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Most buyers conduct a lot of research online before ever stepping foot in a home. Buyers spend an average of 6 to 8 weeks, according to the National Association of REALTORS, trying to figure out where they want to live. But once the neighborhood is selected, most buyers end up buying a home after 2 or 3 home tours.
Figure out what you can afford before you look. Get pre-approved for a home loan before your home search so that you don’t waste time on those that you can’t afford. Scour your credit history and resolve any black marks before applying for a home loan.
Homes typically should cost about two and a half times your salary as a rule of thumb, although you also must consider your monthly expenses and what you want to save. Because you will be responsible for unforeseen repairs and property taxes, a healthy amount of savings can come in handy.
Beware of mortgage brokers who are a little too fast and loose with approving you. If you qualify, you may be able to make a down payment as low as 3 percent interest. Paying down “points” is good for those living in a home for three to five years, as it takes a dent out of the interest rate as you pay a portion of the interest at closing.
Some building societies now provide buyers with a certificate that states that a loan will be available provided the property is satisfactory. You may be able to get this certificate before you start looking for a property. Building societies state that this certificate may help you to have your offer accepted by the seller.
Get a good real estate agent when house buying, preferably one that is exclusive. Real estate agents can assist in your search and help with the bidding process. Have your home inspected and listen to your inspector. If there are issues with a home you are in love with, see if you can negotiate with the seller on responsibility of repairs. However, if there are serious problems, consider forfeiting the dream home so you don’t end up in a money pit.
Think about location and benefits outside of the actual house. Being near work could save a lot of gas money. Living in the city can give you access to the action, and suburbia or the country can shield you from it. Living in good school districts – whether or not you have children – will help your home retain its value.
Lawrence Herstel, Edina Realtor Duluth Mn 218-393-1550
Timing matters. Know that the market can move at a breakneck speed, and a quote a few months ago probably isn’t going to relevant now. Along the same lines, don’t go by your previous home purchases when seeking out current ones. When researching the market, look for homes similar to what you seek and in your target location.
Can you figure out these real estate terms?
Finding the perfect place to live is hard, and these real estate terms aren’t making it any easier.
“Closing”
“Closing is when all of the preliminary steps to buying the house have been completed (home inspection, escrow, financing), and the deal actually goes through.” -Eric S.
“When the walls of the house are literally closing in on you. You should’ve never taken that golden statue from the treasure room!” -Tyler H.
“When the real estate agent brings coffee to close the deal.” -Clark M.
The actual definition: The meeting at which a home sale is finalized. The buyer signs the mortgage, pays closing costs, and receives the title to the home. The seller pays closing costs and receives the net proceeds from the home sale.
“Contingency is a contractual precondition that must be met in order for the agreement in the contract to become enforceable (Ex. ‘I’ll buy your house ONLY IF I don’t find any hostages locked in your basement.’).” -Eric S.
“Some sort of poltergeist haunting.” -Mandy C.
“Signing a lease with certain stipulations.” -Clark M.
The actual definition: A condition that must be fulfilled before a contract is binding.
“Counteroffer”
“A negotiation tactic when signing a lease.” -Clark M.
“For those true marble and granite connoisseurs out there, this is when you walk into a house and see a countertop you really like and say, ‘Can I take this?'” -Tyler H.
“Like your offer, but vengeful.” -Kyle D.
The actual definition: An offer in response to an original offer.
“When you don’t have all the money but are good for the installments.” -Clark M.
The actual definition: The deposit given by a buyer to a seller to show that the buyer is serious about purchasing the home. Earnest money usually is refundable to homebuyers in the event a contingency of the sales contract cannot be met.
The actual definition: The holding of documents and money by a neutral third party prior to closing.
“Foreclosure”
“I’m not entirely sure, but I think it’s pretty obvious that you don’t want this to happen to you.” -Kyle D.
“Prelude to peasantry.” -Mandy C.
“When you forget to pay your mortgage, for months on end.” -Clark M.
The actual definition: A legal process by which the lender or the seller forces a sale of a mortgaged property because the borrower has not met the terms of the mortgage. Also known as a repossession of property.
“Loan-to-value Ratio”
“Loan-to-value ratio is a test you have to take when applying for a loan to see if you have the kind of values of a person who promptly and reliably repays loans at reasonable interest rates. You may only use a No. 2 pencil on this test and please fill in all the bubbles as neatly as you can to avoid inconsistencies in grading. ” -Eric S.
“Something we were not taught in high school mathematics.” -Kyle D.
“The congruence of my mind on my money with my money on my mind.” -Mandy C.
The actual definition: The ratio of the amount of money owed on a home to the home’s value. The LTV ratio for a $100,000 home financed with a $90,000 mortgage would be 90%, for example.
“Mortgage Insurance”
“A monthly payment for your monthly payment to be paid until you die. -Kyle D.
“Two concepts that teachers told us were important in school but never fully explained.” -Emily C.
“Short sale is when you make a short person – usually a child – complete your sale and hope that their cuteness will make it a better deal for you.” -Emily C.
“A short sale is where you get a free pair of cargo shorts as a thank-you for buying the house. Custom dictates that you get to choose the color, but they absolutely must be cargo shorts. There’s no wiggle room on that.” -Eric S.
“When the house is only on the market for a second before it’s bought up. ‘Wow! That sure was a short sale, Dirk!'” -Tyler H.
The actual definition: A short sale is a transaction in which the lender, or lenders, agrees to accept less than the mortgage amount owed by the current homeowner.
“Underwriting is the really small text that nobody reads under the regular-sized text.” -Emily C.
“When weird writing in blood mysteriously starts appearing on every surface in your newly purchased house and you think, ‘Hm, must be something weird going on under here.'” -Tyler H.
“Underwriting is a person, or more commonly, a financial institution that agrees to stand as guarantor of your home purchase in the event something goes wrong and you can’t pay. In that case, the bank takes possession of the house and lets its nephew crash there for a few days until he can get back on his feet after just…a real tough year.” -Eric S.
The actual definition: The process of evaluating a loan application to determine if it meets the lender’s standards.
If this woman, Jill Meldrum-Jones, looks to you like she’s feeling terrified, that could well be the case. She admitted to doing something completely wrong and inexusable on an airplane (and other places), lost her teaching career and faces jail time because of what she did.
You would think a married teaching assistant and mother of two living and working in England would enjoy a chance to chaperone and be part of a four-day school trip to South Africa just for the break, wouldn’t you?
Wouldn’t you expect that a 37-year-old teaching assistant, who is also a wife and mother, would teach the kids about South Africa since that’s where the class was going?
But instead, Meldrum-Jones went where she shouldn’t have ever gone at all…
On the airplane full of students, Jill Meldrum-Jones sexually molested a 15-year-old student of hers by masturbating him and giving him oral sex during the flight home to England from South Africa. She actually admitted to doing those two acts three times each during the 10 hour flight “under the cover of darkness.”
Even worse, this wasn’t the first time Meldrum-Jones had performed sex acts on this child. She told the court there were several other occasions she engaged in sexual acts with this student during this school trip. The teaching assistant admitted that the first time she performed a sex act on the child was on a mini-bus on the way back from a day-long excursion. In addition to the charges of child molestation, Meldrum-Jones pled guilty to two counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity which involved him performing oral sex on her.
After the South Africa school trip, rumors about something going on with the teaching assistant and student were circulating and the two were often seen going for walks together. The school can’t be named to protect the child. Under questioning by authorities, Meldrum-Jones admitted what she’d done before pleading guilty in court.
Jill Meldrum-Jones was given a jail sentence of two years, eight months.
She has been added to the sex-offender registry list.
Did The Punishment Fit The Crime? Thoughts?
Airline Secrets Revealed
It doesn’t matter if being up in the air feels like a second home to you and you’re practically an honorary pilot at this point for how much you jet set — there’s a lot you probably never knew about your commercial flying experience.
1 You’re probably flying with dead bodies.
Airlines need to make money however they can, and that includes taking on additional cargo like corpses and body parts. Ever wonder how donated kidneys make it from St. Louis to Dallas, or a body is flown from one city to another? Now you do.
—>2 You should never, ever drink the coffee or tea.
Your commercial flight has only three possible ways of getting the water for that fresh brew: bottled (too expensive, you’ll need to fly private for that), bathroom tap (the same sink someone may have used to deal with air sickness after a bout of turbulence), or from a fresh tap water holding tank that’s positioned just a few inches from the human waste and trash tank on most commercial flights. You do the math, and consider a can of seltzer or bringing your own Starbucks on board.
—>3 Cabin lights get dimmed for a reason.
It’s not mood lighting, people. It’s for the sake of your eyes adjusting more easily to the outside world in the event of a crash upon landing. Less soothing than thinking your pilot just wants to create a spa-like environment, right?
While airplane designing minds decided long ago that storing floatation devices and vests under seat cushions would be a great way to maximize space and safety, they never accounted for the popularity of thieving passengers. It turns out those vests are one of the top stolen items on airplanes, and the crew hardly has time to notice. Make sure you check under your seat before taking off.
—>5 Your cell phone won’t make the plane crash.
But the signal censors up front in the cockpit are pretty sensitive, so if your pilot is up front trying to get clearance for a takeoff and you plus 30 of your favorite seat mates can’t just enjoy airplane mode for a few minutes — you’re going to delay everyone. Don’t be that person.
—>6 Nobody can tell you not to breastfeed.
If you’re up in the air and your baby is hungry or cranky, it’s your right to feed. If the passenger next to you complains or causes a stir, the cabin crew is usually obligated to relocate them, not you.
—>7 Bad passengers are seated in the kiddie section.
If for some reason your seat changes last minute and you find yourself in the middle of a family of 14 young children, it’s likely because you did something to annoy the gate agent. Yes, they can punish you, so it’s best not to be rude or demanding.
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