Real Estate Glossary

How much earnest money should I offer?

Buyer Help

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WHAT IT IS Think of earnest money like a deposit. Sometimes buyers need to send a copy of their earnest money check with their offer, sometimes not. Your Realtor will know when you need a copy of a check. Regardless, once the buyer’s offer is accepted, the earnest money must be sent to the title [...]

29 October 2010 Read the full article →

Search the MLS, part 3

Buyer Help

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Here are the Cliff Notes for part 1 and part 2 of this Pulitzer-winning series on why home shoppers who think they can search the MLS are mistaken: There is no 1 MLS, there are only lots of city-wide, regional or statewide MLSs. Consumers can’t search the MLS for their region directly because that database [...]

21 May 2010 Read the full article →

Search the MLS, part 2

Buyer Help

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For those who didn’t read my previous post about the myth of “searching the MLS” here’s the Cliff Notes version: There is no 1 MLS, there are only lots of city-wide, regional or statewide MLSs. Consumers can’t view the MLS for their region directly because it’s private and for subscribers only. (i.e. Realtors, appraisers, etc.) [...]

17 May 2010 Read the full article →

Why you can’t search “the” MLS

Buyer Help

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MLSonline.com MLS.com MLSlistings.com TheMLS.com Realtor.com RealEstate.com None of those are “the” MLS, or Multiple Listing Service. Listen up peeps, there are two giant misconceptions out there about consumers’ ability to search the MLS. (and see also our own Kelley Koehler on searching “the MLS”) Consumers can’t search “the” MLS because there is no single, national [...]

13 May 2010 Read the full article →

What’s a mortgage rate lock?

Glossary Posts

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Courtesy of a finance blog I read regularly, Dan Green at The Mortgage Reports. He explains mortgage rate locks better, and quicker than anyone I’ve ever encountered. A Rate Lock Commitment is a bank’s promise to honor a specific mortgage rate for a specific period of time.  It’s a contract, of sorts, in which the [...]

13 April 2010 Read the full article →

New GFE and HUD-1 Settlement Statement “help” buyers?

Mortgages

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The Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced changes to the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) last fall, with 2 of the more noticeable changes going into effect on January 1st, 2010. The changes were made in an effort to better inform and protect the consumer (borrower).  I like what they tried [...]

22 February 2010 Read the full article →

What Does AWC-I Mean?

Buyer Help

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AWC means Active With Contingencies, at least in the metro Phoenix real estate market where we work. In plain English: The seller accepted a buyer’s offer, They’re under contract, but There are contingencies that must be satisfied before the sale can close, and The seller might accept backup offers. Some common contingencies, in years past: [...]

6 July 2009 Read the full article →

Foreclosures: Read the Fine Print

Buyer Help

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Buyers should read the fine print on bank addendums very carefully before agreeing to complete the purchase of a foreclosed (“REO”) home. I’m reading a bank’s REO Addendum now and I’ve got 2 problems with it.  1) It removes the buyer’s financing contingency after the “Financing Commitment Date.” 2) The actual Financing Commitment Date is [...]

28 May 2009 Read the full article →

Fannie, Freddie and Ginnie

Mortgages

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FANNIE MAE The Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), commonly known as Fannie Mae, [was] founded in 1938 during the Great Depression. [It’s] purpose is to purchase and securitize mortgages in order to ensure that funds are consistently available to the institutions that lend money to home buyers.  From Wikipedia.org FREDDIE MAC Freddie Mac is more formally known as The Federal [...]

11 May 2009 Read the full article →

Too good to be true Phoenix MLS prices

Buyer Help

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Actually, the MLS isn’t wrong. It’s correct, technically. But it’s also deceiving. And the MLS data that’s viewable on public websites via a data feed is even more deceiving. Take this ad for example. Yesterday, a buyer asked us to show him this home which he’d found online. (for all pics in this post, click [...]

9 May 2009 Read the full article →

The escrow process explained again

Buyer Help

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I’m re-posting an article I wrote last year due to the number of first-time homebuyers in the market right now.  I hope you find this useful. You’re ready to buy a house.  You write up an offer with your Realtor.  What’s next? You’re trying to sell your house.  Your Realtor brings you an offer from [...]

5 May 2009 Read the full article →

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