Posts in category 'Buyers'

It's such a good time to be out looking at homes. The Roanoke Valley real estate market is busy, and potential buyers have a lot of choices.

There are dozens of steps to buying a home, but finding the right property is the best part of the whole process. Sometimes it takes time and persistence to get there, but every house we look at helps you figure out what you want (and what you don't) and gets you a little closer to your next new home.

Whether you're a first-time homebuyer or a house-hunting pro, these are my do's and don'ts for getting the most out of a trip to look at homes:

DO tell me what you're looking for.

The first thing we need to do is talk about what you want in a home -- your must-haves and your nice-to-haves. This is everything from number of be...

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To say that the internet has changed the way buyers look for homes is an understatement. Visit nearly any Realtor's website in the Roanoke Valley -- or any market -- and you'll find not only their own listings, but the entire market's inventory of listings just waiting to be searched.

So it was no surprise when the National Association of Realtors reported in its 2016 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends study that searching online for homes increased among all age groups in 2015. In fact, for every age group except homebuyers aged 70-90, looking at online listings is the first step they took in the homebuying process. And 65 percent of all buyers walked through at least one home as a result of searching online.

So what does this tell buyers and sellers? For buyers, the best sources of informatio...

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Buying a property that needs some TLC, whether you ultimately plan to live in the home or resell it, can be a smart investment and a rewarding project. With the ups and downs in the market over the past several years, I've seen lots of examples of ugly-duckling properties that have been turned into dream homes with happy endings for buyers who might not otherwise have been able to afford a home with similar upgrades.

But rehabbing a home takes money, work and perseverance. To make a good business decision about whether to take the leap, you need to ask yourself some questions:

What's my tolerance for the project? No matter who you hire to do the rehab or how many projects they've completed, you're likely to run into unexpected things that cause delays. Within reason, your best approach to simply expect the delays and roll with them. If changes...

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Downsizing to a smaller home can be at the same time a source of freedom and a source of anxiety. Clients who are ready to downsize do so because a smaller home is less to pay for and maintain. But the same clients can get overwhelmed when it's time to sort through all their belongings and decide what's going with them to the new home.

Unless you're a natural at keeping clutter at bay, editing down your possessions to fit in a smaller home isn't easy. Still, there are some things you can do to make you more productive:

1. Give yourself plenty of time

You might feel like you've got all the time in the world, but start now. Sorting through a lifetime's worth of belongings and choosing what to discard is hard work and brings up lots of emotions. If you put off downsizing until you're packing for your move, the stress of the clock is l...

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After everything it takes to find the home you want, the last thing you need is to run into problems at closing. By the time you're ready to close, you and your Realtor have spent weeks scheduling loads of appointments and marking off dozens of tasks. One small hiccup can delay your closing or even jeopardize the whole deal.

Your best defense against surprises at closing is your Realtor. A full-time, full-service Realtor has the experience to prepare you for what to expect and the foresight to head off potential problems so your closing happens on time. Here are some other things you can do to make sure closing day goes smoothly:

Don't make big changes in your finances

Once the mortgage process begins, your finances will be under a microscope for a while. You'll want your credit history to be as stable as possible and your cred...

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