Posts Tagged ‘Buyer’
Tips and Traps for Single Home Buyers
Not surprisingly, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reports that nearly 30 percent of 2006 home sales were to single buyers. What’s interesting is that single females accounted for about 21 percent, compared to 9 percent for single men. Furthermore, more women (15.5 million) than men (11.8 million) live alone.
Some home buyers have the dream of buying a fixer-upper and restoring it to live-in condition or selling it for a profit. However, many who try this end up losing money or ‘‘getting chomped by the alligator,’’ as it’s called in the real estate industry.
Once you’ve made an offer on a home and the seller has accepted it, the clock starts ticking on certain deadlines written into the purchase offer. Many buyers rely on their agents or loan officers to keep track of the important dates, but if they mess up, you’re the one who pays the price of a failed deal.
If you’re divorced, your state housing authority may have programs for single parents. Check with an agent in your area for possibilities. In one case, a home buyer had credit problems that prevented him from buying a home because a few late payments had damaged his credit. He contacted several homeowners with a plan that would allow him to buy their home if they would lease it to him for twelve months, by which time he would have cleared up his credit problems.
It’s amazing how many would-be home buyers assume they can’t buy a home based on what they hear from friends, relatives, and the media, and don’t to talk to a lender or Realtor for fear they’ll be rejected. In reality, many prospective buyers have found a way to own their own home when they didn’t think they could.