Now's the Time For a Home Inspection
In today’s slower markets, a completed home inspection can give the buyers a negotiating upper hand, however the sellers can gain an anti-haggling tool as well. It is really always a good time to have a home inspection, even if it’s a seller’s market. A lot of seller’s are getting the home inspections up front because so many of the offer contracts are contigent upon the home inspection. This way the price can be negotiated with known conditions, as opposed to during a buyer’s market when buyer’s are most likely to want to negotiate the finding’s of the home inspection.
A home inspection ranges from around $300-$500 dollars and the inspector should check the visible, major and accessible components of the home and provide a written report with details rating each element. The inspection is a learning opportunity for both a buyer or seller of a home. It affords the seller a way to determine accurately the shape of their home and how to get it in the best shape for a competitive market, or to price it fairly as-is. It at the same time helps buyers see through any staging or possible cover-ups as well as uncover any building code violations.
New homes are no exception, there are simple things like water lines being reversed or appliances not connected, however three common construction problems include homes not being built within required building envelope, framing/structural elements and pluming/electrical problems.
So call an inspector today or call us and we will be glad to give you a list of local inspectors!
It’s a Buyer’s Market-So Buy, Already!
Technically a buyer’s market is defined as: A market condition characterized by an abundance of goods available for sale.
Which means that when no one else is buying the product of value-buy it-the price will be lower and you will be able to maximize investment for future gain. Basically buy low-sell high.
We realize purchasing real estate is not like investing in your 401K or savings account. Not quiet as simple. According to a beginners guide to investment, the ideas taught are that if you keep investing over the market levels (low and high both) you will, through the law of averages, make money in the long term. Obviously the best strategy for real estate buying is to buy low, when the conditions are in the buyers favor. Today in a lot of markets you can purchase homes 5-10% off asking price, which is a huge reduction in a mortgage payment.
So to sum it up, there is an abundance of inventory from which to choose, sales are slow, incentives and negotiating pricing is high, list prices are flat, interest rates are low, so if not now when?
Water in our Veins–Meet Lake James Real Estate
Please call us if we can help with any of your real estate needs at Lake James – who better to help you than people who live, play and work here!
Polly Leadbetter – Owner/Broker P/ 828-584-9999 C/ 828-443-5407
Shane Cook – Sales P/828-584-9999 C/828-443-3205
Rhonda Edge – Sales P/828-584-9999 C/828-443-6595
Amanda Hotchkiss – Sales P/ 828-584-9999 C/ 828-335-3001
Marc Parham – Sales P/828-584-9999 C/828-443-1337
Denice Rechtiene – Sales P/828-584-9999 C/828-432-6976
