How to Buy a Home in Today's Real Estate Market

SILVER AND GOLD / California & Nevada Online Real Estate Listing Directory

How to Buy a Home in Today's Real Estate Market

HUD's Nine Steps to Buying a Home & Information Links,

Tips for Foreign Nationals Buying U.S. Real Estate &

Three Common Misconceptions About Buying a Home

in Today's Real Estate Market

The U.S. Dept. of Housing & Urban Development recommends the following nine steps for buying a home.

Use the links listed below to access important information on HUD's website.

Tips for Foreign Nationals

Buying Property in the United States

Though U.S. policy generally encourages foreign investment in domestic real estate and allows for generous ease-of-access, local attorneys and accountants should always be consulted regarding tax, immigration and other legal and financial issues. Some things to consider if you are buying property in the United States include:

1) Investigating Financing - The availability of Foreign National loans for real estate purchases in the U.S. seems to be on the rise this year after a couple of years with an almost non-existent list of options in some states. These loans usually require higher down payments and demand higher interest rates.

2) Being prepared to establish a U.S. Bank Account - Lenders may require a 'seasoned' bank account up to six months old as a pre-condition for financing along with proof of other assets.

3) Getting Proper Personal Documentation - Various statements and proofs of income, employment, credit, or letters of reference may be required by lenders.

4) International Background and Credit Checks - Also frequently required by lenders, can add a week or two to escrow in some cases.

5) Accepted cash sales can close in as little as one week.

3 Common Misconceptions About

Buying a Home in Today's Market

Home buyers are confused by all the chaos in the housing market caused by the recent flood of foreclosures. When you combine this with the explosion of information available on the internet, it's no surprise that most people don't know where to start. Here are three common misconceptions that people have about "finding the best deals" and buying a home in today's real estate market.

1) If you don't get a foreclosure property you're probably not getting the best deal.

People are always hearing about all the great deals that they're missing out on (mostly from pitchmen selling a service.) Aside from courthouse auctions and ‘for sale by owner' properties (FSBOs which can be found on several of the big national real estate websites) there are generally no special "deals' or sources of homes for sale that you have to ‘find.' All properties, whether they're short-sales, or bank-owned REOs, or just regular homes are simply for sale.

Home buyers need to focus on shopping for the best deal based on price and features, not the type of sale that it is.

2) There are so many different sources of homes for sale available on the internet.

All of the homes that are listed for sale on the internet except FSBOs originate on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) system. Properties found on Realtor.com and the IDX feeds on many real estate agent's websites come straight from the local MLS Boards, with new and expired listings updated every 15 minutes.

Some of the big national real estate websites like Trulia, Zillow also do a pretty good job of publishing this information, but if you go straight to the source it's faster and there's no need to cross check.

Many other websites offering listings have stale information that can be a waste of time. They may also be trying to sell you something, or want to get you under contract as a referral so they can sell you as a 'lead' to an active agent.

3) You don't need a real estate agent to find a home.

Home buyers that spend a lot of time trying to find a home by themselves online are often missing out on seeing a lot of the latest and best homes for sale. They also aren't taking full advantage of the professional assistance that the seller ends up paying for anyway when they buy.

When people do find a home that they like, they frequently aren't prepared to make an offer and risk losing the window of opportunity on a property by spending a few extra days lining up an agent and loan officer to represent them and protect their interests during escrow.

If you want to buy a home... get a good real estate agent and loan officer on your team first. Happy house hunting !

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