Many potential home buyers have downloaded my free eBook “10 Mistakes Home Buyers Make” and have told me how it saved them money on their home purchase. Here is the list of 10 mistakes you should avoid. Download the eBook, its free (you need Adobe Reader) and it could save you  money also. I look forward to your feedback. Do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.

1. Not Doing Your Homework

2. Previewing Houses Before Pre-Approval

3. Accepting Verbal Estimates

4. Skipping the Pre-Approval Process

5. Writing A Contract Before All Decision Makers Have Seen The House

6. Purchasing A Home Without Representation

7. Waiving Your Home Inspection

8. Using The Wrong Home Inspector

9. Only Getting A Quote From One Homeowners Insurance Company

10. Forgoing Owner’s Title Insurance

I do not recommend that a buyer put a very large earnest money deposit with an offer (unless you are purchasing a high price property) because a dispute between a buyer and seller can cause a delay in the buyer getting their earnest money deposit back quickly. If a buyer writes a $5,000 earnest money check and have to fight to get it released it could take months and that can affect their ability to purchase another property immediately.

In my 15 years of being a real estate professional I’ve notice that some buyers want to purchase a home in neighborhoods that are out of their financial comfort zone or buying power. Now is a good time to take advantage of the lower interest rates. This is one way to  increase your buying power!

1. Start the home buying process early. If your goal is to purchase a home in 2012 you should start getting prepared now. Get a free copy of your credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com.

2. Contact a lender (loan officer). After you get your report contact a lender and tell him/her that you want to review your credit report so you can become mortgage ready. I have my clients met with lenders up to a year in advance to get prepared for homeownership. When you start the process early this will allow you time to increase your credit scores so you can get the best pricing (better interest rates). Most people wait until their lease is about to expire and then they decide to purchase a home instead of renting, but they are not what we call “mortgage ready.”

3. Follow the game plan. If you follow the game plan your lender and I provide this will help your odds of getting financing with less stress. The market has changed since the so-called boom  your loan must make sense to the lender.

If you start early, get your report, meet with a lender and follow the game plan you can make the process a lot easier on yourself and more enjoyable. If you need a good lender to guide you through the steps contact me and I will send you a list.

I assist many first-time home buyers with the purchase of their first home and I can say that 100 percent of my clients were happy with their purchase. I contact my clients after they settle in their new homes to see how they are doing and even in this economy all of them were happy with their purchase. No house is perfect and sometimes things happen unexpectedly, but I have not had a client who said “I wish I had not purchased this house.” This tells me that homeownership is a good thing  and still the American dream for many people. Buying a home is not as easy as during the real estate boom and can be challenging as the Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke reported last week at the international monetary conference in Atlanta, Georgia. He stated that, “despite historically affordable home values, many buyers are unable to access financing due to tightened lending standards.” This is true so you need to prepare for homeownership. If you are thinking about purchasing a home next year you need to get started now. In my next blog post I will show you how to prepare so getting financing from your lender is not so difficult.

Get preapproved before you go house shopping. On Friday my wife and I were showing a foreclosure property to one of my clients, as we were leaving the house a couple approached us about the property. My client told the couple that he was not interested in the property and he gave them his listing sheet (detailed information about the property). They wanted to take a look at the property and I told them I had one more property to show my client and I could meet them back at the house if they did not have an agent. When I returned to the property one of the first questions I asked ” have you been preapproved?” They said no. After showing them the property I told them I could assist them with getting preapproved and they should do that first before continuing to look at houses. In the spring market getting preapproved before you start looking at houses is essential because you have more active buyers in the market during the spring. You could potentially lose out on a house you like because some one else took the time to  get preapproved before touring houses and you didn’t.

If you need help in getting  preapproved I can provide a list of good lenders contact me at 410-977-7176.

FHA regulations typically prohibit insuring a mortgage on a home owned by the seller for less than 90 days, but in February of last year, FHA temporarily waived this regulation through January 31, 2011, noting that in today’s foreclosure-ravaged marketplace, the agency’s research has shown that acquiring, rehabilitating, and reselling distressed properties often takes less than 90 days.

The FHA 203k Financing Program is a good option for anyone looking to purchase a home that needs updating or repairs that the seller is unable or unwilling to fix due to the property being a short sale, foreclosure or estate sales.

In the past 203k loans were tedious and difficult. I use to avoid them as much as possible but I would still end up assisting about 2- 3 clients a year to navigate through the process. Most lenders during those days did not specialize in 203k financing so many were learning with each transaction.  We never went to settlement on time because a step was always missed and we had to back track. Today I can gladly tell you that is no longer the case. Most lenders who offer FHA 203k financing have a 203k department and loan officers that specialize in the process. I have 2 clients this year who have used FHA 203k financing and both went smooth.

Streamline vs Traditional

Buyers today have the option of doing a streamline or the traditional 203k. A streamline 203k is good for a buyer who is financing $35,000 or less in repairs. The buyer receives half the repair money at settlement. If you go over the $35,000 for repairs you must use the traditional 203k financing. I recommended that my clients who were first-time home buyers to use the traditional 203k instead of the streamline option even though their repair amount was less than $35,000 for several reasons. My first thought was that I wanted my clients to have a good experience and lessen their risk and potential loss of money. The traditional 203k requires that the contractor  the buyer has chosen do the work before he gets paid.  If the contractor puts in a new kitchen for the buyer a FHA Fee Inspector must come to the property look at the work and sign off on the repairs with the buyers permission before the contractor will get paid. This insures that the contractors does the work correctly the first time or make any necessary modification before receiving his/her money. When a buyer does the streamline 203k and receives half the money up front most of the time they will give it to the contractor and if the buyer is not satisfied with the work the contractor has been paid some or most of the money. Most contractors will not start the work without receiving money in advance. I have found several contractors that specialize in traditional 203k financing and are willing to put up their money and get paid when their work is completed. And my clients are having a wonderful experience. In the past most 203k’s did not work because of issues with contractors. Things have changed for the better and I now recommend FHA 203k financing to my clients its a Good Option!

The first step in the home buying process for everyone no matter the price range is to get prequalified so you know your numbers. Especially in this market. Lender guidelines are changing sometime daily.

These are the numbers you should always know before you start your home search;

1. What is my qualification amount?

2. What is my estimated interest rate?

3. How much down payment and closing cost do I need?

A lender can provide this for you in the form of a Good Faith Estimate in writing. I will not show houses to clients who do not know their numbers. If you request a Good Faith Estimate from a lender and he or she refuse to give you one I would proceed with caution. I can also assist you in obtaining one. So get a Good Faith Estimate and take some of the stress out of the home buying process.

And always KNOW YOUR NUMBERS!

Rescoring is a service offered only to mortgage lenders by independent credit reporting agencies, which compile information from the three credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion). The independents can work with the Big Three, fix errors, and then recalculate your credit score. If your score can go up, even a little, after the errors are fixed, you could save thousands of dollars on your mortgage interest.

The key is that rescoring works only on real errors. If you have a low score because you don’t pay your bills on time, then you can’t rescore. You must demonstrate to your lender that you have a legitimate error on your report and provide proof, such as payment records. If your lender does decide you have a legitimate case, you will have to pay up to $150 to have the rescoring done.

Rescoring is really an emergency maneuver. If you are planning to apply for a mortgage, you should get a copy of your credit report first. Go to www.annualcreditreport.com. You can get one free report each year from each of the credit bureaus. You will have to pay to get your score.