The phoenix real estate market

Are you curious what housing options are currently available in the Phoenix metropolitan area?

Have you been considering selling your current home?

Follow the link below to view my brokerage's property search that allows you to see what is being marketed in your area.

http://mbmus.com/index.php/search-properties

Home Owners Insurance

If you are using a lender to finance your next home purchase you probably have a long check list of things to do before you sign the final paperwork and pick up your keys. One important, but often forgotten task is obtaining an insurance quote to verify the home's insurability.

Why it's important:

When you are not using cash to make your purchase a lender instead is taking the financial risk to lend you the money. If something happens to the property they want to make sure you can cover their investment with an insurance payout. Just like when you buy a car with financing you can not close on the property until you show proof of insurance.

Where most buyers run into a problem is when they find out that the home is un-insurable. This most commonly occurs for two reasons: 1. The property has had a significant amount of paid claims against it previously or 2. The buyer themselves is un-insurable.

In Arizona forgetting to verify insurability of a property can catch up with a buyer in one primarily negative way. This happens when they do not find out this material fact until after their initial inspection period has lapsed and since they have to break the contract they will lose their earnest deposit to the sellers (which most often is at least 1% of the purchase price).

Buyers beware, and take the simple steps to verify insurability of your next home purchase immediately after the contract has been accepted to prevent any potential loss of your earnest deposit.

Tips for first time home buyers

The purchase of your home is one of the biggest financial transactions you will make in your life. As such, it is important to do your research and select qualified professionals to assist you in your purchase. I will review the most common steps you follow to purchase a home as well as the professionals you will need to contact and paperwork you will need to be familiar with.

1. Speak with a loan officer and get pre-approved.

· Unless you plan to purchase the home with cash, the first person you need to talk to is a loan officer. You will provide the loan officer with your personal financial information that pertains to current income, employment history and wages, lines of credit, credit score, etc. This allows him to assess your current situation and provide you with a quote that details how much you qualify to finance, what interest rate you can expect, and how much you will need to save for a down payment and other closing costs. Once you have been given a pre-approval from your loan officer it is time to start shopping for a home. (If you already have a property in mind and would like to submit a contract it is important to follow up on this step immediately).

2. Decide if you will use a real estate agent.

3. Be familiar with these terms and forms.

· The Arizona Real Estate Purchase Contract: For your own protection buyers and sellers should take the time to read through the Arizona real estate purchase contract. This will help you understand both your legal rights and your obligations before you submit a contract to purchase a property. You should also read through any additional addendum’s that will be submitted as attachments to your purchase contract.

· Seller’s Property Disclosure Statement (“SPDS”): With the exception of banks and some investors most sellers will provide you with a signed Seller’s Property Disclosure Statement. This is a disclosure document. And it contains statements from the seller that covers many common questions about the condition and care of the property as well as any problems that the previous owner experienced or repairs they had to make. Your real estate agent is not responsible for verifying how accurate the statements made in the SPDS’s are, therefore a buyer should carefully review the document and verify any items of concern.

If it is a foreclosed property, the bank will not provide this document as the owner (a bank) has not ever occupied the home.

· Professional Home Inspection Report

· Appraisal

· Close of Escrow

4. After a contract is secured.

· Keep in close contact with your agent and/or loan officer to make sure you continue to submit any documents needed and stay on an appropriate deadline for inspections, appraisals and other reviews of the property before the close of escrow.