right time for you to buy. Just because it’s a buyer’s market doesn’t mean you should buy now. These steps will help you figure out whether you’re ready to own a home.
Step 1: Compare the pros and cons of renting and buying.
Step 2: Create a “Home Wish List.”
Step 3: Calculate a monthly mortgage payment you can afford.
Step 4: Create a budget for monthly homeowner expenses.
Step 5: Check your credit report and improve your credit score.
Step 6: Research the market where you want to buy.
Step 7: Figure out how you will get a down payment and pay closing costs.
Step 8: Start off small. (This is your first home not your dream home.)
Step 9: Know your rights as a homebuyer and borrower.
Stage 2: Shop for a Loan
Once you determine you’re ready for the responsibilities of owning a home, it’s time to find financing. You’ll likely be borrowing thousands of dollars, so shop around for the best interest rates and loan terms to negotiate the best deal. Buying a home involves more than just the sales price. There are fees for every part of the process. Make sure you understand everything you’re paying for.
Step 1: Study your financial picture.
Step 2: Read about the different types of mortgages and check competitive interest rate online. Find out what kind of mortgage is right for you.
Step 3: Now shop for the best mortgage rate and loan terms.
Step 4: Get pre-approved. (You will need a pre-approval letter when your ready to submit an offer.)
Step 5: Look into programs that will save you cash.
Step 6: Research homebuyer assistance programs.
Step 7: Figure out the impact on your taxes.
Step 8: Arrange financing for the home you want to buy and be creative.
Step 9: Protect yourself from falling victim to predatory lenders.
Stage 3: Find a House
Now comes the fun part! You have your home wish list and pre-approval letter, so it’s time to go house hunting. Save the gas money and do some research online first. Read about different neighborhoods and home styles, and browse listings online. Consider getting a buyer’s agent to set up home tours and guide you through the process.
Step 1: Choose a neighborhood.
Step 2: Choose a type of house.
Step 3: See what’s available online.
Step 4: Shop for real estate agent with local knowledge. I would recommend Trend Setter Realty =0)
Step 5: Keep a house-hunting journal.
Step 6: Approach foreclosures with caution.
Step 7: Narrow down your choices and see the houses again.
Step 8: Calculate the home’s market value.
Step 9: Make an offer.
Stage 4: Close the Deal
Unless you made a low-ball offer that offended the seller, expect to negotiate. The key is to find terms you both can agree on. Put them in writing, sign the contract and the closing process begins. During this period, you’ll get an appraisal, title search and exam, home inspection and homeowners insurance. If all goes well, you’ll sign the paperwork and the keys are yours!
Step 1: Finalize the purchase and sale contract.
Step 2: Choose a title company that will research the title and coordinate the closing.
Step 3: Get an appraisal.
Step 4: Get a professional home inspection.
Step 5: Get homeowner’s insurance quotes and pay the premium.
Step 6: Consider home warranty coverage.
Step 7: Do a final walk-through of the house.
Step 8: Review each closing document carefully.
Step 9: Plan your big move!
Texas Home Foreclosures Down In September According To RealtyTrac Report
October 24, 2008
According to the September report compiled by RealtyTrac, Texas real estate foreclosure numbers are down for the month of September and for the third quarter, compared with the prior quarter. Over the month of September, a total of 9,193 homes in Texas entered the foreclosure process, a 15.4% decline from the volume of filings posted in August 2008.
Compared to a year ago, the September 2008 numbers mark a 37.4% decline from the number of filings posted in Texas over the course of September 2007.
As part of RealtyTrac’s latest report, the firm ranked the top 100 metro foreclosure markets based on the percentage of houses in a given city that were in foreclosure during the third quarter of this year. The higher a city’s ranking, the higher the percentage of homeowners who have received foreclosure notices.
San Antonio came in at No. 71 on the Top 100 list. As of third-quarter 2008, a total 2,299 homes 0.31% of its housing units were in foreclosure.
Top six states account for 60 percent of third quarter foreclosure activity
Six states accounted for more than 60% of U.S. foreclosure activity in the third quarter. California alone accounted for more than 27% of the nation’s foreclosure activity, with 210,845 properties receiving a foreclosure filing during the quarter — up 4% from the previous quarter and up more than 122% from the third quarter of 2007.
Foreclosure filings were reported on 127,306 Florida properties during the third quarter, the second highest state total. The state’s foreclosure activity increased 16% from the previous quarter and nearly 109% from the third quarter of 2007.
Arizona documented the third highest state total in the third quarter, with 40,419 properties receiving a foreclosure filing — a 9% increase from the previous quarter and a 189% increase from the third quarter of 2007.
Ohio, Michigan and Nevada all reported foreclosure filings on more than 30,000 properties during the third quarter, although foreclosure activity in Ohio was down 11% from the previous quarter and foreclosure activity in Michigan was down 8% from the previous quarter. Nevada’s foreclosure activity increased more than 22% from the previous quarter and was up more than 132% from the third quarter of 2007.
To read the full report and see rankings for other cities visit www.RealtyTrac.com
TriStone Homes Opens The Ridge at Leon Valley
October 22, 2008
TriStone Homes announced the Grand Opening of their newest community, The Ridge at Leon Valley.
TriStone Homes will offer homes ranging from 1,519 square feet to 2,962 square feet, with base prices from the high 130′s. The model home, a “Medina” boasts 2,962 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, a game room and chef;s kitchen. Located in the heart of Leon valley, The Ridge’s central location makes it an ideal place to live. Residents of the Ridge enjoy proximity to Medical Center, Ingram Park Mall, and local attractions, like SeaWorld.
TriStone is proud to be an Energy Star certified builder and is even more proud to say that they offer standard features in their homes which are considered upgrades with many other builders. For more information you can visit TriStone Homes at www.tristonehomes.com.
San Antonio and Austin Lead Forbes List For America’s Best-Value Cities
October 11, 2008
If your looking to get the best value for your dollar, Forbes.com recommends heading to Texas.
That’s because Austin and San Antonio lead the list of places where your money goes farthest. Residents of both enjoy affordable housing and promising prospects for job growth in coming years. Houston and Dallas also land in the top 10, at Nos. 4 and 7, respectively.
“Texas, as a whole, is one of the few economies that’s performing extremely well because of the energy and technology sectors,” says Andrew Gledhill, an economist at Moody’s Economy.com. Plus, he added, military bases in San Antonio have continued to draw a steady steam of personnel and federal employees to the city, spurring widespread job growth.
America’s Best-Value Cities
10. Portland, Ore.
9. Denver, Colo.
8. Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn.
7. Dallas, Texas
6. Columbus, Ohio
5. Charlotte, N.C.
4. Houston, Texas
3. Indianapolis, Ind.
2. San Antonio, Texas
Job Growth Projections Rank: 4
Inflation Rank: 17
Median House Price/Median Household Income Rank: 7
Median Income/Cost of Living Index Rank: 12
Gas Prices Rank: 4
1. Austin, Texas
Behind the Numbers
To ensure that our list reflected future value instead of past bargains, we began by looking at projected job growth through 2012 in the 40 largest U.S.-Census-defined metropolitan areas of the country with data from Moody’s Economy.com.
Texan cities were a clear winner, with economists predicting job growth of at least 2% by 2012 in Austin, San Antonio, Dallas and Houston. By comparison, job growth in cities at the bottom of our list, including Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Cleveland, is expected to be about 0.2%.
We then calculated the ratios between each city’s median house price and median household income, using 2000 U.S. Census figures, the latest available, and 2007 data from the National Association of Realtors. Next, we compared median income to Moody’s cost of living index.
Final factors included the average gas price in each city on a given day in October as collected by AAA, and year-over-year inflation growth as calculated by Moody’s and Forbes.com.
Read the entire article written by Abha Bhattarai at Forbes.com
San Antonio Makes HomeVestors Top 10 List Again
October 8, 2008
HomeVestors® of America, Inc., the company famous for its “We Buy Ugly Houses”® billboards and America’s #1 Home Buyer, has named the top 10 markets for real estate investing in the third quarter of 2008. They are as follows:
1. Dallas, Texas
2. Houston, Texas
3. Fort Worth, Texas
4. Atlanta, Georgia
5. San Antonio, Texas
6. Denver, Colorado
7. St. Louis, Missouri
8. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
9. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
10. Richmond, Virginia
HomeVestors, which has bought more than 36,000 homes in the U.S. over the last 12 years, based the findings on the number of houses bought in each market by the franchise network in the third quarter of 2008.
“This continues to be an ugly year for residential real estate, creating record-setting demand for a trusted national home buyer,” said John Hayes, president and CEO of HomeVestors. “And HomeVestors franchisees continue to pay cash for houses, an increasingly attractive solution for thousands of homeowners also addressing one of the worst credit crises in our nation’s history.”
HomeVestors is the only national franchise that specializes in buying, rehabbing and selling single-family homes across the nation. The company has more than 230 franchises in 35 states.
San Antonio Market Still Considered A Low Risk
October 2, 2008
PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., the primary U.S. subsidiary of The PMI Group, Inc., today released its Fall 2008 U.S. Market Risk Index(SM), which shows increases in foreclosures and unemployment have significantly heightened the risk of future home price declines. PMI’s U.S. Market Risk Index(SM) ranks the nation’s 50 largest metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) according to the likelihood that home prices will be lower in two years.
Risk scores translate directly into an estimated percentage risk that home prices will be lower in two years. The Fall 2008 Risk Index is based on second-quarter Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) data. A complete copy of the Fall 2008 PMI Economic and Real Estate TrendsSM (ERET) report and an appendix that provides data for all 381 U.S. MSAs is available at: http://www.pmi-us.com/eret.
The risk of future price declines rose by more than 10 percent in 16 of the nation’s top 50 MSAs, primarily in areas of the country that experienced major increases in house prices during the housing boom. Only two MSAs — Cambridge-Newton-Framingham, MA and Boston-Quincy, MA — saw their risk decrease by more than one percent. Among the top 50 MSAs, 17 ranked in the highest risk category and 16 of those were in California, Florida, Nevada, and Arizona.
“The risk of future home price declines increased in 94 percent of all 381 MSAs in the country this quarter,” said David Berson, PMI’s Chief Economist and Strategist. “The majority of these increases aren’t statistically significant, in many cases risk increased by less than ten percent, but risk did increase by a significant amount — as much as 30 percent or more — in some states and MSAs where foreclosures and unemployment increased significantly.”
The highest risk of future price declines remains in Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, FL (99.5 percent), Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA (99.5 percent), Orlando-Kissimmee, FL (99.4 percent), Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, FL (99.3 percent), Tampa-St. Petersberg-Clearwater, FL (99 percent). The areas with the lowest risk of price declines — less than one percent — are in Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX, Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX, Austin-Round Rock, TX and San Antonio, TX.
Housing affordability also failed to improve this quarter, according to PMI’s proprietary Affordability Index(SM), which measures how affordable homes are today in a given MSA relative to a baseline of 1995. An Affordability Index score exceeding 100 indicates that homes have become more affordable while a score below 100 means they are less affordable.
Across the nation, 40 percent of the nation’s 381 MSAs showed increased affordability; while 60 percent of all MSAs experienced declines in affordability. Affordability remains challenged in 14 of the 17 MSAs with risk scores in the highest risk ranks. Home prices in these areas will need to fall further in order to move back in line with incomes before there will be meaningful reductions in risk scores.
In addition to the PMI U.S. Market Risk Index showing the risk of price declines, PMI’s Fall 2008 ERET examines major changes in the mortgage origination trends as well as the impact foreclosures and unemployment are having on home prices in the second quarter of 2008.
PMI Fall 2008 PMI U.S. Market Risk Index
Rank MSA Score
1 Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach; FL A 99.5
1 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario; CA 99.5
1 Orlando-Kissimmee; FL 99.4
1 Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall; FL 99.3
1 Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater; FL 99.0
1 Las Vegas-Paradise; NV 98.5
1 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale; CA 98.5
1 Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine; CA 97.7
1 Jacksonville; FL 97.5
1 Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale; AZ 96.3
1 Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville; CA 96.3
1 San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos; CA 95.9
1 Oakland-Fremont-Hayward; CA 94.4
1 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara; CA 87.1
1 Providence-New Bedford-Fall River; RI-MA 72.4
1 San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City; CA 71.6
3 Edison-New Brunswick; NJ 35.1
3 Nassau-Suffolk; NY 29.4
3 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria; DC-VA-MD-WV 26.0
3 Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News; VA-NC 25.4
4 Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn; MI 17.8
4 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington; MN-WI 14.8
4 Newark-Union; NJ-PA 14.4
4 Baltimore-Towson; MD 10.1
5 New York-White Plains-Wayne; NY-NJ 9.8
5 Boston-Quincy; MA 7.7
5 Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills; MI 7.3
5 Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton; OR-WA 6.4
5 Chicago-Naperville-Joliet; IL 6.3
5 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta; GA 3.5
5 Seattle-Bellevue-Everett; WA 2.3
5 Philadelphia; PA 2.1
5 Cambridge-Newton-Framingham; MA 1.6
5 Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin; TN 1.6
5 Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor; OH 1.1
5 St. Louis, MO-IL <1
5 Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis; WI <1
5 Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord; NC-SC <1
5 Cincinnati-Middletown; OH-KY-IN <1
5 Denver-Aurora; CO <1
5 Columbus; OH <1
5 Austin-Round Rock; TX <1
5 Kansas City; MO-KS <1
5 Indianapolis-Carmel; IN <1
5 Memphis, TN-MS-AR <1
5 San Antonio; TX <1
5 Pittsburgh; PA <1
5 Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown; TX <1
5 Dallas-Plano-Irving; TX <1
5 Fort Worth-Arlington; TX <1
