Advice for first-time homebuyer?

[rwarn17588]

This may be obvious advice to you, but I've seen it ignored time after time ...

Don't buy more house than you need. Someone's always going to try to talk you into an extra bedroom (and tens of thousands of dollars more) because "you never know when your parents come over and need a place to stay."

It sounds blunt, but that's what a hotel room is for. There's no sense in spending higher amounts of money for an extra bedroom that will sit empty 360 days a year.

If you're single or don't have kids, stick with houses in the 800 to 1,200 square foot range. They sound small, but you'll appreciate not spending a lot of money on a place to live. Plus, with a smaller living space, you'll pay less on utilities and property taxes.

[godboko71]

I am also going to through in my common sense advice (looks like all the good stuff has been covered.

Check the neighborhood out before you sign, sounds simple enough but you have to like where your living and if your going to dislike everything and everyone around your, you will not be happy.

If your a parent/have a family check out the schools in the area, it might be easier then ever to get a transfer to another school, but lets be honest socially and well economically its going to be easier to have your kids in the schools in the area instead of across town. Checking out a school doesn't mean look on local websites for reviews it means scheduling a tour and meeting the staff (and maybe parents.) 

No matter what congratulations your on the road to home ownership enjoy.

[BierGarten]

Zillow=7-9% inaccurate by their own admissions. Market conditions change daily.
Why rely upon a source that is non-local. Use it as a guide yes; but do not place too much credence in it. Hire a red-blooded local to guide you through the woods!
Go Tulsa!

Okay, I'll bite.  Realtors have become unnecessary and, frankly, a very large waste of money.  Sorry.

[waterboy]

Best advice I've ever seen listed in the last two pages. I would add two things. I am a former real estate agent with some insight. A good realtor will work for both parties, but remember, he's being paid by the seller. Finding your own agent is a good idea. They take a lot of work off your shoulders.

1. If you don't intend to stay long, don't buy a new home. It takes a while to get the home finished out. Grass, landscaping, window treatments, etc. It takes a while to recover those costs and for the neighborhood to establish itself. Once you get past that stage the returns are usually higher though.

2. Purchase what most of the market is looking for if you want fast resell. IOW, stay with a 3/2/2 if you can. Not a bad idea to purchase outside that criteria if you intend to add a bath, a garage or if you simply can't afford the second bath. Just saying, most realtors can sell a house faster and at higher prices within those parameters. Older neighborhoods with charm and popularity are the exception to this. For instance you can buy a 2br/1.5/1 in Brookside or Florence Park and not suffer because there are so many of them.

3. Don't be afraid to fall in love with your home. All other things aside, you'll enjoy working and spending money on a home you like to come home to.

4. Wait till an election before deciding on a neighborhood. Peruse the kinds of vehicles parked in the driveways and read their bumper stickers. This may sound funny, but it won't be comfortable when you find out none of your neighbors will let their kids play with the new kids. If no one has a sign out for the guy you support, or if there are confederate flags, could be a sign to move on.

[Conan71]

Okay, I'll bite.  Realtors have become unnecessary and, frankly, a very large waste of money.  Sorry.

So says the person who leaves a running unlocked vehicle in the parking lot when he goes in to buy bier at Jiffy Mart. 

How exactly have realtors become unnecessary?  Let's see, running contracts back and forth, coordinating inspections, appraisals, and can be of help with closing.  Oh, almost forgot- how about showing your house at 2pm on Tuesday when you've got a meeting you have to be in?  Pre-qualifying and dispatching total time-wasters.  Yeah- totally irrelevant.  I'm not a realtor and don't have one in my family- no vested interest.  I'll just say, they've made my life a lot easier in what can be a very complicated process.  I'd especially never recommend to a first time buyer to avoid using a realtor.

Unless you stick to looking at FSBO's you are going to end up using a realtor whether you like it or not.  You can't tell a seller to ditch their realtor or you won't buy- doesn't work that way.  Good luck with finding those FSBO's, multi-list is a great tool and I believe you won't find many, if any, FSBO's listed on MLS.  Not every seller chooses to show their house as for sale on Zillow either.

I've seen actual value + or - Zillow.  Main difference between Zillow and an appraisal is that an appraisal is an actual eye-view of a house.  Zillow does not take into account improvements, lack thereof, nor that hole in the garage roof where a meteorite crashed through a few months back.  It's simply a market analysis which is about 1/2 of what an appraisal is all about.

[Cats Cats Cats]

So says the person who leaves a running unlocked vehicle in the parking lot when he goes in to buy bier at Jiffy Mart. 

How exactly have realtors become unnecessary?  Let's see, running contracts back and forth, coordinating inspections, appraisals, and can be of help with closing.  Oh, almost forgot- how about showing your house at 2pm on Tuesday when you've got a meeting you have to be in?  Pre-qualifying and dispatching total time-wasters.  Yeah- totally irrelevant.  I'm not a realtor and don't have one in my family- no vested interest.  I'll just say, they've made my life a lot easier in what can be a very complicated process.  I'd especially never recommend to a first time buyer to avoid using a realtor.

Unless you stick to looking at FSBO's you are going to end up using a realtor whether you like it or not.  You can't tell a seller to ditch their realtor or you won't buy- doesn't work that way.  Good luck with finding those FSBO's, multi-list is a great tool and I believe you won't find many, if any, FSBO's listed on MLS.  Not every seller chooses to show their house as for sale on Zillow either.

I've seen actual value + or - Zillow.  Main difference between Zillow and an appraisal is that an appraisal is an actual eye-view of a house.  Zillow does not take into account improvements, lack thereof, nor that hole in the garage roof where a meteorite crashed through a few months back.  It's simply a market analysis which is about 1/2 of what an appraisal is all about.

There are probably some extra compensation needed for expertise and selling some of the high dollar houses.  As the commission % increases it seems that selling a $250k house and getting 9% might be a little high.  If you are a buyer you could probably just pay somebody an hourly wage and it would be cheaper.  I guess you are just paying for all the time wasters that don't buy houses and they never get paid.

[guido911]

This may be obvious advice to you, but I've seen it ignored time after time ...

Don't buy more house than you need. Someone's always going to try to talk you into an extra bedroom (and tens of thousands of dollars more) because "you never know when your parents come over and need a place to stay."

It sounds blunt, but that's what a hotel room is for. There's no sense in spending higher amounts of money for an extra bedroom that will sit empty 360 days a year.

If you're single or don't have kids, stick with houses in the 800 to 1,200 square foot range. They sound small, but you'll appreciate not spending a lot of money on a place to live. Plus, with a smaller living space, you'll pay less on utilities and property taxes.

Translation: I can't afford a nicer home and I am jealous if you can.

My advice, steer clear of Red Fork.

[Conan71]

There are probably some extra compensation needed for expertise and selling some of the high dollar houses.  As the commission % increases it seems that selling a $250k house and getting 9% might be a little high.  If you are a buyer you could probably just pay somebody an hourly wage and it would be cheaper.  I guess you are just paying for all the time wasters that don't buy houses and they never get paid.

Actually, I believe the commission decreases with a higher listing price.  I don't know that applies in all cases.  As well, commission seems to be in the 6 to 7.5% range, or at least it was last time I asked.  From what I recall of my closing statement on this last transaction, looks like the realtor made 6% dividing out the purchase price/net proceeds and deduction for commission.  I've never heard of a 9% rate, and I've never heard of extra compensation for selling a more expensive house. 

[BierGarten]

How exactly have realtors become unnecessary?  Let's see, running contracts back and forth (yeah, it is really difficult to fill in the blanks in the Oklahoma form real estate purchase agreement, give me a break), coordinating inspections (coordinating?  make a call, guys come out, end of story, there is no "coordinating"), appraisals (well, if you are borrowing money to buy the house, the lender is going to make that call and if you are buying with cash, good for you, and I guess then you don't need an appraisal), and can be of help with closing (showing up and sitting down and signing all of those forms is just too difficult without a realtor sitting there beaming because of the 6% they are about to get from you).  Oh, almost forgot- how about showing your house at 2pm on Tuesday when you've got a meeting you have to be in?  (this adds value only if you operate under the assumption that even after learning the asking price and seeing all of the pictures you have posted of your house on the internet and reading the flier you left on the sign in your front yard, someone became interested in your house, but only if they can look at it at 2:00 pm on a Tuesday.  I don't operate under that assumption) Pre-qualifying and dispatching total time-wasters.  (assuming you operate under the assumption that paying someone 6% to do this isn't also a waste of time) Yeah- totally irrelevant.  I'm not a realtor and don't have one in my family- no vested interest.  I'll just say, they've made my life a lot easier in what can be a very complicated process.  I'd especially never recommend to a first time buyer to avoid using a realtor.

Unless you stick to looking at FSBO's you are going to end up using a realtor whether you like it or not.  You can't tell a seller to ditch their realtor or you won't buy- doesn't work that way.   (yes, if you are a buyer and seller has a realtor, you are stuck "using a realtor".  But in this case it's a good thing because the seller's realtor is giddy with delight that you are not represented by a realtor and will make that low ball offer sound all that much better to the seller because seller realtor is getting 6% instead of half 6%.) Good luck with finding those FSBO's, multi-list is a great tool and I believe you won't find many, if any, FSBO's listed on MLS.  Not every seller chooses to show their house as for sale on Zillow either. (I suppose this makes sense if you have a very large area of town you are looking in.  Otherwise, driving around looking seems to work just fine)

[Conan71]

Glad that works for you Bier.  There are some things it's worth paying for and somethings better done yourself.  I tried the FSBO route before and it was a major PITA to me, so I don't mind using a realtor.  Next time I sell a home, would I be tempted to skimp and save the 6% realtor commission and sell my own place?  Sure.  Would I actually do it, no way.  I know what my time is worth to me.

[waterboy]

If not using a real estate agent works for you then fine. Why diminish others who have spent time and money to become experts in their field because they dare to charge a percentage for having done so? You're not just paying for search and marketing. A successful agent today must specialize on particular areas or price ranges. You buy his accumulated knowledge and contacts within the industry.

I bought my first home without an agent and back then it wasnt' really as complicated as it is now. An opportunity arose through friends and I used my knowledge to make it happen. Mostly out of ignorance of what could have happened. I got a much better price and rate on financing than my contemporaries when I bought my second home because my real estate company was representing an emerging condo. People who walked in the door without an agent to buy, provided their profit.


If you have the skills and persistence to avoid paying that 6% then have at it. Same thing with car buying, insurance and a host of endeavors. Don't expect that everyone wants to learn the business though. If used judiciously they easily earn their keep.

[brianh]

I just bought my first house a week and a half ago, and a real estate agent was definitely the way to go for me.  You would miss countless days and hours of work to get this all done if you did it on your own, with the agent I took off about a half day over the month long closing.  I highly recommend the neighborhood south of TU by the way.

Some things I have no clue about that the agent did for me:
Schedule two normal inspections and an FHA inspection and a termite inspection.
Help negotiate an offer including repair costs.
Handle pretty much everything with my lender and title/escrow company.
Translate those inspection flaws back into negotiations with the sellers agent for the repair costs.
Have that special access to the real estate database and run the queries on surrounding property values.
Have access to those special keys to get in to houses to show anytime they want.

It sounds all easy to schedule all these inspections and act as a go between for the inspections and the sellers to fix things, but I noticed my agent was busy on that stuff daily.

If anyone wants it, I can give them my agents information.  She did a ton of work for me.  It's not like it costs you anything anyway(well not that I noticed, and I compared prices) and it takes a ton of stress off your back.

[Cats Cats Cats]

If not using a real estate agent works for you then fine. Why diminish others who have spent time and money to become experts in their field because they dare to charge a percentage for having done so? You're not just paying for search and marketing. A successful agent today must specialize on particular areas or price ranges. You buy his accumulated knowledge and contacts within the industry.

I bought my first home without an agent and back then it wasnt' really as complicated as it is now. An opportunity arose through friends and I used my knowledge to make it happen. Mostly out of ignorance of what could have happened. I got a much better price and rate on financing than my contemporaries when I bought my second home because my real estate company was representing an emerging condo. People who walked in the door without an agent to buy, provided their profit.


If you have the skills and persistence to avoid paying that 6% then have at it. Same thing with car buying, insurance and a host of endeavors. Don't expect that everyone wants to learn the business though. If used judiciously they easily earn their keep.

My only point is that the process gets more complicated to encourage those that don't have a lot of time to learn all the rules to get a realtor.  At least that is what I would push for if I was a Realtor.  If you are the only one that knows the rules you can make the $$$   And I would definitely use a realtor to sell a house.  But if you have one to buy and there is a FSBO house he finds you want either you pay more $$$ or the FSBO has to fork up some cash in commission which they might not want to.  That is the only reason I even started the conversation with maybe you might not want to get a Realtor to find a house as a buyer. 

[Gaspar]

Neighborhoods have personalities just like the homeowners that populate them.  

I would encourage you to drive the neighborhood at about 6pm and look for clues.  If families are walking and neighbors are visiting each other in front lawns, you have a good family friendly neighborhood.  I also like to see homeowners taking care of their own property (rather than lawn services).  Grass is a sign of neighborhood and homeowner pride.  Yards filled with weeds and overgrown shrubs is usually an indication of a neighborhood on the decline.

I have and will always use a realtor.  The 6% is worth all of the advertising and promotion you get for it.  I just sold my house and during the 80 or so days it was on the market, it was on TV about a dozen times, pictured in the newspaper several times, and even mentioned on KRMG.  It was also pictured in most of the free home buyer's guides in local restaurants and convenience stores.  A week before each of our open houses (2) my realtor sent out color post-cards to hundreds of potential buyers.  Each open house got a response of about 20 couples.  If I were to purchase all of that media/postage (and I wouldn't) it would cost me more than my realtor's commission.  

I've never had anyone work harder for me than my realtor.  I was in no way his largest commission, but he called every day with updates, monitored all comps in the area and sent emails daily with listings and closing prices of near by properties.  This is the third house I've listed with the same realtor and will never use another, or attempt to go it alone.  We looked at a few FSBOs while shopping and were not comfortable with any of the answers we got from the homeowners.  There is no reliable ethical standard for the seller of a home, but with a realtor you have recourse, and they are usually far better at presenting an honest representation of the property with all of it's advantages and faults.

[Conan71]

Neighborhoods have personalities just like the homeowners that populate them.  

I would encourage you to drive the neighborhood at about 6pm and look for clues.  If families are walking and neighbors are visiting each other in front lawns, you have a good family friendly neighborhood.  I also like to see homeowners taking care of their own property (rather than lawn services).  Grass is a sign of neighborhood and homeowner pride.  Yards filled with weeds and overgrown shrubs is usually an indication of a neighborhood on the decline.

I have and will always use a realtor.  The 6% is worth all of the advertising and promotion you get for it.  I just sold my house and during the 80 or so days it was on the market, it was on TV about a dozen times, pictured in the newspaper several times, and even mentioned on KRMG.  It was also pictured in most of the free home buyer's guides in local restaurants and convenience stores.  A week before each of our open houses (2) my realtor sent out color post-cards to hundreds of potential buyers.  Each open house got a response of about 20 couples.  If I were to purchase all of that media/postage (and I wouldn't) it would cost me more than my realtor's commission.  

I've never had anyone work harder for me than my realtor.  I was in no way his largest commission, but he called every day with updates, monitored all comps in the area and sent emails daily with listings and closing prices of near by properties.  This is the third house I've listed with the same realtor and will never use another, or attempt to go it alone.  We looked at a few FSBOs while shopping and were not comfortable with any of the answers we got from the homeowners.  There is no reliable ethical standard for the seller of a home, but with a realtor you have recourse, and they are usually far better at presenting an honest representation of the property with all of it's advantages and faults.

Nah, your realtor didn't do anything to earn his commission.  Why'd you waste that 6% Gaspar?