Wednesday, March 25, 2015

3 Easy Steps to Home Ownership

You may think that buying a home is difficult or
that you may not be able to buy a home, and I ma here to help you.  There is a lot involved in buying a home and your real estate professional is there to explain the process and guide you through the entire transaction.  Most real estate agents in Florida are "Transaction Brokers" and while that does mean we can assist both the buyer and the seller, we also have very strict guidelines to follow when working with our customers.  

1- You will need a mortgage pre-approval if you do not have cash to purchase the home.  I suggest you contact a mortgage person BEFORE you speak to a Realtor to assist you in buying your home.  If you are in the New Port Richey area, I can give you a few mortgage professionals to contact.

2- You need to hire a Realtor to assist you. Although I use the term "Hire" you do not pay your agent any commission. The seller pays that fee but you may have a small administrative fee to pay your real estate Broker.  Call a few Realtors in the area you are looking to buy. Ask them how many homes they sold last year. Ask them how many of them were buyers. Ask them if they are full time or part time agents.  Feel them out, you don't want to get started with an agent that is a bad fit.  Meet them at their office and discuss your pre-approval and what you are looking for in your home. You may have to sign a few basic disclosures about how your agent works so be prepared for that.

3- Home Search Time. Your agent may send you
homes via email through the MLS system. Ours has a "customer portal" that allows you to make notes on the homes you are interested in and then I can make notes on them as well and we can have a conversation about the houses before we even go look at them. I will pull permits and tell you what I find all thorough the portal. This is excellent for both of us since You may be looking at the homes in your portal after work in the evening and I can respond as I normally do between 7 and 8 a.m. when I arrive at my office. Once we have a few homes that fit your needs and price range, we will head out to look at the homes.  Stay off of Trulia and Zillow, they will only make you crazy. 


That is it. Get Pre-Qualified with a lender, hire an agent and do your home search. Please be sure that your agent is highly active in the market and has some experience working with home buyers. Over the years I have fine tuned how I assist my customers to provide them with the best possible service.

If your looking to Sell or Buy a Home in New Port Richey, Port Richey, Trinity or Hudson Florida, Contact me online and ask me any questions you may have and you are always free to call me. 


written by Michael J. Gallo

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