Ten Peaks Sotheby's International Realty Blog

Shopping for a Home

Once you have completed the preliminary tasks - assessing your resources, prequalifying for a loan, defining your needs and wants - you can begin the search for your new home.

STRATEGY #1: Adjust your search to the price range, environment and needs you have established - don't look at houses with two bedrooms if you know you need at least three.

STRATEGY #2: Shop when others aren't. Across the country, April and May show the most demand for houses. Sellers may not feel pressured to make a deal because there are so many people looking. The best times to look are during late summer and from Thanksgiving through the winter. Learn the local pattern before beginning your search.

STRATEGY #3: Ask friends, family and neighbors who live around your ideal neighborhoods to let you know if a house will be coming on the market soon.

STRATEGY #4:Go around neighborhoods and write down addresses of houses you like. Find out their name and phone number by looking at public land records, call them and ask if they are contemplating putting their house on the market. You never know where this might lead; you might plant the it's-time-to-sell-your-house seed in someone's head.

STRATEGY #5: Always bring a notepad and tape measure with you. Pretend you are an investigator and gather as much information as you can about the house. Find out square footage of the lot and house, room sizes, number of baths and bedrooms, property taxes, average monthly utility bills and the ages of the appliances and mechanical systems. You might want to jot the floor plans down so you can envision the house later.

STRATEGY #6: Get as much information as you can about the sellers. Ask them why they are selling, how long have they have lived there, are they scheduled to settle on a new house, etc. Finding out all you can strengthens your negotiating power, should you decide to make an offer.

Breckenridge Colorado - So many things to think about when closing on a home

There is no way to guarantee a smooth path from an approved contract to the settlement table, but doing your part is at least half the job. Expect minor problems and delays along the way. On the seller's side, title problems are a common cause of postponed settlements. On your side, bureaucratic snags such as extensive credit checks and slow appraisals can bog things down. In many cases, there isn't much you or the seller can do but wait.

While you're waiting for completion of all the processes now in motion, you should:

Apply for homeowners insurance on your new home.

Get an exact accounting settlement cost, and make sure the money and necessary documents will be there at closing.

Select a date for the final walk-through of the house.

Contact utility companies about starting service in your name.

Insurance on your new home
Your lender will require you to take out a homeowners insurance policy, something you would want to do anyway. The lender wants to cover the amount of its mortgage loan so it can recover the money in the event of a loss. However, it's up to you to see that your insurance coverage remains adequate by getting property protection, liability insurance and/or any additional coverage you think is necessary.

The final inspection
The house you're buying must be handed over to you in the condition specified in the contract. To verify this, schedule a walk-through of the house shortly before settlement, several days in advance is best, to allow time for the seller to correct any last-minute problems.

Take along a simple device for testing all electrical outlets - a plug-in nightlight, for example. Turn on the furnace and air conditioning, flush toilets and turn on faucets, put the washing machine and dryer through a cycle. In short, put the house through its paces.

If anything needs fixing or further cleaning, tell the seller immediately. Neither you nor the seller wants to postpone the settlement, but make it clear you won't go to closing until a second walk-through is satisfactory.

What happens at closing
The closing is where ownership of the home is officially transferred from the seller to you. Your closing officer works for the title company and coordinates the document signing and the collection and disbursement of funds. Your main role at the closing is to review and sign the documents related to the mortgage loan and to pay the closing costs.

Most parties involved with the purchase of your new home will attend your closing. The closing is a formal meeting typically attended by the buyer(s) and the seller(s) (and their attorneys if they have one), both real estate sales professionals, and, of course, the closing officer. Now it is common place for closings to happen through e-doc's, mail, email, so sometimes there is no actual meeting. When the transaction is complete the title co. or attorney will ask for the closing funds which are now required to be certified, verify who is should be payable to. 

Breckenridge real estate offers a wide variety of choices when it comes to finding the right property. Luxury homes, mountain cabins, townhomes, condos and acreage are available for home-buyers looking to settle in this wonderful mountain town. To buy or sell in the Breckenridge Real Estate area, contact the experienced real estate professionals at Ten Peaks Sotheby's International Realty.

Choosing a Lender

Despite an excess of loans and lenders, comparison shopping has been eased by the development of computer-loan origination systems and mortgage-reporting services - firms that survey major lenders in metropolitan areas every week or so and publish information sheets on who is offering what loans on what terms.

Shop for lenders offering the best deals. Check with several mortgage companies and use one or more reporting services. Rely on your own efforts, lots of telephone calls and possibly some old-fashioned legwork. If there isn't a reporting service covering your area, begin the search at your own bank or savings and loan.

Sources of Mortgage Money:

Independent Mortgage Companies make just over half of all home mortgages, including most VA-guaranteed and FHA-insured loans.

Savings Institutions: Savings and loan associations and savings banks originate close to a quarter of home mortgages. Most are conventional loans - those not guaranteed by the VA or FmHA, or insured by the FHA.

Commercial Banks are active in residential lending. Banks also are a major supplier of loans for mobile-home buyers.

Mortgage Brokers act as intermediaries. A broker keeps tabs on the mortgage market through ties to local, regional and national lenders, and can refer a prospective borrower to a mortgage banker, savings institution or a commercial bank. Brokers don't lend money and can't approve loans.

Credit Unions make close to one-third of all first-mortgage loans, but you must be a member.

Public Agencies: State and local finance agencies make below-market-rate financing available to eligible low- and moderate-income first-time buyers through the sale of tax-exempt bonds.

Employers and Unions: Don't overlook your employer as a source of assistance. An employer may subsidize the interest or even act as a lender. Unions are another possibility. The AFL-CIO offers what it calls "Union Privilege." Unions that sign on can make first-time home loans available to eligible members for as little as three percent down.