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WHO WILL HELP YOU?
- Choose a REALTOR® with whom you feel
comfortable.
- Do they seem truly concerned about you and
your family in this transaction, and not just the sale?
- Do you feel they are trustworthy and
concerned about your best interests? Have they presented the
brochure, "Working With Real Estate Agents" early in the process and advised
you not to tell them any personal information about yourself until you have
agreed on your agency relationship?
- It helps if you feel comfortable talking
with each other. You'll be riding around together quite a bit, so you
need to be able to carry on conversations with each other or those are going
to be very long trips.
When is a Real
Estate Agent a REALTOR®?
The term REALTOR® is a registered collective membership mark that identifies a
real estate professional who is a member of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION of
REALTORS® and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics. The Code establishes
time-honored and baseline principles that come from the collective experiences
of REALTORS® since the Code of Ethics was first established in 1913. Those
principles can be loosely defined as:
- Loyalty to clients;
- Fiduciary (legal) duty to clients;
- Cooperation with competitors;
- Truthfulness in statements and advertising; and non-interference
in exclusive relationships that other REALTORS® have with their
clients.
- How is the REALTOR® paid?
A REALTOR®, or agent, is paid by their Agency. Each individual
agent and the agency with which they work have a working agreement as to
the percentage the agent will receive on each sale of property.
Typically, the seller of property is responsible for paying the
commission to be split between the listing agency and selling agency,
but the buyer can pay part or all of the commission, depending on the
buyer agency agreement. Commission is always negotiable and the
negotiation is between the Listing Agent and the Seller or between the
Buyer Agent and the Buyer. It is not between the Buyer and Seller
and is not a part of an Offer to Purchase Contract.
- What can a REALTOR® do?
- Help you select the best property for your
specific needs
- Present data (CMA)
to help you decide on a fair purchase price
- Suggest lenders, inspectors, attorneys,
and other service providers
- Handle all the paper work
- Negotiate between the Buyer and Seller
- Select a lender to be pre-qualified and/or
pre-approved. WHY?
- You'll know what you can afford
- It shows the sellers you are serious and able to
make the sale happen
- You can make an offer as soon as you find the home
you want
- Documents the lender may need for pre-approval:
- Pay stubs (2-3 months)
- W-2 forms (2 years)
- List of long term debt
- Recent bank statements
- Tax returns (2 years)
- Proof of any additional income
- What kind of credit do you have?
- Good (car loans, education loans paid
regularly and in timely fashion)
- Bad (bankruptcy, foreclosure, judgment,
collection agency)
- None. How can you establish credit?
- Rent in your name or along with others
(have your name on the lease)
- Set up a bank account with a small credit
line in your name
- Get a credit card with a small limit and
use it sparingly, paying the total balance monthly instead of in
monthly payments.
- DO NOT open a credit account
everywhere it’s offered to you. Every time you do, you
lower your credit rating.
- Credit score (Beacon score) – Measures a
potential borrower’s likelihood of default.
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Factors:
- Past payment history
- Amount of credit available
- Amount of borrowing relative to amount
available to borrow
- Number of recent credit inquiries
- Recent delinquency
- A Beacon score of 580 is bad, 620 is
OK and 680 is good.
- What is your record of employment?
- Job stability (more than a year)
- Changes in employment (bouncing around from
job to job)
- Self-employed or work on commission (requires
tax returns for 2 yrs.)
- Types of income (base pay, overtime, bonus,
child support, alimony)
- Ratios (29/36 – housing costs should be no
more than 29% of gross income and housing costs plus monthly debts
should be no more than 36%)
- What are your current debts (child support,
co-signed loans, credit cards, car loans, education loans, etc.)?
- The lender will required the property to have
certain requirements:
- Must be valued at least the amount of the loan
- Must be liveable, have running water, a
built-in heating source and power source – not typically a
“fixer-upper”
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