How To Obtain A Home Loan & Buy A Home

Welcome Readers! It is Monday again, we’ve survived the weekend, and now we have to survive the week! I spoke to a few new home buyers this weekend, and as my clients usually do… they are inspiring today’s article! I want to talk to you today about home loans. The majority of home buyers obtain a loan to purchase a home, but if you’ve never purchased a home, or if it has been awhile… you may need some information to get you started. I’ll list the basics from start to finish, and by the end of reading you’ll be ready to call a lender to get started!

1. What is your credit score? If you’ve never checked it out for yourself… there is no time like the present. A website that I would recommend is www.creditkarma.com. This website is free, and you will get your credit report from 2/3 of the credit agencies. What is a good credit score? The scores between 740-850 will get you the very best rates on your home loan. Credit scores between 620-740, you will get marginal rates on a loan, and are still in a wonderful position to buy a home! If your scores are 620 or below, now is most likely not the right time for you to consider buying a home. If you fall between the 620 credit score, or below, and would like to know how you can raise that score contact me!
2. Get a pre-approval – If you fall into the category of a credit score of 620+, now it is time to talk to a lender. I have contact information for many lenders that I work with, and could happily give you a couple of referrals for you to speak with. A common misconception about a pre-approval is that it will hurt your credit score. Please stop believing this! It is not true! A pre-approval from a lender is a tentative commitment that a lender gives a buyer based upon these common factors: Income, Debts, Assets, and Credit Scores. What does a pre-approval do for you as a buyer? It will tell you exactly what you can spend on a home, thus making it one of the most valuable steps when buying!
3. Start looking for your new home! – As a Realtor, this happens to be my FAVORITE step! Now that you have steps 1 & 2 completed the fun part can begin! We can start looking at homes that best fit your family needs.
4. Don’t make mistakes at the last minute!-  As a Realtor, this happens to be my LEAST favorite step! More often than you may realize, buyers make these last minute mistakes while in the home buying process, and they ruin the entire transaction. Many lenders will need to recheck your employment status and credit right before you close on your new home. Do NOT under any circumstances do these three things: quit your job, take out any new loans (like an auto loan), or apply for any new lines of credit or credit cards. By doing any of those three things, you will likely be denied the home loan.

I hope that this article was short, sweet, and informative to you as a potential buyer. If you have any further questions, I am always open to answering any that you may have. It is my goal to give readers as much information as possible to make buying and selling real estate in Central Ohio a great experience, with me as your Realtor 🙂

Click, “HERE”, for my contact information.

Click, “HERE”, if you would like to receive a free & instant value of your home to your email!

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It’s Time To Buy & Sell Homes In Central Ohio!!

Happy Thursday!! I know for many of you… Thursday is not nearly as happy of a day as Friday is… but in the world of Real Estate, my week is just starting to take off!!

As of today, Thursday 8/20/15 @ 3:24PM, I see that in the greater Columbus area we have 10,855 homes for sale! If you’ve ever thought about buying or selling a home, I can confidently say to you, “There is no time like the present!”

• If you have been looking for a home in the country with a little bit of land – I have it.
• If you have been looking to move to a home with more square footage to fit the needs of your growing family- I have it!
• If you are an empty nester looking to sell your large family home, and downsize to a smaller ranch home, or a condo – I HAVE IT!

Right now, there are homes ready to fit the needs of any buyer.

Contact me today if you have thought about buying or selling a home in Central Ohio… I’d be happy to meet you 🙂

Click HERE for our contact info – or if you’d like to get started on the search for your dream home today – email me at:
kayla.staup@herrealtors.com

If you’ve thought about selling your home, and would like to know what it may be worth on today’s market… click here!

Central Ohio Neighborhood Info! Thinking of moving, and want info? Read this!

Happy great Tuesday afternoon! I hope while reading this article you are in both good spirits, and good health! Autumn is slowly approaching, and the real estate market is still booming in Central Ohio! I’ve focused a lot of the last few articles on helping home sellers. Today’s article can be used to help anyone looking to buy a home, and may be unsure about a neighborhood or school district. As a Realtors, Josh and I cannot steer you towards any one neighborhood or school district. This is called “Steering” and is illegal! It is up to you as the consumer to show us where your interests are. When we tell our clients this, a lot of them just don’t know where to start. What I started to do is find some great consumer websites to help our clients get some really good solid information to help them make their decision making a little easier!

I’m going to list a few good resources that will hopefully provide any information a potential buyer may be looking for when moving to a new city! If you know of any additional websites that I can offer my clients, I would love to hear from you!

1. http://www.greatschools.org/
2. http://www.city-data.com/
3. http://www.crimemapping.com/

If you just look at the name indicated on the website, you can just about tell what the use of each site is. I’ve used these websites myself, and found that they were very simple to navigate, and user friendly.

Josh and I are always looking for additional real estate business in the Central Ohio area. We are currently welcoming new clients that are looking to buy or sell a home. If you, or someone you know is looking to buy or sell a home in the Central Ohio area… please contact us!

As always, thank you for reading and have a wonderful remainder of your Tuesday!

To learn more about us, and to obtain our contact information CLICK HERE!

If you would like to get a complete home value analysis sent to your email CLICK HERE

Buyer’s Agent? Listing Agent? Who does what in a Real Estate transaction?

In a real estate transaction there are so many key players, and it can sometimes become confusing to the consumer on who does what. What does the Buyer’s Agent do? What does the Listing Agent do? As the Seller, what are you responsible for? As the Buyer, what are you responsible for? I’ve written up just a quick cheat sheet to help you out a little, and hopefully you’ll feel comfortable knowing the roles from all sides!

Buyer’s Agent:
– Exactly what it sounds like; an agent that represents the buyer of a home
– This agent is responsible for educating their buyers on the real estate market and helping the buyer make the best possible decisions throughout their home purchase
– The Buyer’s Agent will counsel their buyers on property disclosures, and ensure that their buyer’s interests are protected in all aspects of the deal
– In Central Ohio, it is very UNTYPICAL for a buyer to pay for their Realtor. The Buyer’s Agent, generally speaking, shares their commission, and is paid at closing from the Selling/Listing Agent.

Seller’s Agent/ Listing Agent:
– You guessed it! This agent represents the seller in the real estate transaction
– This agent is responsible for helping the seller get the highest possible price for their home, in the least amount of time possible
– The Seller’s Agent is responsible for negotiating with the Buyer’s Agent on all aspects of the transaction
– This agent has a fiduciary responsibility to their clients (the sellers) and must always do what is in their best interest, even when it is not in the agent’s best interest
– In Central Ohio, the Selling/Listing Agent, splits their commission with the Buyer’s Agent when the deal is closed

The Buyer:
– Did you guess that the buyer is the person(s) in the transaction that is purchasing the home? If so… you’re right!
-The great thing about being a buyer is that, as a buyer, you do not pay a commission fee! You get to be represented by the Realtor of your choice (it should be me 🙂 ) absolutely free!
– Just because the buyer chooses to be represented by an agent.. doesn’t mean that you’ll cost the Seller anything additional. The Seller’s Agent will share the commission with your Buyer’s Agent.
– There are currently about 10,000 homes for sale in the greater Columbus, Ohio area. The chances of you finding your dream home… are pretty good!

The Seller:
– The Seller… you guessed it… is the person(s) in the transaction selling a home/ other real estate
– The Seller chooses the Realtor they feel best represents their needs ( pick me 🙂 )
– Generally speaking, the Seller is responsible for paying the commission out of the sale of their home
– In Central Ohio, the average and most common commission percentage is 6% of the sales price. As stated above, the Seller’s Agent is responsible for splitting this commission with the Buyer’s Agent. After the Seller’s Agent splits this commission in half, they also must split their commission with their Brokerage (which is anywhere between another 30-40% of the split commission).
– The Seller works with their agent in a partnership to complete the sale of their home for the best possible net price that can be obtained

In summary, as Realtors, we wear many hats… multiple times a day. We can flip from being a Buyer’s Agent, to a Seller’s Agent in the blink of an eye. I personally think that it is very important to be able to do so, and to be able to handle both roles seamlessly. It is crucial to be able to understand both sides of the transaction to fully help your clients, on either side of the table. As a consumer, it is important to know who is responsible for what in the transaction. Buying/Selling a home is the biggest financial decision you will make in your life, and the more you know the better prepared you can be!

As always, thank you for reading!

If you’ve thought about selling your home, and would like a quick market value analysis of your home sent to your email… click here!

To find out more about us, and why you should choose us to represent you in your Real Estate transaction… click here!