Choosing an Agent: 10 Questions You Must Ask!

There are many great Anchorage area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (907) 865-6404 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

What Questions Should You Ask Your Realtor 

 

Today I wanted to go over the ten questions you should ask your realtor before you hire them. I have elaborated on the four most important and listed the other six questions below:

1.    How many years of experience do you have in real estate? This isn’t saying that young agents won’t do a fine job; however they truly don’t have the wisdom base and knowledge of things that happen on a daily basis.

2.    Do you specialize in listing properties or selling properties? If the agent is listing based, the most likely won’t be your best choice. There are many different responsibilities between a buyer’s agent and a listing agent!

3.    How many homes have you sold in the last year and how many were sold in my subdivision? The more familiar the agent is with your area, the better it will serve you!

4.    How will I be kept informed? Many things happen in the course of a transaction but if there is good communication between you and the agent, that is half the half the battle! Good communication will save you from frustration further down the road.

5.    What’s your plan, besides flyers, signs and the MLS to get my home sold?

6.    Are you a solo agent or a team?

7.    How much is it going to cost me to sell my home?

8.    What are my responsibilities while showing and during the transaction? Am I responsible for repairs?

9.    Who is my point of contact throughout the process?  Do I have someone I can call anytime?

10.    What is your marketing budget?

If you have any other questions about finding the right agent, give me a call at (907) 240-2804 or send me an email at dar@darwalden.com. Thanks and have a great day!

Get a Leg-up on Your Competition: Become Pre-approved

There are many great Anchorage area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (907) 865-6404 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Today I wanted to talk about the importance of buyers becoming pre-approved to purchase a home. The reason why it’s so important to be a pre-approved buyer is because it actually gives the agent you are working with the guidelines on how to help you hunt for a home. Being pre-approved is the first step of the house hunting process. This allows you to have your credit in line because if for some reason it isn’t, your lender will be able to give you advice on how to get things corrected. Often it’s just taking a little bit of time to shuffle around paperwork and get it straightened up.

If you are preapproved and you have presented all your documentation to the lender, they will give you a value and some loan options. Once you’ve received the value from your lender, you will give the information to your agent so they know what to work with. The key points are that you do not want to go over the value my much; $10,000 over would be maximum because there are properties that do price reductions and you can’t get a heads up to watch them. If you’re agent is looking to go higher than that, you need to have a conversation and ask why that is.

The next piece will be the type of loan you qualify for. If you’re a veteran and have veterans’ preferences, you can obtain a V.A. loan. You could also qualify for an F.H.A. loan; these are important factors and a good lender will help you pick the best loan. Don’t be afraid to ask questions! You need to know what the expectation of that loan is.

Another reason for why you should be pre-approved is when you are ready to make an offer, you’re ready to go at that point. You don’t have to find a house, then run to the bank to get pre-approved and lose the house to another buyer. Also, when an offer has been presented, the seller wants to see that you’ve been pre-approved.

Sellers won’t take your word for it; you need to show proof that you’ve taken in the necessary documents to qualify for purchasing their home. Most sellers require you to be pre-approved before they even take you into their homes. Once you’ve come to an agreement on a contract, a pre-approval letter does not mean that the loan has been fully approved.

Once you are under contract, you have been very cognizant of what you spend; you must refrain from spending $20,000 on furniture or a new car. You don’t want to do anything to change your credit because that could disqualify you from a loan. Loans have debt-to-income ratios that are required and if you change your debt ratio, it may disqualify you from that property.

If you’re looking start the purchasing process, give me a call at (907) 240-2804 or email me at dar@darwalden.com. Thanks and have a great day!

What Did You See in 2013?

Welcome back to my video blog! Today I wanted to do a short video on what we saw in 2013 and also what you can expect to see in 2014. My year for the Dar Walden Team was a great year! Consumer confidence seemed to be up and properties were selling as soon as they hit the market with multiple offers. This is the first time we’ve seen multiple offers in 6-7 years.

In the first half of 2013, the market started in February and went strong through June and then began to slow down. In all my years in the business, 2013 was a very different year. The market was a bit of a stop and start process going from being very hot, to cooling down for a month and then picking back up again. The Dar Walden Team ended the year with about 140 homes sold; the average realtor across the country sells about six.

After a busy year, we’re hoping 2014 proves to be a better year! With both interest rates and inventory being low, now is the time to think about getting your home on the market! With the inventory remaining low, it is keeping the demand price up. We hope 2014 will be as prosperous as 2013 was!

If you’re looking to buy or sell home in 2014, please visit our website at www.alaskatopagent.com, give us a call at (907) 240-2804 or email me at dar@darwalden.com. Thanks and have a great day!