This article is the second follow on article to When buying Best Medford Homes always consider resale.

Along with external obsolescence, which we discussed in the above mentioned article, two other types of obsolescence can affect the value of a property.

These are factors considered by any licensed appraiser in a home appraisal for a bank and need also to be considered by buyers when evaluating the price of a home.

These are Functional Obsolescence and Physical Deterioration.

Functional Obsolescence is a term used to describe the features in a home which are no longer desirable.  Housing requirements change, technology and design of homes change to reflect these needs. The housing needs of fifty years ago are not the same housing needs of today. For instance families today are smaller, most families have two incomes and there are more automobiles owned by  a family. Some examples of Functional Obsolescence are:

• One bathroom
• Small kitchen
• Outdated appliances
• Old and drafty windows
• Old heating system
• 35 year old roof
• Old cabinets
• Home without a basement.

Physical Deterioration occurs when a home is not properly maintained. Some examples of Physical Deterioration are:

• Sagging floors
• Sagging  and leaking roof
• Sagging porch
• Worn out parts of floor
• leaky pipes
• Ceiling falling in
• Roted or broken shingles
• Leaky roof

As mentioned in previous articles, it is essential to get the emotions out of the buying process to get the best property price.

My advice is to start thinking like an appraiser when viewing property.  Look for the signs of functional obsolescence and physical deterioration. Make an Excel Spreadsheet or even a simple hand written checklist to document these issues as you see them.

If you see too may of them, then maybe this property is not for you. If you decide to go ahead with an offer on the property, make sure to work with your buyer's broker to see that these issues are properly discounted from the property price or that they are taken care of by the seller before the sale.

If these issues are not properly accounted for in the sale price of the property, then they are the new homeowner's responsibility.

If you are looking for property and need help with these issues, please do not hesitate to contact me directly at 781-704-7125 or contact me through this site.

This article focuses on some of the external factors which affect the value of a home.

One big factor which affects the value of a home is External Obsolescence.  This occurrs when forces outside of the control of the homeowner afect the value of a home, neighborhood or subdivision.

Here are some examples of external obsolescence:

• Highway built next to a neighborhood
• Neighborhood rezoned for commercial use.
• Landfill
• Airport expansion
• Superfund site

You can not predict the future, but you can do your homework and understand:

• Any proposed zoning changes being considered at the city and state levels
• Any public works project that are being proposed or approved to be be built.

Once you understand the changes, you will need to assess the potential impact of these changes on the property you are considering purchasing.

A good resource to help you understand these factors is a buyer's broker, who can advice you on any such changes that may or will be occurring in the area to which you are moving.

If you have questions on External Obsolescence please feel free to contact me directly at 781-804-7125

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In the previous article, More Buyer mistakes to avoid when looking for the Best Medford Area Properties, we discussed the first steps for the home buyer in determining budget and property needs.

Following these steps will help you begin a focused search for property. It is extremely important to be able to conduct a focused property search to save the buyer:

• Time
• Money
• Missed opportunities
• Lots of frustration

In Massachusetts alone, there are over 50,000 properties on the market and thousands on the market in some cities. If you do not have a plan or a map to navigate these properties, you will spend more of your time, you will miss out on opportunities that you did not see, which might save you money and the process will be long as well as frustrating.

If you are having trouble getting traction to determine your property needs and also your budget, you are not alone.

The most important decision to make at this point is to decide to get professional assistance from a buyer's agent and his/her team of professionals. A professional buyers agent helps people determine their property needs and helps them get pre-qualified on a daily basis.

It usually takes 30 - 45 minutes with a professional buyer's agent to get you on the road-map to success in finding the home of your dreams. This service is free and you will feel like a burden has been lifted from your shoulders.

For more information on my Guaranteed buyer services or a free buyer consultation, Please contact me directly at 781-704-7125 or jhbart49@comcast.net

Buying at first sight.

I'm sure that everyone at one time or another has bought something on first sight, only to find later on that it did not meet your requirements.

If the item was a one dollar candy bar, the loss is easy to absorb.

If the item was a flat screen TV or other piece of electronics in the one to two thousand dollar range, then you may be stuck with the item for a few years before you are able to replace it.

If the item is a car in the fifteen to fourty thousand dolar range, then you may be stuck with this item for many years or you may have to lose money on a trade-in for another car.

If the item is a home, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and probably the most expensive purchase that you will ever make, then the result can be devastating.

First sight buying is emotional buying!

It is hard for many to get emotions out of the buying process, especially for first time buyers.

The best way to approach a home purchase is to first determine what you can spend. This can easily be done by getting pre-approved.

Next, sit down with your family and determine your housing needs. Be sure to consider location, number of bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen requirements, parking, public transportation if that is important, and any other needs that you have.

The next step is to start looking on the internet to determine the homes available that meet your needs, that you can also afford. You may need to make some compromises for affordability. Therefore it is a good idea to put your needs in priority order.

We will talk more on this subject in the next post.

If anyone needs my help with getting a pre-qualification or help defining their housing needs, please contact me directly at

 781-704-7125 or jhbart49@comcast.net.

Not understanding the importance of pre-approval.

A bank pre-approval is an estimate of the amount of money that a bank will be willing to lend to you. It is based on your credit rating, employment history, and history of loan, credit card and other payments.

It is also necessary for you to make on offer on a property. Agents will not accept an offer without a pre-approval. Some sellers will also insist on a copy of your pre-approval before they will allow the home to be shown.

If the pre-approval shows credit problems, your mortgage broker can help you to put together a plan to improve your credit.

There is nothing more frustrating for a buyer than to find the home of their dreams and lose it to another buyer because they did not have a pre-approval to make the offer.

Your buyer's broker can help you find a mortgage broker who can get you pre-approved in as little as one day.

A question that is often asked by buyers is: Am I committed to the bank or mortgage lender that pre-approved me?

The answer is no. If the buyer puts an offer on a home, he/she is free to use another lender, who may offer more competitive rates and terms.

For further information on pre-approval please contact:

Jim Bartlett, Broker, Realtor, CDPE

jhbart49@comcast.net

781-704-7125

Your buyers agent is many times the best source for referrals to the experts necessary to complete a real estate transaction.

Why?

Buyer's agents spend every day working with home inspectors, mortgage brokers and attorneys to keep their client's real estate transactions moving smoothly to closing.

Where there are many different professions touching a real estate transaction, it is important to use experts who can get their part of the real estate transaction completed on time and with the minimum disruption to the client.

Top real estate agents have a team of professionals that they work with regularly to close real estate transactions. These professionals have a track record of providing excellent service to the buyer agent's clients.

There is nothing more frustrating for the client and the agent than to have to deal with mistakes in the paperwork, to have to deal with an issue which was missed in the inspection, or to have to get an extension to complete the financing.

In some cases, these types of  issues can kill the entire purchase

In a previous article :  Home buyers – The experts you need to complete the home purchase , we talked about the roles of the home inspector, mortgage broker, and attorney in completing a home purchase.

For most people, a home purchase is the largest and most important purchase of their life. Therefore, choosing the experts who will help you complete this purchase is also very important.

How does one go about choosing such experts? Here are several possibilities:

• Do your own search. Google the home inspectors, mortgage professionals, and attorneys in the area and make your selections based on a lot of research.
• You may have experience with some of these professions and you may already know people.
• Talk to people you know and see if they have recently bought a home, who they used and would they recommend them.

There is also a free and very informed source which buyers can use to obtain highly recommeded professionals.

Who do you think that source is?

Many different professionals, besides your buyer's agent, are involved with a real estate transaction from offer to close.

A licensed home inspector is necessary to fully inspect the home structure, roof, siding, appliances, electrical, plumbing heating and air conditioning systems. At the end of the inspection, the inspector will present the buyer with a full report of the inspection. This will give the buyer a complete picture of  the condition of the home. It is the buyer's best assurance of exactly what they are getting into when buying a specific home and also their best insurance. In Massachusetts and other states, the buyer can cancel the contract with the seller to buy the home and get their deposit refunded if they are unhappy with the inspection. Prices for an inspection usually range between $300 - $500 and sometimes more depending on the size and number of units in the home.

A licensed mortgage broker is necessary to help the buyer obtain a mortgage. This is a fairly complicated process and the major steps involve:

• Pre-qualification, to determine how much the bank will let the buyer borrow
• Advice on the best types of loans, interest rates and monthly payments
• Appraisal of the property
• Underwriting of the mortgage ( this is essentially the bank's approval process for the buyer's mortgage)
• Producing a HUD statement, which identifies all costs to the buyer and seller before the closing
• Using a bank attorney to conduct the closing
• Wiring the money to the closing attorney so that the seller and others involved in the transaction can get paid
• Recording the deed with the local registry of deeds.

It is highly recommended that the buyer use the services of an attorney to represent them during the buying process. Particularly since contracts are involved between the buyer and seller, expert contract advice is needed to insure that the contracts are written in the most favorable terms for the buyer.

Finally, the buyer's agent is the only expert who follows the transaction all the way from offer to close and keeps in touch with the other experts as needed to provide a smooth and timely close of the transaction.

For more information on this topic please coonract me directly through this site.

Jim Bartlett, Broker, Realtor, CDPE

Twenty years ago real estate agents only represented the seller. This put the buyer at a real disadvantage. Here are some examples:

• Buyers essentially had to fend for themselves when it came to making and offer on a property.
• Buyers did not have access to the comparable properties that real estate agents could access to determine a fair price.
• Buyers had to negotiate price with a professional real estate agent, who was trained in negotiation.
• Buyers had to rely on the sellers agent to help them obtain financing.

Today, buyers have the option to be represented by their own agents ( buyer's agents). Some of the major services that the buyer's agent performs today are:

• Determine the buyers requirements for a home and find the properties that fit the buyer requirements.
• Show the buyer the properties and answer all  buyer questions about the properties
• When the buyer is ready, based on a detailed analysis of comparable properties, discuss the strategy for making an offer and the price of the initial offer.
• Provide professional advice during the negotiation of the offer
• Provide advice to help the buyer to hire a professional building inspector, attorney and mortgage professional.
• Follow the transaction all the way  through to closing to make a complicated process as smooth as possible for the buyer.

In the early days of buyer agency, the buyer often had to pay for these services directy out of their pocket.  Today, in Massachusetts, and other states, the services of the buyer's broker are almost always paid by the seller's proceeds at closing, which means that these services are FREE to the buyer.

Going into a real estate transacion today without a buyer's broker is like going into court as a defendent and not having an experienced defense attorney on your side.

Not using a buyer's broker today can literally cost you thousands. You may well save enough on the transaction with a buyer's broker to buy yourself a new car! That is what is at stake.

For a free list of my buyer agent services please provide the information in the box below and you will receive the information wothin 24 hours.  Please also feel free to contact me directly at 781-704-7125 if you have any additional questions.