Communicating With Your Real Estate Agent

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Communicating With Your Real Estate Agent

When we started looking for a house, I realized that brokering my own deal was going to be difficult. However, I realized that things might be a lot easier if I could find a great real estate agent. We looked high and low, and we finally found an agent who we felt comfortable working with. When we sat down with him, it was amazing to see how much of a difference working with a trained professional made. We were able to choose which kind of house worked best for our budget, and it was great to find ourselves on the right track. My blog is about how to communicate properly with your real estate agent, so that you have as good of an experience as we did.

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2 Big Things First-Time Home Buyers Should Know To Avoid Buying A House They Cannot Afford

Buying your very first house can be one of the most exciting purchases you may make in your lifetime, until you realize shortly afterwards that you really cannot afford the house you purchased. If you are cautious and diligent about choosing a house you can afford, you could avoid running into this issue. Here are three things to understand about this.

You Will Automatically Inherit 2 Big Expenses

If you are a first-time homebuyer, you probably have no idea what types of expenses you will have with your new house. Because of this, you might assume the only difference between renting the apartment you are in and the new house is the difference between your rent payment and the mortgage payment.

While this is one difference, there are a lot of other expenses that come with houses. The main two are insurance and property taxes. The average annual cost of home insurance is $952, which amounts to roughly $79 per month. Depending on the house you buy, you might end up with insurance that is even more than this though.

The average amount people pay annual for property taxes is $2,089, which is around $174 per month. There are counties around that have much higher averages than this though, so you should make sure you find out exactly how much your property taxes and insurance will be before you buy a house.

If you forget to calculate these expenses into your budget, you may end up running short, because these two expenses could easily cost over $250 each month.

Your Utilities May Go Up

If you had been renting a house or apartment up until this point, there is a chance that some of your utilities may have been included in your rent payment. Unfortunately, when you buy a house, this is never the case. You will be responsible to pay for all your utility bills, including:

  • Gas
  • Electric
  • Water
  • Sewer
  • Garbage pickup
  • Cable TV
  • Internet

If you did not pay for any of these expenses at your apartment, you will have to pay for them at your new house. In addition, the costs of your utility bills might be higher at your new house, simply because houses are often larger than rental properties. Larger homes result in higher utility bills.

Before you choose a house to buy, you should thoroughly analyze all the bills you will have. This is a great way to avoid buying the wrong house your first time around, and it could help you save money in the long run. To learn more about houses that are in your budget amount, contact a real estate agent or broker, like those at RE/MAX EXECUTIVES PLUS, today.


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