Home > Home Buying > What Every Buyer Needs To Know About Buying Real Estate in Today's Times

This article is written for every real estate buyer in today's times. Truly this has not been like any other times buying real estate. This article will serve first time home buyers as well as move-up buyers, especially in the greater Frisco TX areas.

The General Real Estate Atmosphere

Interest rates have been harboring around historical lows. Foreclosures and short sales make great bargains in town. They almost seem no rhyme or reason to sales prices anymore. Banks and lenders just want to get out real estate business and go back to do what they've always been doing: borrowing money. On top of that, the Federal government continues to help stimulate the housing market by offering the First Time Home Buyers $8,000 Tax Credit. To find out more about the tax credit and how you may utilize it, read the related articles below.

Be Prepared For Delays

Gone are the sign of times where we used to be able to submit a contract and close within 30 days. Can some still happen? Sure. But as a home buyer, be prepared for delays. It is the only way you may keep your cool in this very stressful process.

What can cause the delay?

The mortgage industry have been busy trying to close transactions in a timely manner. On top of closing on home purchases, a large number of homeowners are refinancing their home mortgages. At the same time, the mortgage industry laid off many employees to save costs at the beginning of the year. Double the work but not enough people to process the loan applications. Could you see the bottleneck? 

The mortgage and appraisal industry recently passed the HVCC (Home Valuation Code of Conduct) on May 1 2009. The original intent is to prevent deceptive lending and appraisal practices. In the end, it costs home buyers and sellers more time and money because the process must now go through an appraisal management company to order the appraisals. What deemed as a "Rush" appraisal seems to fall on deaf ears. At the same time, the appraisal management company may hire an appraiser who may not know the "local" real estate market to work on the appraisals. It is no doubt a flawed system in the process but until it is changed or revised, buyers and sellers as well as everyone in the transaction must work within these guidelines. In some recent instances, some appraisers' comments on appraisal reports have hurt the pending sale. This process does not affect FHA and VA loans..

So many processes need to exchange hands throughout these 30-45 days, sometimes even longer. Hence, as a buyer, it is important to do your due diligence to prevent last minute hiccups.

New Truth in Lending Disclosure

As of July 30 2009, there will be new adoption to the Truth in Lending disclosure. There are 4 main changes that Buyers need to know:

• Closing cannot take place sooner than 7 business days after the lender issued the initial mortgage disclosure to the borrower. Initial mortgage disclosures must be mailed to borrower within 3 days of the application.
• Lenders cannot collect an upfront "application" fee until the loan disclosures are received by the borrower. The only exception to this rule is the credit report fee. Lenders may collect this fee at the time of application.
• There is a 3-day "waiting" period after final documents are sent to borrowers for review. Re-disclosure is required if the APR at the time of contract differs than at the time of application (1/8% point in a fixed loan and 1/4% in an adjusted loan).
• A copy of the appraisal must be reviewed/ sent to buyers no later than 3 business days before closing. The buyer has the option to waive this requirement if they do not feel this is necessary.

Recommendation to better help your home buying chances

Many buyers include a pre-qualification letter along with the offer. However, it would be more helpful to produce an approval letter with the contract. That gives the Seller more confidence in accepting your offer that you are fully able and qualified to purchase the home. An approval letter can only be produced after your lender has received your loan application and supporting documentations for your assets. To understand more about the loan approval process, read Two Halves Make a Full Loan Approval.

Home buying can be a stressful process. Work with an expert to help minimize this stress and whenever possible, minimize your possibilities of last minute surprised. When you had mentally purchase your dream home, it would be a huge disappointment if the outcome was not what you predicted.

Related Articles (First Time Home Buyer $8,000 Tax Credit):

• FAQs of Frisco TX First Time Home Buyers $8,000 Tax Credit
• Frisco TX First Time Home Buyers $8,000 Tax Credit
• When to File For Your Frisco TX First Time Home Buyer $8,000 Tax Credit

Related Articles:

• Is Homeownership on Your Horizon?
• How to Compare Lenders and Good Faith Estimates
• Working Exclusively Is An Important Message Consumers Need To Know
• How to Compare Lenders and Good Faith Estimates
• Even if you are on the Right Track