Do your homework and take a look at the amount that other homes in the area have sold for, not for the amount that they are listed, but for how much they sold. This is all public record. Take a trip down to the county recorders office and you will find the information on any homes that have been sold in your area.
Take A Look At How Long The Home Has Been On The Market
Be sure to look at how long the home has been listed. Homes that are fresh on the market should be looked at as they are sometimes listed a lot less than they should be by either an inexperienced or greedy real estate agent. If the home has been on the market for less than a month, chances are that the owner has delusions of grandeur and refuses to believe that there is a recession. You can offer less, but chances are that they are going to want to get other offers.
You can get a real estate agent who will show you around or one who is listing the house. Take a look in the area that you like and find homes on the market. Ask a real estate agent to pull up listings for you so that you can look around yourself. Many good real estate sites allow you to search the area's entire MLS listings. A good example of this is at: www.brokerforyou.com. Here you can search by price, area, age, size, etc. You can pinpoint properties on a map and see area features. Plus, many home listings now also have video on-line to give you an on-line tour of the home. If you see something that you like that is within your price range, take a look at the home.
If the home has been on the market for a year or more, there is either something really wrong with the house or they are not budging on their price. This is a good one to skip. There have been houses that have remained on the market for several years, vacant.
Be Pre Approved And Have Nothing To Sell
Although a seller will probably take any type of contract in this market, you are a lot more attractive as a buyer if you have nothing to sell and have been pre approved for the mortgage. A pre approval letter is different than being pre qualified. Someone who has been pre qualified has not gone through the gamut of giving in all the paperwork needed for the loan. A pre approval letter means that you have gone through the entire mortgage approval process and are ready to close.
Follow these tips before you make any offer on real estate in the market today. You can invest in real estate during a recession - you just have to understand how to go about making the right offer.
Copyright 2008 Promotions Unlimited http://www.websitetrafficbuilders.com All rights reserved. any additions/modifications/hyper-links added to this article will be considered a copyright violation & subject to immediate legal action without further notice.
