Usually, unless the property throws up a red flag along the process as far as ownership, you are purchasing title insurance because it is really not necessary anymore.
Whoever you choose, make sure to ask them questions about their experience in buying homes wherever you choose to live. If they seem inexperienced I don't think you'd want em.
Go with someone who's been in the game a while, has a bunch of recent purchases, is local to the area, and has a history of good negotiation skills.
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Go with someone who's been in the game a while, has a bunch of recent purchases, is local to the area, and has a history of good negotiation skills.
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Thank you all for the responses. The wife and I have discussed not using a realtor. We may go that route, but neither of us knows a thing about real estate and we are looking to buy in an area neither of us grew up in. My sister and her husband are teachers and have contacts in nearly every school district west of I35. They're asking around to see what school districts would be best (kids are in the plan for the near future). Once we hear back from her and get a pre-qualification letter we'll sit down and seriously look at realtors/going alone.
I have this book. You can have it if you want it.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3168593-house-smart
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3168593-house-smart
My wife and I have bought and sold 4 homes in the last 18 years. My experince is you dont use a realtor for the easy ones. Its for when stuff goes wrong. Heres the kicker you never know when it will go bad. Title issues, inspection issues, loan issues,and so on. Good ones are worth their weight in gold. A good realtor has seen numerous situations and knows a lot of things to look for and people to talk to if you have issues.
My personal experince is title insurance is a racket but you gotta buy it incase $#*+ as Chris Rock would say. As for inspectors the majority of them are a joke. They will charge you different prices depending on what they check for and if they give any gaurantees. Even on a perfect house they will point out bs like the sink sprayer only sprays 80% and a closet door dosent latch. Most of them are not experts or trades men. So they have no idea if the HVAC is well maintained or on its last leg for example.
A good realtor should see signs of things that need repair or replacement soon. On older homes look for undersized old hvacs. Or ancient appliances and old water heaters. Those are big ticket items. If the roof is bad yoir insurance company will balk at it and will stop you. If there is carpet buy a blue light flashlight and check carpet it will look like a land mine field if the dog went all over it and will need replaced, thats another big ticket item. I am not a fan of warranties but for the first year buy a home warranty. Homes are like cars buyer beware. You are going to spend a lot in closing costs. The $500 home warranty could save you big if the Hvac takes a crap first time you turn on the A/C. After year one its a personal choice. If you are handy buy an hvac capacitor and contactor the week you move in and put it in the garage it will save you $300 on a weekend down the line.
My suggestion dont use a realtor related to a friend. Its a huge stressful purchase. Find someone with minimum 5 years experience and its their only job and they do it full time. Also dont let them pressure you into something you dont want. Laslty be prepared to walk away from anything including the house you love. Before you start looking sit down with your wife set a max price and dont go over it no matter what. Lastly new homes need garage door openers, mini blinds, gutters and so on. Figure that into your price. Personally I have spent 10s of thousands in realtor fees. I will contine to as my realtor has saved me money and headaches.
My personal experince is title insurance is a racket but you gotta buy it incase $#*+ as Chris Rock would say. As for inspectors the majority of them are a joke. They will charge you different prices depending on what they check for and if they give any gaurantees. Even on a perfect house they will point out bs like the sink sprayer only sprays 80% and a closet door dosent latch. Most of them are not experts or trades men. So they have no idea if the HVAC is well maintained or on its last leg for example.
A good realtor should see signs of things that need repair or replacement soon. On older homes look for undersized old hvacs. Or ancient appliances and old water heaters. Those are big ticket items. If the roof is bad yoir insurance company will balk at it and will stop you. If there is carpet buy a blue light flashlight and check carpet it will look like a land mine field if the dog went all over it and will need replaced, thats another big ticket item. I am not a fan of warranties but for the first year buy a home warranty. Homes are like cars buyer beware. You are going to spend a lot in closing costs. The $500 home warranty could save you big if the Hvac takes a crap first time you turn on the A/C. After year one its a personal choice. If you are handy buy an hvac capacitor and contactor the week you move in and put it in the garage it will save you $300 on a weekend down the line.
My suggestion dont use a realtor related to a friend. Its a huge stressful purchase. Find someone with minimum 5 years experience and its their only job and they do it full time. Also dont let them pressure you into something you dont want. Laslty be prepared to walk away from anything including the house you love. Before you start looking sit down with your wife set a max price and dont go over it no matter what. Lastly new homes need garage door openers, mini blinds, gutters and so on. Figure that into your price. Personally I have spent 10s of thousands in realtor fees. I will contine to as my realtor has saved me money and headaches.
If in Norman, I recommend John Lungren. He helped me with my first home and commercial property. He is very knowledgeable and experienced. He steered me away from 2 homes, I was interested in, for different reasons. First one had had some flooding problems, I couldn't tell, until he popped a vent and showed me the slope of the yard. Second one, he showed me that neighborhood was going rental and that the house would go up in value slowly or not at all. Third one was the charm.
As for the home warranty... I, too, agree the home warranty is a great thing to have the first year or two, especially if your "new" home is older OR brand newish. We had a home warranty thrown in by our realtor and we have kept it. We keep talking about cancelling it every year, but ALMOST every year it has ended up being a boon. It can be a pain, as sometimes we have to wait for some repairs, sometimes they have to send someone from out of town because they haven't got a contract with someone local (Old Republic, I think is ours) and I realize it isn't for everyone. But we have had them send people out NUMEROUS times for our old HVAC, sometimes multiple times in one summer - a couple of years ago, after 5 or 6 or more years of putting freon in several times a year, they finally replaced the A coil and it has made a huge difference. Our HVAC is old and probably in need of replacement, but we just aren't able to do that yet. The warranty has helped us limp through.
Like I said, it may not be for everyone and every house, and there may have been a year or two we have lived here (10 years in June) that it didn't pay for itself, but overall, it's been a good thing for us. Dishwasher, ceiling fans, HVAC, fridge, etc. Water heater, plumbing issues, all kinds of things pop up that you don't think about. Home ownership can be expensive, so whatever you do, DO NOT extend yourself to buy a home that is at the edge of what you can afford. Property values change, taxes get reassessed and your escrow costs go up, and lots of repairs and upkeep you have to deal with. Our damn mortgage has been sold so many times I have no idea who owns it anymore (actually, I do, it's Carrington, now), and our house payment is now $200 or $300 more than when we closed. Add in repairs and upkeep, and if we were just barely able to make our mortgage, we'd be living in a falling-down heap now, because we couldn't have afforded all the additional things that crop up.
Figure out what you CAN pay, and if it were me, I'd cut that by 20% to figure out what I am willing to deal with as far as mortgage, save the rest every. single. month. in an account for when things go wrong.
Just my stupid advice from my single ever home purchase. I'm not a knowledgeable guy, just hit some landmines along the way.
Like I said, it may not be for everyone and every house, and there may have been a year or two we have lived here (10 years in June) that it didn't pay for itself, but overall, it's been a good thing for us. Dishwasher, ceiling fans, HVAC, fridge, etc. Water heater, plumbing issues, all kinds of things pop up that you don't think about. Home ownership can be expensive, so whatever you do, DO NOT extend yourself to buy a home that is at the edge of what you can afford. Property values change, taxes get reassessed and your escrow costs go up, and lots of repairs and upkeep you have to deal with. Our damn mortgage has been sold so many times I have no idea who owns it anymore (actually, I do, it's Carrington, now), and our house payment is now $200 or $300 more than when we closed. Add in repairs and upkeep, and if we were just barely able to make our mortgage, we'd be living in a falling-down heap now, because we couldn't have afforded all the additional things that crop up.
Figure out what you CAN pay, and if it were me, I'd cut that by 20% to figure out what I am willing to deal with as far as mortgage, save the rest every. single. month. in an account for when things go wrong.
Just my stupid advice from my single ever home purchase. I'm not a knowledgeable guy, just hit some landmines along the way.
