What an exciting adventure it is to buy a new home! There are a number of things to think about as you get started and I hope you'll find my Web site helpful as you navigate the process. The pages in this section will allow you to search for homes, evaluate neighborhoods, and provide useful information about local resources.
The most important thing you can do for yourself is to team up with a real estate agent with whom you can talk, trust and be comfortable. Once you find a home that you love, a good real estate agent will help you write a compelling and competitive offer, negotiate with the seller, and escort you through the inspection and closing process until you are comfortable in your new home. As a realtor, I'm here to minimize your stress and facilitate a smooth transaction. I'd love the opportunity to be your buyer's agent.
News
First-time buyers benefit from prices, choices, tax credits
It's a good time for first-time homebuyers in the Seattle area because prices are lower, there are many homes to choose from, and there is a 10 percent tax credit. But you have to do your homework, and you'll need a lot of expert help.
Before applying for a mortgage or visiting open houses, Emily Yturralde read "Home Buying for Dummies," a gift from one of her friends.
Yturralde, a C-17 pilot, said the hardest part about purchasing her first home was "going into unfamiliar territory."
"I really didn't know very much about buying a home or anything," said Yturralde, 27, who is stationed at McChord Air Force Base.
But with the help of the paperback, home-financing classes at a local bank and a real-estate agent who specializes in first-time buyers, the Texas native recently closed on a $327,000 three-bedroom, two-bathroom, newly remodeled house in the Delridge area.
"Right now is just a great time to buy a house," said Yturralde, who took advantage of a zero-down financing program offered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. "There's just so much available, and the prices and the interest rates are really, really low."
And a few days before Yturralde was scheduled to sign escrow documents, she learned that the deal had become a little sweeter: As part of the highly anticipated $787 billion federal economic-stimulus package, first-time homebuyers who purchase a home between Jan. 1 and Dec. 1, 2009, are eligible for a tax credit of 10 percent of the value of their home, up to $8,000.
The incentive is geared toward single taxpayers with incomes up to $75,000 and married couples with incomes up to $150,000.
And unlike the tax credit available to first-time homebuyers in 2008, which was a $7,500 interest-free loan to be paid back within 15 years, the 2009 program is a dollar-for-dollar benefit that doesn't have to be repaid.
It's a program real-estate professionals hope will jump start the housing market.
"I think there was a lot of hold-off until the stimulus package got released," said Ben Hoefer, an agent with John L. Scott Real Estate's University Village office. "Basically that's $8,000 free to them, depending on their income."
Besides the tax credit, a wide selection of inventory and lower prices are also bringing out buyers who couldn't have afforded entry-level homes in the Seattle area a few years ago.
King County single-family homes sold last month for a median price of $375,000, down from $429,900 in February 2008, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (MLS). That's the lowest median price for the county since May 2005.
Meantime, the median price for Snohomish County single-family homes fell from $355,000 to $312,000 during the same time period, according to the MLS.
"I think 2009 is going to be the year of the first-time homebuyers," Hoefer said.
Mining for bargains
Some first-time buyers are mining for bargains in the area's plethora of short sales and foreclosures, as well. A short sale is when the house is sold for less than the outstanding mortgage.
"There are a lot of short sales out there right now," said Laurie Way, an associate broker with Coldwell Banker Bain's Lake Union in Seattle. "I have no problem showing them, but I always warn my clients that it's a very trying experience."
She recently worked with a pair of first-time homebuyers on a short sale in Tukwila. They wrote the offer of $220,000 on Jan. 14. It was immediately accepted by the seller, but the bank took more than a month to give its approval. Meantime the April foreclosure deadline loomed.
"We were a little nervous about that," Way said.
But the couple's patience paid off, and now they're planning to invest some serious sweat-equity into the older home.
"They're going to fix it up; it's definitely dated," Way said. "But $220,000 in this area? It's hard to even fathom."
Another popular shopping place for first-time buyers: Seattle's condominium market, where the median price was $257,200 in February, down 11 percent from a year earlier, according to the MLS.
Brian Cole and Amy Watson recently purchased a $400,000 townhome in Madison Valley. They used an FHA loan geared to first-time buyers, and received a $5,000 credit from the seller.
The town home was originally listed at $465,000 in September. The seller dropped the price to $415,000, and then took it off the market for about a month before listing it for $405,000.
After a few weeks of watching the activity, and deciding against the other properties they had looked at, Cole and Watson decided to make an offer on the three-bedroom unit with a view of Lake Washington, Bellevue's skyline and the Cascade Mountains.
They moved into their new home a few weeks ago.
"All in all everything went really smooth," said Cole, who is a film and video editor. "The fact that I owned a home in two months was not really what I had expected. I had these ideas that it took much longer to buy a home."
Homebuying tips
Before heading out to get your piece of the American dream, consider these steps:
• Take a class: The Washington State Housing Finance Commission offers free homebuying seminars throughout the region. The five-hour classes cover everything from how to avoid predatory lending scams to the importance of home inspections, and are designed to arm potential buyers with the information they need to get through the homebuying process.
"They get a real good jolt of reality," said Dee Taylor, director of the finance commission's homeownership division. "This is the largest purchase they're probably ever going to make."
To find out about the seminars, go to www.wshfc.org.
• Get prequalified: Contact your bank, credit union or a mortgage broker to run a credit report and find out how much if a home you can afford.
"You need to get preapproved," said Way. "There's no sense in trying to guess what you're looking for."
• Find an agent: The easiest way to find a real-estate agent or broker is to ask friends and family members for a referral. Some real-estate offices have agents who specialize in first-time buyers, as well.
"I think they really need their own separate representation," Way said. "Somebody to really hold their hand through the process, and trust."
• Check out options: There are numerous down-payment assistance programs available to first-time homebuyers. The Washington State Homeownership Center's hotline, 866-600-6466, can match first-time buyers with housing counselors who can point to resources such as neighborhood action councils and other organizations that can help.
• Be your best advocate: Buying a house involves stacks of contracts and legal paperwork, and first-time homebuyers are often afraid they might lose a deal if they question the details.
But that's one of the reasons why many homeowners are struggling to stay current with their mortgages, or have ended up with short sales and foreclosures. Some didn't fully understand the concept an adjustable-rate mortgage, or were allowed to finance a home they simply couldn't afford, Taylor said.
"Don't be afraid to ask questions," she added. "And if you're not getting answers, run." |
