Raylene Lewis
Realtor®
Read my blog below
Buying Real Estate Category
Buying A College Station Home: What to Look For When Viewing Homes For Sale
August 8th, 2008 Categories: Buying Real Estate, Real Estate News
When you begin your home search in College Station for the property that is right for you and your family, the first thing you want to do is compare the home you are looking at to your personal list of minimum requirements. You also want to keep in mind the ”extras” that are included with the home you are looking at.
Typically, “extras” are added features or upgrades to a property. Extras can also be things that are on your “Buyer’s Wish List.” You should ask your Realtor to help you keep track of the extras and point out the upgrades in each property as you are viewing the home.
It is also important to ask your Realtor to help you identify potential problems and maintenance issues. Although your Realtor is NOT an inspector and can not advise you on what is wrong with the property, they can point out the current appearance of things that will require ongoing maintenance; for example: paint, appliances, windows and carpet.
If you are a very detailed and organized person, it can be helpful Read the rest of this entry »
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Buying a Home In College Station: Deciding on a Neighborhood
August 7th, 2008 Categories: Buying Real Estate
College Station Texas is filled with many wonderful neighborhoods. When you start your house hunting adventure, you will want to pick a home in a location that is most convenient to you and allows you to best live your daily life. There are several things you should consider when choosing a neighborhood:
- School Locations and National Rankings
- Access to Shopping and Public Transportation
- Average Lot size for the area
- Deed Restrictions
- Proximity to Other Homes
- Proximity to Parks
- Noise of the Train
- Noise of the Highway
- Children in the Area vs Students in the Area
- Open Lots vs. Homes with large Established Trees
- Amount of New Construction in the Area
- Amenities the Subdivision Offers
- Safety of the Area
When you find neighborhoods that you like, it is important to talk to the people Read the rest of this entry »
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Buying a Home In College Station: What to Look For in a Realtor
August 6th, 2008 Categories: Buying Real Estate
When you are ready to go out and start viewing homes for sale in Bryan, College Station, and the surrounding area, there are several things you will need to help you get started with your search. The first thing you will want to look for is a Realtor who listens to you and understands your needs.
It is important to pick an agent who you feel comfortable with and whose judgement you trust. A good Realtor will know our local area and the Bryan College Station market well, and they will have all the resources you need to aid you in your search and make sure you find the property that is right for you.
You want someone who will make sure you see all the homes for sale that meet your search criteria; regardless of what company they are listed with. The home buying process should be enjoyable and fun. If you have a good Realtor, you will feel confident that you are being well cared for and well informed. This will greatly Read the rest of this entry »
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Buying Real Estate In Bryan College Station: Determining What You Need
August 5th, 2008 Categories: Buying Real Estate
Whether you are a first time home buyer, upgrading to a larger home, or downsizing to a smaller one, when you know it’s time to buy a property it is easy to wonder where to begin. Since you will be living in your home for typically at least 3 years, you want to find a place that will fit the way you live.
The first step is to obtain loan pre-approval so that you know what price range to be looking in. For the next step, I recommend making 2 lists. The first list should contain Read the rest of this entry »
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Renting a Home in College Station vs Buying One
August 2nd, 2008 Categories: Buying Real Estate
The biggest advantage of renting a home versus owning one in College Station is that, as a tenant, you are not responsible for fixing something if it breaks. Since it is not your property and thus not your responsibility, you have virtually no home maintenance or updating costs.
A home owner must usually stay in their home for a minimum of 3 years to recoup their expenses and break even when they go to sell their home. A tenant has the advantage of being able to move whenever their lease ends without having to sell their current property and pay closing costs. The cost of selling your home can result in a loss of a substantial amount of money if a home buyer moves after only a year or two of occupancy.
If you don’t know if you are going to be in one area Read the rest of this entry »
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Buying a Home in Bryan College Station: Knowing When You’re Ready & The Lender
July 23rd, 2008 Categories: Buying Real Estate, Community Events
Buying a home in Bryan, College Station is a fun and exciting process. If you are prepared, and have the right professional helping you, it will also be low stress. A home is the place where you can be yourself, showcase your personality, and spend much of your time for the next several years.
Your home will likely be the most expensive thing you will ever buy, and you want to make sure you find a place that fits your family’s needs, has a good chance of appreciation in value, and does not place you in a stressful situation that you can not afford.
To help you determine if you are ready to buy a home, my first suggestion is to ask yourself a couple of questions:
- Is your source of income steady and reliable?
- Have you been employed for the last 2 years?
- Have you been keeping up with paying your current bills on time?
- Do you have at most only 2 or 3 long-term debts? (student loans or car payment)
- Do you have money in the bank to pay towards a home mortgage and closing costs?
- Can you afford the additional costs that home ownership brings? (maintenance, utilities, insurance, taxes, etc.)
When you think you are ready, the first place to start is to find out how much of a monthly mortgage payment you can afford. It is best to find out what you can afford before you start looking at homes. This way you know you are in the right price range and not wasting your time looking at something you can’t have. This also means that you haven’t missed out on something that was with in your budget and perfect for you!
To accomplish this goal, you will need to visit with a lender. This does not have to be the person you will end up using to complete your home loan, (you will shop around for that later). You just need a lender to pull your credit score (once) and consider your debt-to-income ratio.
Your Debt-to-Income ratio is a comparison of your pre-tax income to housing and non-housing expenses. Examples of Non-Housing expenses are things that are long-term debts, like child support, a car payment, a large credit card bill, or student loans. The lender will also look at the cash amount that you have available to place towards a home, what your purchasing expenses (closing costs for buying the home) will be and your past credit history.
The loan amount you are approved for does not always determine what price range you will be buying in, but it is a good place to start. Sometimes the lender will approve you for more than you feel comfortable, so you really need to pay attention to what your total expenses will be every month (your monthly payment) with that loan amount.
Typically, a good rule of thumb is that your monthly mortgage payment should be no more than 31% of your gross income and your mortgage payment combined with your non-housing expenses should be no more than 43% of your total income.
In Bryan College Station, a good way to ball-park estimate what your monthly payment would be based on the price of the home, is to assume it is around 1%. For example, when you are considering a home that is $150,000 you can roughly estimate your monthly payment to be around $1,500 a month with taxes and insurance on a 30 year loan. Beware of online mortgage calculators that tell you what you can afford, as most do not consider taxes and insurance.
Happy Buying!
Articles on Home Buying, Raylene Lewis, Realtor
www.professionalhousehunters.com
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Selling Your College Station Home Pre-Foreclosure: The Hardship Letter
July 19th, 2008 Categories: Buying Real Estate, Selling Real Estate
A hardship letter is just one of many documents that would be required by the lender when beginning the short sale process.
The point of the hardship letter is for the Seller to notify their lending institution of why they can no longer make payments on their property.
There are many reasons why a Seller can no longer pay for the home they are living in.
A few examples include:
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The Seller did not fully understand the type of loan they purchased the home under and the Adjustable Rate Mortgage has not increased beyond the Seller’s ability to Pay.
- The Seller has a unexpected illness and/or now has additional medical bills.
- The Seller has lost their job.
- The Seller’s income has substantially decreased.
- The Seller’s job was relocated.
- The Seller’s Spouse or co-borrower has died.
- The Seller is getting or is now divorced.
- The Seller has been incarcerated.
- There has been significant damage to the property, and the Seller is no longer able to maintain the property or make repairs.
The Seller needs to make sure that their hardship letter is reflective of their unique Read the rest of this entry »
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Pricing a Bryan College Station Home in Today’s Market
June 9th, 2008 Categories: Buying Real Estate, Real Estate News, Selling Real Estate
There is a big question going on right now on how to correctly price homes for sale in Bryan, College Station given the current state of the market and the economy in general. Everyone has heard that the local area here has not been hurt nearly as bad as the rest of the nation and that is 100% true.
Largely because of Texas A&M University, and because our home prices have never been grossly inflated from their true value, the market in College Station has remained strong.
The problems that I have seen with getting a home sold are predominately 1) the current buyer can not purchase the home they want because they have to sell their out-of-area home first or 2) the current buyer can no longer get approved for the amount they wanted to spend on a home, thus they are not upgrading to a nicer property, and hence no sale.
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5 Common Misconceptions about Real Estate in Bryan College Station
May 7th, 2008 Categories: Buying Real Estate, Real Estate News, Selling Real Estate
1) “All Realtors have access to the same things so it doesn’t matter who I list with.”– The truth is that every Realtor is unique. Since we are independent contractors, we choose what marketing tools pay for and incorporate into our business marketing plan for the houses we sell. Realtors also offer a variety of different services. A few examples include: where and how the property will be marketed, what times the Realtor will make themselves available, what additional services for the client’s convenience are provided, what tools are used to capture buyers looking for homes, and what tools are used convert those buyers to a sale. Read the rest of this entry »
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