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First Time Home Buyer Specialist in South Florida

Written by Posted On Monday, 29 June 2015 16:02

If you want to know how much your house will sell for in South Florida, Broward County go to Home Value or call Irene Medina.Realtor at 954-439-4851. 

My specialty is working with first time home buyers. It makes me feel great to guide and consult people who are just starting their home buying journey. If you’re looking to buy, please know that I’m available to help you at every step of the way to make sure your experience is every bit as simple and as enjoyable as it should be.

Want to know more? Contact me, Irene, today at 954-439-4851.

 

Top Guidelines For Novice Home Buyers

The challenge of purchasing your home for the first time can feel so daunting that it’s tempting to either just go with the first house that falls within your price range or continue to lease. To help you demystify the strategy and get the most out of your purchase, we’ll analyze what you’ll need to think about before you purchase, what you can expect from the buying process alone, and some handy ideas to make life easier after you buy your first house.

Considerations Before You Purchase

The first thing you’ll need to determine is precisely what your long-term objectives are and then how owning a home fits in with those plans. It could be that you’re merely looking to improve all those “wasted” lease payments into home loan repayments that actually give you something tangible. Others see home ownership as being a manifestation of their independence and relish the idea of being their very own landlord. Narrowing down your big-picture homeownership objectives will certainly point you in the right path. Allow me to share five questions to ask yourself:

  1. What type of house best suits your needs? You have a number of options when buying a residential property: a traditional single-family home, a townhouse, a condominium, or a multi-family building with two to four units. Each choice has its own pros and cons, depending on your homeownership objectives, so you need to determine which type of residence will help you achieve those objectives. You can also save on the purchase price in any category by choosing a fixer-upper, though the period of time, sweat equity and funds associated to turn a fixer-upper into your ideal home may very well be much more than you bargained for.
  2. What particular features will your ideal house have? While it’s advisable that you keep some versatility in this checklist, you are making perhaps the biggest purchase of your life, and you deserve to have that purchase fit both your needs and wants as strongly as possible. Your checklist should consist of basic needs, like neighborhood and size, all the way down to smaller details like bathroom layout and a kitchen area that comes with trust-worthy home appliances.
  3. How much mortgage do you qualify for? Before you start purchasing, it’s important to get an idea of how much a lender will actually be willing to give you to buy your first home. You may be thinking you can afford a $300,000 house, but loan providers might think you’re only good for $200,000 depending on things like how much other debt you’ve got, your monthly income and how long you’ve been at your present job.
  4. How much house can you actually afford? On the other hand, sometimes a lender will give you a loan for more home than you really want to shell out money for. Just like with the acquisition of a new car, you will want to look at the home’s total cost, not just the payment per month. Definitely, looking at the payment per month is also important, along with how much down payment you can afford, how high the residential property taxes are in your chosen neighborhood, how much insurance will cost, how much you anticipate spending to maintain or enhance the house, and how much your settlement costs will be.
  5. Who is going to assist you in finding a house and guide you through the acquisition? A realtor will help you locate homes that meet your needs and are within your price range, then meet with you to view those homes. Once you’ve chosen a house to buy, these professionals can assist you in negotiating the entire acquisition process, including making an offer, getting a loan, and accomplishing written documents. A great real estate agent’s knowledge can protect you from any pitfalls you might encounter during the process.

The Purchasing Process

Now that you’ve made a decision to take the plunge, let’s check out what you can expect from the house buying process itself. This is a chaotic time with offers and counter-offers flying furiously, but if you are prepared for the headache (and the paperwork), you can get through the process with your saneness more-or-less intact. Here’s the basic development you can expect:

Find a house.

Make sure to reap the benefits of all the available alternatives for finding homes on the market, such as utilizing your real estate professional, looking for listings on the web and driving around the neighborhoods that interest you in search of for-sale signs. Also place some feelers out there with your friends, family members and business contacts. You won’t know where a good reference or lead on a house might come from.

Give consideration to your financing options and secure financing.

First-time homebuyers have a wide range of choices to help them get into a home, including federally-backed loans and financial loans for homebuyers who do not have the regular 20% minimum down payment. Your state may also have its own programs for first-time homebuyers. Your mortgage loan interest rate may also have a significant impact on the total price you pay for your home, so shop around. It will really be worthwhile.

Make an offer.

Your real estate agent can help you determine how much money you want to offer for the house along with any circumstances you want to ask for, like having the buyer pay for your settlement costs. Your agent will then present the offer towards the seller’s realtor; the seller will either accept your offer or issue a counter-offer. Then you’re able to accept, or continue to go back and forth until you both reach a deal or decide to call it quits. Once you reach a settlement, you will make a good-faith deposit and the process then changes into escrow. Escrow is a short length of time (often around 30 days) where the seller takes the home off the market with the contractual expectation that you’ll purchase the house – provided you do not find any serious issues with it when you inspect it.

Obtain a home inspection.

Even if the home you plan to buy appears to be perfect, there’s no substitute for having a trained professional inspect the house for the quality, safety and overall state of your potential brand new home. If the home inspection reveals serious defects that the seller did not reveal, you’ll generally be able to rescind your offer and get your deposit back. Negotiating to have the seller make the repairs or discount the asking price are other options if you find yourself in cases like this.

Close or move on.

If you’re able to work out a deal with the seller, or better yet, if the inspection didn’t reveal any substantial problems, you should be ready to close. Closing pretty much involves signing a ton of paperwork in a really short time period, while praying that nothing falls through at the last moment.

Things you will be dealing with and paying for in the final stages of your purchase could include having the home evaluated (home loan companies require this to protect their interest in the house), doing a title search to ensure that no one aside from the seller has got a claim to the property, obtaining private mortgage insurance coverage  if your down payment is lower than 20%, and completing mortgage paperwork.

Congratulations New Homeowner … Now What?

You’ve signed the documents, paid the movers and the new location is beginning to feel like home. Game over right? Not quite. Let’s now examine some final ideas to make life as being a new homeowner more fun and secure.

Keep saving.

With homeownership comes major unanticipated expenditures, like changing the roof or purchasing a brand new water heating system. Start an emergency fund for your home so that you will not be caught off-guard when these costs unsurprisingly arise.

Perform regular repair.

With the huge amount of cash you are putting into your home, you will want to make certain to take excellent care of it. Frequent maintenance can decrease your repair costs by allowing problems to be fixed when they are small and workable.

Ignore the housing market.

It doesn’t matter what your home is worth at any given moment except the moment when you market it. Being able to choose when you sell your home, rather than being pushed to sell it due to job relocation or financial distress, will be the greatest determinant of whether you’ll see a solid profit from your investment.

Don’t depend on making a killing on your home to finance your retirement.

Even though you own a house, you should still continue to save the maximum in your retirement savings accounts each and every year. Though it may seem hard to believe for anyone who has observed the fortunes a lot of people made during the housing bubble, you will not necessarily make a killing when you sell your home. If you want to look at your home as a source of wealth in retirement, consider that once you have paid off your mortgage loan, the money that you were spending on monthly payments may be used to fund some of your living and medical expenses in your retirement.

Bottom Line

This brief overview should help put you on the route towards filling in any spaces in your home-buying knowledge. Do not forget that the more you keep yourself well-informed about the process ahead of time, the less stressful it’s going to be, and the more likely you’ll be to get the house you want for a price you can afford – along with a smile on your face.

When you hire Irene Medina and The Medina Real Estate Group, you hire a team of professionals that will “Stand by YOU Every Step of the Way” from start to finish. We pride ourselves in making sure that we keep your goals top of mind at all times and keep you informed at all times. Please read our reviews from happy clients on this site, as well as our blog.

We are in a sellers market again and you need a team that is very savvy when it comes to marketing your home. It is not a matter of just putting a sign on your home and putting in on our Multiple Listing Service. Our marketing is very internet intensive driven and we implement The Ballen Method on every property. 90% of all buyers find their home on the internet before they call a realtor. We make sure that your house is FOUND. Some of our marketing techniques are the following: We take a professional virtual tour of your home to put on the internet, along with various websites, individual property websites, social media sites and all the other popular sites. We also advertise to the international market. We market to all realtors in your area and to the surrounding neighborhood. We make sure you get the highest and best offer for your home. Their reputation of being a top notch real estate group is well known in the real estate industry. Your chances of getting your house sold quickly and/or your offer being accepted is greatly increased when you use The Medina Real Estate Group.

For Your FREE Home Value go to: Home Value

If you need to short sale your home, please go to:www.FLShortSaleServices.com for information on short sales and to calculate if you have equity in your home now or still need to short sale. We have a proven track record of approved short sales and deficiency waivers.

If you are a buyer looking to buy a home, we pride ourselves in making sure we listen to what your dream home consists of. It is all about you and your future home. We put YOU first! Go to: www.IreneMedina.net 

Irene Medina has been in the business of selling and buying real estate for more than 10 years. She became a short sale specialist and helped many homeowners avoid foreclosure and have their deficiencies waved when the market dropped. Market has shifted again and she continues to excel as a Listing and Marketing Specialist to help you get the most for your home in the quickest amount of time, with the least amount of stress! Irene and her team are an award winning team. When you choose Irene Medina and The Medina Group, you choose a team that will always put YOU first.

If you are a buyer looking to buy a home go to www.TheMedinaRealEstateGroup.com.

Client Testimonials

Irene Medina / Realtor
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. / 954-439-4851

The Medina Real Estate Group
www.TheMedinaRealEstateGroup.com

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DIRECTORY OF SCHOOLS IN FLORIDA

·         City of Pompano, FL

·         City of Coconut Creek, FL

·         City of Parkland, FL

·         City of Fort Lauderdale, FL

·         City of Coral Springs, FL

·         City of Plantation, FL

 

MORTGAGE CALCULATOR

·          See What Your Payment Will Be in Pompano, FL

·          See What Your Payment Will Be in Coconut Creek, FL

·          See What Your Payment Will Be in Parkland, FL

·          See What Your Payment Will Be in Fort Lauderdale, FL

·          See What Your Payment Will Be in Coral Springs, FL

·          See What Your Payment Will Be in Plantation, FL

 

RESIDENTIAL LUXURY PROPERTIES FOR SALE

PLANTATION,  FL

·         $900,000 to $1,000,000

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·         $300,000 to $400,000

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FORT LAUDERDALE,  FL

·         $900,000 to $1,000,000

·        $800,000 to $900,000

·         $700,000 to $800,000

·         $600,000 to $700,000

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·         $400,000 to $500,000

·         $300,000 to $400,000

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·         $100,000 to $200,000

 

CORAL SPRINGS,  FL

·         $900,000 to $1,000,000

·        $800,000 to $900,000

·         $700,000 to $800,000

·        $600,000 to $700,000

·         $500,000 to $600,000

·         $400,000 to $500,000

·         $300,000 to $400,000

·         $200,000 to $300,000

·         $100,000 to $200,000

 

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1st Time Homebuyer Specialist
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Irene Medina, PA

Standing by YOU Every Step of the Way!"

My core values are to educate others, have fun every day, respect the environment, and treat customers like family.

My passion for EDUCATION and SUSTAINABLE LIVING are what make me stand out from the rest. I am a mentor and coach to other Realtors, a trusted real estate advisor to my customers, and I hold the National Association of Realtors Green Designation which qualifies me to educate and advise others on sustainable living issues. My relationships with green vendors and my expert knowledge on sustainable living issues enable me to help my customers achieve their green goals.

I have fifteen years of experience working as a Realtor in South Florida. I have guided my customers through rising and falling markets and I have sold all sorts of homes, from large estate homes to beachfront condominiums.

I am the founder and leader of The Medina Real Estate Group, a team of real estate agents who value honesty and transparency and have a passion for education and sustainable living. My team's primary goal is to exceed customer expectations every time by putting customers first, listening to their needs, and keeping them well-informed from contract to closing.

My team works hard, but we also have fun and we want our customers and the Realtors we mentor to have fun as well. We implement superior negotiation skills and leverage technology to guarantee that our customers will buy or sell their home quickly and for the best possible price. We are by our customers' side every step of the way, from contract to closing, and we treat our customers like family to make their transactions easy and stress-free.

Our passion for education and for the environment ensure that our customers are well-informed and receive the expert advice needed to help them achieve their sustainable living goals.

Remember that I am committed to "Standing by YOU Every Step of the Way!”

WWW.TheMedinaGroup.com

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