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House hunting - first steps?
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Pre-Baby
LIF Zygote
Member since 5/08 19 total posts
Name:
:-)
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House hunting - first steps?
My husband and I just got preapproved for a mortgage. We did that first so we knew what price range we should consider.
But now what?
Aside from looking online, how do we go about finding homes in our area that we like?
Do we call a few numbers listed on the For Sale signs? What if there are different houses listed with different agents that work for the same agency?
We're also considering two totally different areas (north shore vs. south shore). Do we need different realtors for each area?
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Posted 8/7/08 3:12 PM  |
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kristinel
Steinbeck
Member since 5/08 1224 total posts
Name:
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Re: House hunting - first steps?
The first thing we did was get a realtor. Well, actually, the first thing we did was attend a handful of open houses every weekend until we finally became discouraged and thought we'd never find anything. The realtor did all of the leg work for us. Once she had our price range, #s of bedrooms desired, school districts, etc. she did the search, made the appointments, and negotiated with the seller. When we finally saw something we wanted to make an offer on, she did that for us. When our offer was accepted she drafted the initial paperwork. She even gave us some recommendations for home inspectors and real estate attorneys. In the end, we owed her nothing because she profited off of the sale of the house, splitting the fee with the sellers realtor.
BTW, a good realtor should travel anywhere your looking. Our realtor was based out of Jericho/Syosset and traveled from Franklin Square to East Meadow to Merrick and Bellmore.
Message edited 8/7/2008 3:32:36 PM.
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| Posted 8/7/08 3:29 PM |
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Pre-Baby
LIF Zygote
Member since 5/08 19 total posts
Name:
:-)
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Re: House hunting - first steps?
Thank you. This is very helpful.
I guess we'll have to start going to some open houses. Just the thought of it makes me nervous.
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| Posted 8/7/08 4:00 PM |
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kristinel
Steinbeck
Member since 5/08 1224 total posts
Name:
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Re: House hunting - first steps?
I was nervous the first time but than I got the hang of it. You learn to go in, look around, and walk out if the place is not to your liking. Although, I have to admit I'm glad the whole open house thing is over. Best of luck!
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| Posted 8/8/08 8:38 AM |
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cindy104
This is my "Baby"
Member since 6/08 1522 total posts
Name:
Cindy
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Re: House hunting - first steps?
Posted by kristinel
The first thing we did was get a realtor. Well, actually, the first thing we did was attend a handful of open houses every weekend until we finally became discouraged and thought we'd never find anything. The realtor did all of the leg work for us. Once she had our price range, #s of bedrooms desired, school districts, etc. she did the search, made the appointments, and negotiated with the seller. When we finally saw something we wanted to make an offer on, she did that for us. When our offer was accepted she drafted the initial paperwork. She even gave us some recommendations for home inspectors and real estate attorneys. In the end, we owed her nothing because she profited off of the sale of the house, splitting the fee with the sellers realtor.
BTW, a good realtor should travel anywhere your looking. Our realtor was based out of Jericho/Syosset and traveled from Franklin Square to East Meadow to Merrick and Bellmore.
I completely agree with this. This is what we did too. But I may also suggest that you should also first sit down with each other and figure out your monthly expenses, income, estimated utility bills, taxes, etc. so you can see how much you can afford for a home. We too got pre-approved for a loan, but there is no way we would ever be able to afford the amount they approved us for. We were approved for 475k and according to our expenses and certain figures we're sticking in the price range up to 400k.
Good luck in your search and don't be nervous!! 
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| Posted 8/8/08 10:39 AM |
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kristinel
Steinbeck
Member since 5/08 1224 total posts
Name:
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Re: House hunting - first steps?
Ditto. We were also pre-approved for a price way above what we could actually afford. I believe they pre-approved us for $570, but when we crunched our numbers we realized we really couldn't go over $400.
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| Posted 8/8/08 10:53 AM |
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