May 10, 2008
House Shopping Today
The fact that you are here at the Redfin website shows your interest in looking up houses for sale on the internet. It’s the thing to do these days, especially with gas prices so high and with our busy lives. Those two facts alone make surfing the net one of the best ways to see what’s for sale out there. But where do you start? There are a lot of houses for sale and everyone is jumping on the internet-wagon, so to speak. Here are a few tips:
- Figure out how much you can afford. I know it’s hard to zoom past some of those expensive houses for sale. How often do you get a chance to look inside one of those mansions? I’m nosy, I want to see. And then before I know it half the day is gone and I’m off in make believe mode and haven’t found even one house in my price range. And to be quite honest, I now don’t want to look at those meager homes. Bummer! Find a lender and spend about 30 minutes providing information about your income and expenses and get a good estimate of what you can afford. This will allow you to jump on a deal you see because you will already have done some of the paperwork.
- Now let’s begin our search. And remember, look only at what is in your price range. There are lots of tools at your disposal. In fact, an overwhelming amount. Of course I want you to start out with Redfin. But, you can go to some of the other sites that offer listings like Zillow and Movoto to just name a few. There are a lot out there so be discriminating. What I usually like to do if I find a house for sale at another intenet site is to put that address into Redfin and do some comparison shopping.
- Pick just 2 or 3 search engines and look for the house you like and can afford. Most of the sites have additional information above and beyond how many bedrooms, bathrooms, etc. Some have pictures, neighborhood stats, and one of my favorite tools: Google maps, so you can see exactly where the house is located in the grand scheme of things. Heck, you can practically zoom down to the front sidewalk of places and you also get to see what the neighbors have going on in their backyards. Like I said, I’m nosy. And remember to set up alerts at some of these sites and you will have houses for sale sent to you.
- Another good source is Craigslist and for homes not using an agent there is ForSaleByOwner. Now that sellers have to come down in price they don’t always want to give part of the sale amount to an agent.
- Last, but not least, is to read some blogs about the area you are interested in. This will give you the nitty gritty on what some of the areas are really, really like. The information is always current and geared toward both the buyer and seller with an understanding of what is going on in the market. Find the blogs that speak to you and bookmark that site to keep up on what the local happenings are in the area you would like to buy a house. This is what is really changing the real estate market by giving buyers and sellers more control over how they approach real estate dealings. And that is definitely a good thing!
REAL ESTATE TERMINOLOGY:
Exclusion - Something affecting title to real property excluded from coverage of a title insurance policy.
