First Time Home Buyers

I have worked with many home buyers over the years who have wanted to wait for the price to drop before making an offer. That didn’t work well during the buyers market of a decade ago and it doesn’t work in today’s competitive seller’s market.

This chart shows the relationship between the asking price of homes that were sold in St Paul over the last two years and the actual sale price. As the chart shows there isn’t a lot of wiggle room.

There are some houses out there that are overpriced. Those are the houses that have been on the market for a while.  The prices will likely be lowered but when the price goes down there will be multiple offers. The best strategy is to make an offer at a lower price. There are no guarantees but sometimes it works and I can almost guarantee that waiting for the price to drop won’t work.

There is mold in your house and probably in your car too. Mold can be scary but isn’t always dangerous.

There is a 100% chance that the home you live in and the one that you buy in the future has mold in it. Mold is everywhere.

This is what the Minnesota Department of Health has to say about mold testing:

“Poor reason for testing #1 “To find out if there is mold”

A complex mixture of mold particles normally exists in all occupied indoor environments. If appropriate testing is done, it is expected that molds will be found.

There is, however, an important distinction between the normal presence of mold particles, versus mold growth and accumulation indoors.

Unfortunately, even when it is done well, testing may not be able to distinguish between “normal” and “problem” conditions and it may even give misleading results.”

To lessen mold growth in your home, seal up any leaks, dry everything out. Clean or remove moldy surfaces. The Minnesota Department of Health website has information about how to clean up mold using bleach and water. 

I know it was just last month that I wrote about Lead-Based Paint because it is safe to assume most St. Paul houses including my own contain lead-based paint.

If you are buying a house you need to know that a good offer is about more than money and in some situations other terms will win out over more money.

Here are some things to consider:

1. Closing date – having the flexibility to choose a closing date that works well for the sellers.
2. Down payment – Yes downpayment matters. It doesn’t have to be 205 but a higher downpayment makes an offer more attractive because the house is more likely to appraise for at least the loan amount.
3. Agreeing to take on repairs.

Those are the top three but also consider offering to let the sellers leave anything behind that they don’t want.  Such an offer may be especially attractive to older homeowners who are downsizing or in situations where the house is part of an estate.

Ideally, buyers agents should ask what the sellers are looking for when it comes to the closing date and if there is anything else the buyers can do to make the offer appealing to the sellers.

Buyers should not expect sellers to pay their closing costs. In a multiple offer situation that is almost always a deal killer.