Posted on Monday, December 08, 2014
There is so much to know when buying property but I thought I would take a shot at boiling the list down to a starter set of three things – three things every buyer should know about buying property. Falling in with a place, making offers and establishing some contingencies make the top three on our list.
First off, you should love the place. It is not so much about price and location at first but how you feel about the place. My experience as a realtor helping many buyers is if you love it when you first see it the place will probably will not grow on you in the future. All the little things (and sometimes big things) that may go wrong owning a house will seem less of a challenge if you actually love the place.
Now some realtors are reluctant to show you a lot of property but do not let that stop you. Get out there and look and look. Go to open houses. Go online, but be careful of the online photos which tend to over flatter the place. Make sure you love it.
Secondly there is a lot to know about making an offer. First look at comparable prices of recently sold and listed prices to give you an idea of what the place might go for (you might boil all the prices down to a per square foot analysis and then add and subtract for important differences). Also find out if places are really selling near their asking prices in your area. Wide variations between selling and asking prices may give buyers a chance to negotiate. Tighter ask-sell ranges may mean the sellers have more power.
Finally, manage your contingencies – you know the contingencies you submit along with your offer. Be careful making too many contingencies but I think better safe than sorry in most cases. A financing contingency makes sense if you are borrowing. Even if you have a pre-approval letter things may change. (you can always show your pre-approval letter to the seller to give them some assurance). Inspection contingencies are pretty standard but make sure you have the ability to ask for a credit at closing or demand needed repairs be fixed before buying. Ask for and review the seller’s disclosure letter so you know what they know about the place. Any other contingencies you can think of may also make sense – like building code or HOA approval for any expansions you plan, or write in those furniture pieces you would like. If it si not in writing it may not stick.
Now there is more to buying property so get with our team to help you, but looking at how you feel about the place, price considerations and contingencies are a great place to start.
If you would like to know more about living here in Naples, Florida please give us a call at 239.595.3921. We have toured or owned property in Naples for nearly forty years and we are truly fortunate to call this wonderful paradise our full-time home.
Please consider reading our book “Understanding Naples Real Estate” to get you started on your real estate search https://www.naplesbestaddresses.com/offer/ or just give us a call about things to do here.
We look forward to meeting and talking with you soon,
Mark Goebel PA, Nan Goebel PA and David Goebel, PA
Co-Founders of the Naples Best Addresses team
Coldwell Banker
Mark Goebel, PA and Nan Goebel, PA
REALTOR Coldwell Banker 5th Avenue South
Mobile: 239.595.3921 239.595.3920
NaplesBestAddresses.com
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