For people who want to buy real estate now may be a great time if they are realistic about the market conditions and have their financial houses in order.  Falling home prices have become a fact of life in California, Florida, and many other parts of the nation.  While this may be good news for buyers and not so good news for sellers there are still some hurdles to overcome for prospective home buyers.

Return to sanity

Mortgage lenders are still willing to lend money to people who want to buy a house, but they are demanding larger down payments and higher credit scores.  Gone are the days when anyone with a pulse and an identification card could buy a house with no money down.  Now lenders are asking that homeowners come up with at least 5% of the purchase price as a down payment and are more closely looking at how much borrowers can prove that they earn.  Most responsible lenders suggest that home buyers pay no more than 30% of their income 

Understand your local market

Every real estate market is unique and location is still the most important factor in determining a home’s market value.  Before buying a house it is important to make sure that you will actually want to live in the neighborhood your house is in for years to come.  Websites like www.Zillow.com and www.Trulia.com can provide plenty of free information about neighborhoods before people seek out more specialized assistance. 

Real estate agents are still a valuable resource

Despite the many tools available on the internet designed to give information to consumers many home sellers and buyers still find enormous value in working with an experienced and licensed real estate agent.  Having the right agent on your team who has specialized local knowledge can help buyers and sellers avoid costly mistakes.  It is wise to interview several agents and gauge their experience level no matter what your individual real estate goals may be.

Deals on foreclosure houses

“Make sure that you know what kind of house you are buying,” urges Patrick McGilvray, J.D., a foreclosure expert and president of www.TheHomeBuyingCenter.com, a nationwide real estate company that helps people sell their houses to a network of investors and locates foreclosure and bank owned homes (REOs) for buyers.  “There are lots of great homes at great prices available from banks and from individual sellers across the nation.  Buyers do need to be careful though about the house they are buying and not pay full retail prices in what is most likely still a declining real estate market.”

Tags: Patrick McGilvray, real estate market, thehomebuyingcenter.com, www.Trulia.com, www.Zillow.com

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