{"id":9306,"date":"2009-07-25T11:40:58","date_gmt":"2009-07-25T18:40:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=9306"},"modified":"2009-07-25T11:38:04","modified_gmt":"2009-07-25T18:38:04","slug":"why-should-you-enlist-a-buyers-agent-to-help-you-buy-a-home-because-youll-get-a-much-better-deal-even-if-you-pay-full-price","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/9306\/why-should-you-enlist-a-buyers-agent-to-help-you-buy-a-home-because-youll-get-a-much-better-deal-even-if-you-pay-full-price\/","title":{"rendered":"Why should you enlist a buyer’s agent to help you buy a home? Because you’ll get a much better deal — even if you pay full price"},"content":{"rendered":"

This from my Arizona Republic<\/i> real estate column (permanent link<\/a>):<\/p>\n

Are home-buyers best served by the vigilant efforts of an experienced buyer’s agent? Consider a transaction we have in play right now.<\/p>\n

The buyers are a young couple, about to be married. They have about $10,000 in cash.<\/p>\n

With a conventional loan, they could put 20% down on a dismal starter home. Or, with Private Mortgage Insurance, they could put 10% down on a nicer home.<\/p>\n

But with an FHA loan, $10,000 is 3.5% down on a $285,000 home. We can argue the wisdom of making so small a down payment, but the FHA loan program is the path to homeownership for millions of Americans.<\/p>\n

And $285,000 is too much house for our buyers. They found a nice lender-owned two-story home in the suburbs selling for $169,000. The down payment on that home would be $5,915. But the closing costs would probably run to another $5,000 — which comes to more money than they have.<\/p>\n

They qualify for the $8,000 first-time home-buyer tax credit, but they won’t get that until they file their tax return. They also qualify for a state-funded grant program that will contribute up to 22% of the purchase price — but which can’t be used for the down payment or the closing costs.<\/p>\n

Here’s the deal we put together. We offered $175,000, $6,000 over list price. In exchange, we asked the seller to contribute 4% of the full purchase price to defray the buyer’s closing costs.<\/p>\n

The down payment will be $6,125, leaving the buyers $3,875 in cash to pay for the endless expenses of moving into a new home.<\/p>\n

And there will be about $2,000 left over after the closing costs are paid. This will be used to buy down the interest rate. The buyers will end up with just over 25% equity in the property for a cash outlay of $6,125 — all at a very low monthly payment. And they’ll still have their $8,000 tax credit to look forward to.<\/p>\n

This is the kind of outcome a skilled buyer’s agent can achieve.<\/p>\n

 
Steal this book:<\/em><\/strong> So far I’ve written two columns on this theme. If Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This from my Arizona Republic real estate column (permanent link): Are home-buyers best served by the vigilant efforts of an experienced buyer’s agent? Consider a transaction we have in play right now. The buyers are a young couple, about to be married. They have about $10,000 in cash. With a conventional loan, they could put […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[212,26,6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9306","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-flourishing","7":"category-lending","8":"category-marketing","9":"category-real-estate","11":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11762,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/11762\/fha-va-tip-the-amendatory-clause\/","url_meta":{"origin":9306,"position":0},"title":"FHA\/ VA Tip: The Amendatory Clause","author":"Brian Brady","date":"April 13, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a tip for real estate agents, when presenting an offer with FHA\u00a0 or VA financing; include the FHA\/VA Amendatory Clause to the Purchase Contract as part of the offer.\u00a0\u00a0 You'll save you, the seller's agent, the escrow company, the lender, and most importantly your buyer, a lot of last\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lending"","block_context":{"text":"Lending","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/lending\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7903,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/7903\/fha-and-va-assumable-loans-offer-an-exit-strategy-for-todays-buyers\/","url_meta":{"origin":9306,"position":1},"title":"FHA and VA Assumable Loans Offer an Exit Strategy For Today’s Buyers","author":"Brian Brady","date":"April 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"How can an FHA mortgage or VA home loan sell a home faster?\u00a0\u00a0 When mortgage rates are 10% and the 5% government loan is assumable. I've taken a few pokes at the contributors on Active Rain; John MacArthur isn't one of them.\u00a0 John is a Branch Manager with Long and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lending"","block_context":{"text":"Lending","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/lending\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8526,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/8526\/8526\/","url_meta":{"origin":9306,"position":2},"title":"$8,000 Tax Credit Advance Friend or Foe?","author":"Scott Cowan","date":"May 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I have been following the $8,000 Federal Tax Credit with great interest this year. Currently it is the most talked about topic that I am discussing with potential home buyers. There is a lot of interest in receiving $8,000 when a first time buyer files their taxes for 2009. Now\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Mother"","block_context":{"text":"Big Mother","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/big-mother\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8771,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/8771\/why-real-estate-agents-should-stop-playing-loan-officer\/","url_meta":{"origin":9306,"position":3},"title":"Why Real Estate Agents Should Stop Playing Loan Officer","author":"Mark Madsen","date":"June 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I wasted a few hours this week cleaning up the messes that real estate agents created for their first time home-buyers. End result - loan officer still looks like a jerk, but now the borrowers are really confused about who to trust. I'm going to combine about five separate scenarios\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lending"","block_context":{"text":"Lending","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/lending\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4751,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/4751\/va-and-fha-higher-loan-limit-extension-through-2011-the-main-street-bailout\/","url_meta":{"origin":9306,"position":4},"title":"VA and FHA Higher Loan Limit Extension Through 2011: The Main Street Bailout","author":"Brian Brady","date":"September 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"We don't have a \"Main Street\" in Southern California; we have the US Route 101 (or CA State Highway #1). We call it the Coast Highway, the Pacific Coast Highway, or the PCH.\u00a0 When I think of a bailout plan for Main Street, I think of it for homes within\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lending"","block_context":{"text":"Lending","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/lending\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2179,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2179\/a-consumers-guide-to-the-divorced-real-estate-commission-why-buyers-and-sellers-each-paying-for-their-own-representation-is-the-most-significant-reform-that-can-be-made-today-in-residential-real-estat\/","url_meta":{"origin":9306,"position":5},"title":"A consumer’s guide to the divorced real estate commission: Why buyers and sellers each paying for their own representation is the most significant reform that can be made today in residential real estate","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 7, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Part I: How we got into this mess in the first place Can we be straight with each other? I'm not a soft and subtle kind of guy, and my working assumption is that you are sick to death of being hustled -- handled -- lied to. We yammer all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9306"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9307,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9306\/revisions\/9307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}