Top Tips for Buying and Selling a Home

Buyers

Looking for a home

-Use Internet for overview of properties, communities, and schools.
-Visit potential neighborhoods at different times of day.
-Research price trends in communities and neighborhoods.
-Consider resale prospects on home before you purchase.

Get your new home inspected before you buy.

-Hire a home inspection professional who is certified or licensed.
-Attend inspection, ask questions and take notes.
-Use inspection tour to verify home fits your needs.
-Submit inspection problems to seller for remedy.

Research home financing options before making a decision.

-Fixed rate. The interest rate you pay is fixed over the term of the loan.
-Adjustable rate. Interest rate changes at end of adjustment period.
-Seller financing. Mortgage contract between property seller and you.
-Avoid paying Private Mortgage Insurance. An insurance fee charged monthly to higher-risk borrowers less than twenty percent down payment.

Retain a real estate attorney and buyers real estate agent. -An attorney should review contracts before you sign them. -Your attorney is your legal advocate from contract to closing/escrow. -Locate a real estate agent who has a fiduciary responsibility to you. -Fiduciary. Part of the common law of agency, indicates a relationship based on trust.

Understand common contract terms.

-Contingencies. A provision in a contract requiring certain acts to be completed before the contract is binding.
-Approvals. Contract period where the sellers, their attorney, you or your attorney can approve or void the contract.
-Earnest money deposits. Money given to the seller at the time of contract is made as a sign of the buyer's good faith.
-Tax Pro-rations. Credit issued at closing from the seller to the buyer for unpaid property taxes.

Sellers

Gather opinions of value from professionals on your home.

-Invite three real estate agents to submit a price range based on recorded recent sales.
-Consider hiring an independent real estate appraiser.
-Use similar properties based on age, condition and size.
-Properties sold in the last six months offer the best indicators of value.

Stage your home before buyers come through.

-Streamline clutter and place the focus on your home.
-Neutralize colors so buyers can visualize their belongings in your home.
-Visit new-construction model homes to gather ideas from the pros.
-Invite family, friends or real estate agents over for feedback.

Internet marketing provides wide exposure for your home.

-Have a virtual or digital tour of your home in multiple websites..
-Post interior and exterior photos of your home on the Internet.
-Hire a professional to write a description of your home.
-Utilize maps to showcase your location for out-of-town buyers.

Understand the elements of a contract to purchase.

-Require all offers to be in writing.
-A good contract has favorable terms in addition to price.
-Limit fixtures excluded from sale of home to a maximum of three.
-Keep negations non-emotional and amicable.

Recognize the variables that real estate agents can't overcome.

-Buyers bypass over-priced homes.
-Homebuyers discount homes in poor condition.
-Homes with poor locations have longer market times.
-Buyers are more relaxed and curious during showings when sellers are gone

Mark Nash real estate broker, writer and author of 1001 Tips for Buying and Selling a Home (Thomson 2005) specializes in helping others succeed in real estate. http://www.1001realestatetips.com

Meet the real estate broker’s interns: an ambitious group willing to do anything, earn nothing and wake up early on a Sunday to fluff the couch cushions at open houses.

In Manhattan, parking lots and garages are making way for all sorts of development, especially luxury condominiums.

Gray Burton lives in a 250-square-foot space he furnished with antiques he’s been collecting for years.

MacKenzie Thompson’s plan to buy a multifamily house in foreclosure did not pan out. She decided to buy a home in Westchester County.

A photogenic Westchester suburb with high-profile residents is also known for its art museum and a performing arts center.

A Ditmas Park co-op, Upper East Side co-op and an Upper West Side condo.

A 10-year-old house with six bedrooms in Montvale, N.J., and a renovated four-bedroom in Bronxville, N.Y.

Wealthy investors are wiring millions of dollars to New York to snatch up a piece of 157 West 57th Street - what will be New York City's tallest residential building, with 90 floors overlooking Central Park.

An apartment at the Trump International Hotel and Tower, opposite Central Park, was bought anonymously through a limited liability company.

The anchor of a proposed historic district will surely be a clutch of four mansions at Riverside Drive and 72nd Street.

Success in challenging property taxes means not having to put as much money aside in the escrow account.

Taking responsibility for a roof leak; a bank loan for capital repairs; lender says no to co-op sublet; next time, don’t forget the key.

Summerview Square is a town-house-style apartment project going up in Norwalk after a previous developer walked away, leaving squalor in his wake.

A drop in prices and low interest rates means many buyers on the Island can afford to wait.

In Hudson County, developers are working on several projects that would add thousands of units in waterfront communities like Hoboken, Jersey City and Weehawken.

A development in Austin, Tex., is an ambitious attempt to upend the conventions of the American subdivision.

A town house in New Orleans, a penthouse in Baltimore and a ranch house in Washington.

Housing prices continue to fall nationwide, with Atlanta earning the distinction as the weakest performer.

The financial crunch has been felt in Aruba, but not severely enough to cause large numbers of foreclosures and short sales.

A new law that allows businesses in Philadelphia’s Market East district to draw revenue from large digital signs has drawn attention from developers.

With its concentration of pharmaceutical giants and academic powerhouses, the region could be a major center for life sciences businesses, developers say.

The president of the New York Building Congress, which represents professionals in the construction industry, has been running the nonprofit association since 1994.

A frenetic little industry has taken root in New York City based on finding and publicizing the once-and-future homes of just about anyone with name recognition.

The plan for a business improvement district in SoHo would help with the trash problem, but some residents don’t want to cede more ground to tourists and real estate titans.

A Ditmas Park co-op, Upper East Side co-op and an Upper West Side condo.

A 10-year-old house with six bedrooms in Montvale, N.J., and a renovated four-bedroom in Bronxville, N.Y.

Properties in New Orleans, Baltimore and Bellevue, Wash.

You want them, you need them, and these power tools will pay for themselves.

One man’s discovery of the vast powers of the drill.

An abandoned log house with a sinister air, the Smith Mansion in Wyoming is the stuff of legend.

Chris Hacker, the chief design officer at Johnson & Johnson, shops for hot water bottles that can come out from under the covers.

Should I remove the family photos hanging on my wall before listing my apartment?

An architect and an interior designer have created an online database of hazardous building materials.

The handmade house, doughty and particular, is being celebrated in three new books.

Beginning Friday, the NoLIta store Haus Interior will host Wood Shop, a pop-up store created by David Stark.

Compare the cost of renting and buying equivalent homes.