home buyer tips Archives - Lori Dee Doerfler

Real Estate Documents Home Buyers Should Save

One thing remains constant with any real estate transaction. Paperwork. Whether buying or selling a Lake Havasu home, the process inevitably involves a ton of paperwork. Your real estate agreement. The sales contract. Your Earnest Money Deposit. Disclosure forms. Insurance. Title transfer. Closing documents. All of this and more require signatures. Some of these real estate documents should be kept for the duration of the time you own your home. Others, you can let go. But which ones require safekeeping so you have easy access to them in case you need them in the future?

Real estate transactions involve a lot of paperwork. Some of it should be kept on hand just in case you need it in the future. Here are the most important real estate documents Havasu home buyers should save.

Real Estate Documents Home Buyers Should Save

Your Buyer’s Agent Agreement

When you hire an agent to represent you for your Lake Havasu home purchase, you sign a buyer’s agent agreement. This contract spells out the terms of your agreement with the agent, including who pays commissions as well as how long you agree to allow the agent to represent you (typically 90 to 120 days). Why keep it? As a reference for services the agent agreed to perform in case of a dispute after closing.

Your Purchase Agreement

This agreement spells out the terms agreed to between both parties (the seller and the buyer). This includes contingencies, pricing, closing date, etc. If either party does not adhere to this agreement, they could be held liable for the costs incurred to rectify the situation.

Any Addendums

If your inspection unveils issues that the seller agrees to take care of before closing, an addendum to the original purchase agreement will be signed. These real estate documents become extremely important to the buyer if a seller does not take care of the agreed addendums or if you find problems with the repairs that were supposed to have been performed.

Your Seller’s Disclosure

By law, the seller must disclose any issues they know about with the property. This includes anything they were aware of that happened before they owned the property. If you find a problem not addressed on this real estate document after you take over ownership of the property, the seller could be held liable for damages. Without your disclosure, though, proving any misrepresentation may become difficult.

The Home Inspection

No matter the age of the Havasu home in question, I always suggest that a buyer get a home inspection done. Even newer homes may come with problems. An inspector notates issues (both big and small) that they see during their inspection. They also include photos of the problem(s). This provides a useful guideline for when you decide to address these issues.

Your Title Insurance

You keep copies of your life insurance, car insurance, and medical insurance, right? Well, you need to keep a copy of your title insurance, too. This insurance protects you in case someone tries to claim ownership of your property after you sign your closing documents.

Your Closing Disclosure

Three days before your final closing, you should receive a closing disclosure from your lender. This document includes the actual costs of fees (loan origination, title transfer, etc.), amount of your loan, terms, and interest rate. You will want to give this to your tax preparer when you file taxes since some of the costs associated with buying a home are tax-deductible.

The Deed to Your Property

Finally, keep a copy of the deed to your property. Sure, the title transfer gets filed at the county recorder’s office. However, the actual physical copy of the deed is sent directly to the buyer. So, if you ever need to show proof of ownership, this could be the most important of the real estate documents you need to keep on hand.

Lori Cain, REALTOR®, eXp Realty, Serving Midtown and the greater Tulsa, OK area. Call 918-852-5036. eXp Realty is the Agent-Owned Cloud Brokerage®.

Should You Include a Personal Letter with Your Offer?

Our Lake Havasu real estate market is muy caliente right now. With an incredibly low inventory, we see more and more instances of multiple buyers vying for the same property. This includes competing against buyers from out of state, too. You need to make your offer stand out from the rest. One of the ways to do so is to include a personal letter with your offer. But you must tread a very fine line between genuine enthusiasm and potential offense. So, how do you decide what should be included in this letter?

Including a Personal Letter When Buying a Havasu Home

Be Original

The internet is fantastic for finding just about anything you are looking for. This includes templates for letters to include with your offer. However, you do not want something that looks like a form letter. You risk insulting the seller and losing the sale. It always works to your advantage to write something that comes straight from your heart instead.

Find Common Ground

The best personal letters include talking about common interests. Do they enjoy a hobby you also like? Are they outdoor enthusiasts? Do you see evidence of boating as one of their interests? Rock climbing? Camping? Make sure to mention how much you enjoy a common activity in your letter. This helps endear yourself into their hearts, increasing the chances of them accepting your offer.

Be Complimentary

It never hurts to be complimentary. Tell them how much you like the colors they used on the walls. Or talk about how much you appreciate any upgrades/updates/renovations they performed on the property. Never mention any things you think you want to change about the home. This could hurt their feelings and send your personal letter to the bottom of the pile right away.

Use Your Real Estate Agent’s Connections

Your Lake Havasu REALTOR® should be able to find out most of the “behind-the-scenes” info you need to craft a good quality, highly effective letter. So, talk to them about what they think you should include in your personal letter as well as what might be best left out of it. Then, make sure you take their advice to heart. After all, they work for you and want you to be successful in your home search.

But Sometimes…

…a personal letter is simply a waste of time. For example, if you buy your Havasu home directly from a builder or a developer, they do not care about a personal touch. They are “bottom-line” people. For them, a home sale is all about business. So, always, always make sure you get your financial affairs in order first. That means getting a loan pre-approval as soon as you decide you want to start looking at homes. You need to be ready to put your offer in as soon as you find a home you like, especially if you run into a multiple-buyer situation.

Lori Dee Doerfler, Helping you negotiate through all the real estate noise

Home Inspection Questions Every Havasu Home Buyer Should Ask

In real estate, timing is (almost) everything. Right now, the Lake Havasu market sits squarely in the seller’s favor. Buying a home during a seller’s market requires a skilled REALTOR, a pre-approval letter from your lender, and the flexibility to look at a listing as soon as you hear about it. Once you enter escrow, you will want to hire a pro to perform a home inspection to check for potential issues hidden below the surface. Here are some questions you need to ask your inspector before, during, and after the inspection.

Be an informed Lake Havasu home buyer. Find out what home inspection questions you should ask and when you should ask them.

Home Inspection Questions for Buyers

Before the Inspection

Ask them about their experience (how long have they been doing this) and their qualifications. What will they check and what is not part of the inspection? How much do they charge? (Hint: someone who charges much lower than other inspectors, this should raise a red flag.) Request to join them for the inspection. If they say “no”, move along to another inspector. Find out how long they expect the inspection to take. If you live in an older Havasu home and they say “an hour” for example, that could indicate that their inspection will not be thorough enough. On the other hand, if they quote a half a day for a 1200 square foot home, that could indicate that their level of expertise may be very low. Request a sample report so you have a good idea of what to expect in your own inspection report. Even new construction can come with issues. Avoid panicking by knowing what to expect.

During the Inspection

A confident inspector allows the buyer to attend the home inspection with them. During the inspection itself, they might point out areas that may need repairs or things to keep an eye out for after you move in. Feel free to ask for clarification when necessary. Inquire about what they consider to be a “big deal” and what is more of a “minor issue”. When you see something that causes you concern (water spots, possible mold, cracks in the ceiling, etc.), ask your inspector whether or not it is something to be concerned about. Most likely, they already noted it on their inspection. But you can still pick their brain while they’re at the site. Finally, once they’re done, ask them about what areas of the property concern them the most.

After the Inspection

Once you receive your home inspection report, you may question some of the findings. Don’t panic. Contact your inspector and ask them for clarification where needed. Ask them what areas need attention right away and what it would cost to fix them. This includes things that might need to be done as soon as you move in. Find out which issues require a professional’s follow-up, such as potential electrical, plumbing, roofing, or foundation issues.

Keep this in mind: an inspector will not tell you if you should buy a house or not. However, they can tell you which issues are big and which are minor enough to not be dealbreakers. In turn, that will help you determine if you need to ask the seller for repairs before closing, if the repairs are minor enough for you to deal with after closing, or if you should walk away from the deal completely.

Lori Dee Doerfler, Helping you negotiate through all the real estate noise

Mortgage Tips for the Self-Employed Lake Havasu Home Buyer

According to Forbes magazine, 28.2% of Americans are self-employed. That is 65% more than the number of self-employed Americans just 10 years ago. As the ranks of the self-employed grow, they eventually become home buyers. Lenders tend to hold these types of buyers to a higher financial standard than other home buyers. So, here are a few mortgage tips to help you when you feel like buying a Lake Havasu home, especially one in our very hot seller’s market.

Lenders hold self-employed home buyers to a slightly higher standard. But, by using these helpful mortgage tips, you'll be a homeowner in no time.

Mortgage Tips for the Self-Employed Buyer

Save Your Financial Documents

Inconsistencies in income sits at or near the top of a lender’s list of concerns when it comes to approving a mortgage. When you are self-employed, your income fluctuates. So you need to show a longer period of income to give a more accurate picture. Plus, self-employed individuals try to take advantage of any legal tax write-offs as possible. Unfortunately, this lowers your reported income. Keeping records of your profit and loss statements, bank statements, and paid invoices helps provide a clearer snapshot of your actual income.

Savings Matters

The next one of my mortgage tips you need to follow is to save up as much money as possible. For any home buyer, 20% down stops you from paying PMI. But for many people, saving 20% of a $300,000 average home purchase ($60,000) plus the money required for closing costs (around 2% of the purchase price in AZ or $6000 on a $300,000 home) might prove difficult. Yes, many lenders offer plans that allow you to put a lot less down. But that means a high monthly mortgage payment. The more you put down, the better off you’ll be once you take over ownership.

Get Your Credit Right Before You Apply

Finally, lenders want to see a good credit score for most home buyers. But for the self-employed, that’s even more important. For many buyers, lenders require a minimum score of 620 or 640. When looking at self-employed buyers, your odds greatly improve with a score of 700 or more. Pull your credit reports from all three agencies for free by visiting AnnualCreditReport.com. Check for errors (it happens more often than you think). When you find them, file a claim with the appropriate credit reporting agency. Each agency offers its own rules to follow on their website. You also need to decrease your total debt load to under 30% of your income. Get to work on that as soon as possible.

Self-employed people might have a slightly more difficult time getting approval for a mortgage loan, but it’s not impossible. Just follow these helpful mortgage tips and be in your dream home before you know it.

Lori Dee Doerfler, Helping you negotiate through all the real estate noise

Havasu Home Buying During a Seller’s Market

We are currently experiencing a very unique time in history right now. And by that, I mean more than just COVID-19. It appears that the time spent cooped up in our homes made some of us realize that we need more space. Unemployment hit record highs. That made some homeowners question whether now was a good time to sell or not. Even so, low inventory, historically low interest rates, and high buyer demand pushed us even deeper into a seller’s market. So, if you plan on doing some Havasu home buying right now, keep the following tips in mind.

Havasu Home Buying During a Seller’s Market

Be Prepared to Act Quickly

As of July 2020, the average Lake Havasu property spent just 19 days on the market before going into escrow. Some spent far less time. For many people, the weekends provide the opportune time to check out properties. but in a seller’s market like ours, you might miss out by waiting. Be prepared to see it during the week if possible. Talk to your agent about a virtual showing if needed. Sometimes, all it takes to get a house is to be the first one to see it and submit an offer. So, make sure you hire an agent that knows their stuff.

Get Your Financials in Order

Knowing your budget before you start the Havasu home buying process helps keep you focused on realistic goals. To help create a viable budget, contact your lender and start the approval process. If you go so far as to get to the underwriting step of your loan approval, your offer looks much more attractive to a seller than someone who still needs to begin the process. It also helps cut down a large chunk of time in escrow.

Use Contingencies Sparingly (If at All)

Speaking of offers, go easy on the contingencies. Set aside the laundry list of repairs, especially if the seller accepts a lower price instead. Loan approval before you put in an offer allows you to avoid that contingency. Yes, contingencies allow you to back out of a deal if something comes up. However, the more contingencies you place on the sale, the more likely a seller may be to take another offer, even if it comes in at a lower sale price. Talk to your agent about how best to approach contingencies.

Perfect Houses Don’t Exist

Finally, let go of the idea of finding “the perfect house”. It just doesn’t exist. Even if you built a home from the ground up, you most likely need to compromise in one area or another for a myriad of unavoidable reasons. With inventory as low as it is right now in the Lake Havasu real estate market, temper your expectations. That doesn’t mean you should buy a money pit. But, you might have to scale back your list of “wants” in order to find a property you want to buy.

Lori Dee Doerfler, Helping you negotiate through all the real estate noise