Wednesday, November 30, 2011

How To Buy Prior Lake Foreclosures

How To Buy Prior Lake Foreclosures?


So you want to buy one of the foreclosures in Prior Lake? Whether you own house currently or are a Minnesota first time home buyer, you will want to learn the basics before going out to buy. While there are plenty of great values in Prior Lake foreclosures you will want to be prepared for how to negotiate your purchase transaction.

 

Info about Prior Lake


Known as the sister city of Shakopee, Prior Lake is located about 20 miles southwest of downtown Minneapolis. With plenty of affordable housing for MN first time home buyers and move up buyers alike, the city has doubled in size over the past 20 years. The combination of Upper and Lower Prior Lakes make up the largest lake in the lower Twin Cities area. With 54 city parks and a well established Park and Rec, it seems like there is always something to do in Prior Lake. If you are looking to buy or sell a home here, please give me a call.

Foreclosures are Bank-Owned


A bank-owned foreclosure can be a great deal sometimes because the bank owns it and is paying for the maintenance of it. As opposed to a property offered as a short sale, the selling bank has a distinct motivation to get the home off of their books. At the same time, banks who are involved in selling a foreclosure want to get the highest value they can out of the property. In the lower price ranges it has turned into a sellers market meaning that many foreclosures sell for well above the listing price! Knowing what to offer for the foreclosure is critical in terms of being successful with your purchase.

Things to Consider in Buying Foreclosures


There are two big factors to consider when determining how much to offer. The first factor is to consider how long the property has been on the market and the second thing is the general property condition. A foreclosure that has just been listed is likely to sell for near the listing price (or even higher), while a bank that has a house that has been on the market a long time might be willing to negotiate for deeper discounts. Also, a listing that is in poor overall condition may not be able to be financed so the bank may reduce the price far enough to attract cash buyers. I can help you determine these factors as we search for foreclosures.

Foreclosures and Financing

If you are planning on financing the purchase of a foreclosure there are some important things to know as well. First, the listing must be in acceptable condition to the lender n order to qualify for most mortgage loans. Properties in generally poor condition will either require a cash offer or special mortgage financing such as the FHA 203k program. Selling banks will also tend to limit the amount seller paid concessions towards the closing costs of your home loan. In most cases today the selling bank will limit their contribution to three per cent of the selling price. Additionally, a selling bank will never look at your offer if it includes a financing contingency for the sale of a home and if you don't provide a preapproval letter along with the offer.

Get Preapproved Today

The first step in the home buying process is to get prequalified for financing. This simply means that you talk with a local lender who will review your credit, income, etc. In the prequalification application they can tell you what types of Minnesota first time buyer programs you might be qualified for. This important first step can be done right over the phone and most lenders will even do this with you when you are off from work.

Ready to Find A Foreclosed Home?

If you are thinking of buying a foreclosure please give me a call or send me an email. There are many great Prior Lake foreclosure values out there but knowing which one to buy will take some time and expertise. I would very much like to help you in your search for the ideal house!


Robert Phyle,CSP,GRI,RSA
Broker Associate, Realtor
Coldwell Banker Burnet
rlphyle@cbburnet.com
Cell 612-801-4657
Direct 952-997-1955
Fax 952-432-8372
7741 147th St W.
Apple Valley, MN 55124
www.facebook.com/robphylerealestate
Visit my website to find Minnesota homes for sale

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Chanhassen homes For Sale: Best Ways To Search

There are a few different ways to search for homes for sale in Chanhassen that I would like to tell you about. As most home buyers begin their search for their dream home on the web, I find that many miss out on all of the possible opportunities to search for and find the right home. I would like to talk with you about the pros and cons to each of these various methods for finding homes for sale in Chanhassen.

 

Finding Chanhassen homes For Sale On The Web


One of the best ways to begin is to go to my website to search for and find all of the homes for sale that are listed all of the local real estate brokers, with all of the available information. The large national websites leave out much of the critical details such as property taxes on the home due to the sheer size of their websites. The problem is that when buying a home factors such as property taxes on the homeare one of the single biggest factors in determining the amount of your monthly payments so why would anyone want to look for Chanhassen homes on websites that are missing such an important detail? Please got to my website and start searching for Chanhassen homes listed on the market today.

Search for Chanhassen homes Via Email


If you are currently searching for a Chanhassen homes, send me an email and tell me the specifics of the type of property you want. I can create advanced searches that will tell you not only what is available on the market via email, but also what has just become available. You will be instantly notified with new listings that meet your search critieria when they become available on the market. Because I need to know the critieria of what you are searching for (for example: 2 bedroom homes in Chanhassen between $165,000 and $215,000), please email me so we can begin the email search process.

A little education goes a long ways, doesn’t it? If you can get exactly what you need via email such as my customized search why would a home shopper need anything else? The Guesswork and Luck strategy involves searching for properties the large national websites which don't contain all the property details. Without a customized approach to finding the house that you want, I find that too many Minnesota home buyers rely on the strategy of Guesswork and Luck.

City of Chanhassen


Chanhassen is a beautiful outer ring suburb located just southwest of Minneapolis. Both Life Time Fitness and Snap Fitness are headquartered here providing employment to those who are not making the 20-30 minute commute to downtown Minneapolis. The population of Chanhassen, MN has doubled over the last 20 years according to the 2010 census. Voted the tenth best place to live by Money magazine in 2011, Chanhassen is popular both for Minnesota first time home buyers and move up buyers alike. If you are planning on buying or selling a home in Chanhassen please give me a call.

MN First Time Buyers First Step


For many Minnesota first time home buyers the intimidating question is where do I start? Your very first step towards buying your first home is to get preapproved for a first time buyer's mortgage. By doing so you find out how much of a loan you are qualified for so that we can search for homes in the right price range.

Please invest the time to properly understand the strategy you are using to search for possibly the largest investment that you will ever make. I highly encourage home buyers to be proactive and to take control of the property search strategy! Please take a moment to visit my website and find all of the available Chanhassen listings.


Robert Phyle,CSP,GRI,RSA
Broker Associate, Realtor
Coldwell Banker Burnet
rlphyle@cbburnet.com
Cell 612-801-4657
Direct 952-997-1955
Fax 952-432-8372
7741 147th St W.
Apple Valley, MN 55124
www.facebook.com/robphylerealestate
Visit my website to find Minnesota homes for sale

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Burnsville Home Sellers: Should You Rent It Out or Sell It?

Many Burnsville home sellers are faced with the problem of being "upside-down" on their mortgages. The fact is that in order to sell your home in the  market today you need to pay off your mortgage in order to convey clean title to your buyer. Unless you want to arrange a "short sale" with your mortgage lender, this means you may bring money to the closing table to pay off the remaining balance owed. Many home sellers who need to move now are considering the possibility of renting out their current home in order to buy a new one.

Rising Rents in Burnsville

The good news today is that with the tougher housing market, the amount you can get for rent has increased significantly. Renters find that they are competing with each other to rent out a Burnsville home as their is a shortage of quality rentals available today. Many people are finding that they can more than cover the expenses for owning the home with the increased amount of rents.

The goal, of course, is to rent out the current home long enough to allow the real estate market to recover in terms of values. Hopefully within a few years the value of your rental home will rise sufficiently to sell it for enough to pay off the mortgage. The key to accomplishing this is to see if you will qualify for a new mortgage if you have rented out your current home.

Do lenders count the rental income on my old house?

Lenders have specific guidelines for those Burnsville sellers who have decided rent out their home in order to buy another. Depending on the equity that you have in your home, a mortgage lender may or may not consider the rental income you receive when they qualify you for the new mortgage. The only way to know this is to call a lender to get preapproved.
Getting preapproved for a mortgage

Once we meet to discuss the value of your old home it is critical that you go through the process of getting prequalified for a home loan. Your MN mortgage lender can help you discover whether you should rent out or sell your current house. The process of getting preapproved is free, and if you decide not to proceed, there is no obligation to borrow money. A good mortgage lender will be able to analyze all of the financing options available to you such as through MN FHA loans, Conventional, VA, or other types of mortgage financing.

As the sixth largest city in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, Burnsville is a popular bedroom community to both St. Paul, Minneapolis, and neighboring suburbs. While experiencing an explosion in population from 1970 through 2000 to over 60,000 residents, Burnsville is now fairly well built-out and its total population has stabilized over the past ten years according the 2010 census. Larger employers in the community include Independent School District 191, Fairview Ridges Hospital, as well as Pepsi Cola but most homeowners work in the Twin Cities. Burnsville has plenty of homes for sale both for the Minnesota first time home buyer as well as the move up buyer.

If you want to talk about renting out your current home, please take a moment to call or email me for more information.


Robert Phyle,CSP,GRI,RSA
Broker Associate, Realtor
Coldwell Banker Burnet
rlphyle@cbburnet.com
Cell 612-801-4657
Direct 952-997-1955
Fax 952-432-8372
7741 147th St W.
Apple Valley, MN 55124
www.facebook.com/robphylerealestate
Visit my website to find
Minnesota homes for sale

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Buying Dakota County Foreclosures

Want To Buy A Dakota County Foreclosure?


Are you thinking about buying a foreclosure in Dakota County? Whether you own a home now or are a MN first time home buyer, you should learn the basics before going out to buy. While there are many great values in Dakota County foreclosures you should be prepared for how to negotiate your offer.

Dakota County Info

Dakota County, located in the southeastern portion of the Twin Cities area, is the third largest county in MN. The larger cities of the county include Burnsville, Apple Valley, Eagan, and Lakeville. The county seat for Dakota County is in Hastings,MN. As one of the fastest growing markets in the Twin Cities area, the population has more than doubled since the 1980 census. Minnesota first time home buyers benefit from affordable home prices in the area as well as the Dakota County First Time Buyers Program.

Foreclosures are Bank-Owned


A Dakota County foreclosure can be a great value because as an REO (real-estate-owned), the bank is responsible for paying all the maintenance costs. As opposed to a property offered as a short sale, the selling bank has a big motivation to get the listing off of their books. Since there are many buyers in competition with you, you might be surprised at what you will need to offer in order to get the property. In the lower price ranges it has turned into a sellers market meaning that many foreclosures sell for well above the listing price! Knowing what to offer for the foreclosure is critical in terms of being successful with your purchase.

Factors in Buying Foreclosures


There are 2 major factors to consider what you will want to make as an offer to purchase. The first factor is to consider how long the property has been on the market and the second is the general property condition. A foreclosure listing that has just been listed for sale is apt to sell for near the listing price, while a bank that has a home that has been on the market a long time may be willing to negotiate for deep discounts. Also, a listing that is in poor overall condition may not be able to be financed with traditional mortgage financing so the bank may have to reduce the price far enough to attract cash buyers. I can help you work through these factors as we search for Dakota County foreclosures.

Financing and Foreclosures

If you are planning on financing the purchase of a foreclosure there are some critcal things to know. First, the house itself must be in acceptable condition to the lender n order to qualify for most mortgage loans. Properties that are in poor condition will either require a cash offer or special financing such as FHA 203k. Selling banks will also tend to limit the amount seller paid concessions towards the closing costs of your home loan. In most cases the selling bank will limit their contribution to 3 per cent of the selling price, or 2 per cent if you are an investor. Additionally, a selling bank will never look at your offer if it includes a financing contingency for the sale of a home and never if you do not provide a letter of financing preapproval along with your offer.

Get Pre-qualified

The first step in the home buying process is to get prequalified for financing. This simply means that you talk with a local lender who will review your credit, income, etc. In this discussion they can tell you what types of MN first time buyer programs you might be qualified for. This first step can usually be done right over the telephone and most lenders will even do this with you when you are off from work.

Ready to Find A Foreclosed Home?

If you are planning on buying a Dakota County foreclosure please send me an email or give me a call. There are many great foreclosure values out there but knowing which one takes some time and expertise. I would very much like to help you in your search for the ideal house!

Robert Phyle,CSP,GRI,RSA
Broker Associate, Realtor
Coldwell Banker Burnet
rlphyle@cbburnet.com
Cell 612-801-4657
Direct 952-997-1955
Fax 952-432-8372
7741 147th St W.
Apple Valley, MN 55124
www.facebook.com/robphylerealestate
Visit my website to find Minnesota homes for sale

Monday, November 7, 2011

Ready To Buy A home in South St. Paul?

Do you want to learn about how you go about buying a home in South St. Paul? Learning how to buy a home can be confusing for many buyers, especially for the MN first time home buyer. As this process can be quite complext I would like to take a moment to share with you some simple tips of how to help you accomplish your goal.

How To Buy A home in South St. Paul

Most MN home buyers begin their process of buying a home on the web, of course. There are many internet sites to begin this but a good location for you to start is to use the MLS search engine on my website. There are thousands of websites out there but you will soon find that many of them lack some of the important details you need when finding a home. The large national websites, for example, do not show the county property taxes for each home which is one of the most critical factors when estimating what your monthly payments will be.

Search for a home in South St. Paul on my website

When you start for your search for homes in South St. Paul on my website you will find all of the property listings from all of the real estate companies. Through the use of the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), my property website will offer you complete details from every company. One of the other things I can do is to set up an advanced search for you so that I can email listings in your price range as they come available.

Get Preapproved To Buy A home in South St. Paul

How will you know what price range you should be hunting for? In order for you to know the amount of monthly payments you will have for a home in South St. Paul you will need to get preapproved for mortgage financing. Getting through the preapproval process is the critical first step for how to purchase a home in South St. Paul Since there is no cost or obligation when you get prequalified by one of our local MN mortgage lenders, you should do this right away so that you can clear any roadblocks there might be in the process of getting a home loan.

Let's go look at homes!

After you have been preapproved by one of our trusted local mortgage lenders I will take you to available listings in your price range. I recommend that we look through at least 15 or 20 of these before you make your offer to buy one. By searching extensively you will get educated on homes that are a excellent value for you to buy. When a home comes available meeting your needs you will want to be ready to make your offer since properties at a good value sell fast.

After the purchase agreement, and before closing

Once you have decided to make your offer it usually takes about 30 or longer before you go to your loan closing to finalize the purchase of your home. During this time your lender will collect all of the necessary documentation they require from you to complete your loan commitment. They will almost always order an appraisal on the home you are buying to make sure the price of the home you are buying is in line. They will also order a title policy from a title company to make sure the title to your new home is clean.

Closing on your home

After your loan has been fully approved you will be ready to close on the purchase of your new home. At the loan closing everyone gets together to sign documentation, exchange funds, as well as to exchange house keys, etc. Once you’ve closed on your home you are ready to move in!

South Saint Paul: Community Information

Just a little bit south of Saint Paul you will find a city with 20,000 residents called South Saint Paul. Steeped in Minnesota history, South St. Paul is one of the original meat packing districts in the U.S. Because South Saint Paul is located in Dakota County first time buyers can may well benefit from the Dakota County first time home buyer program. With a good Park and Rec program available in South Saint Paul it seems there's always something to do! Due to an ample supply of affordable housing now available this is an ideal location for the MN first time home buyer. Are you ready to search for homes in South Saint Paul? Please take a moment to give me a call or send me an email!

Are you ready to start the process of searching for homes? Just give me a call or send me an email and I am looking forward to helping you find your dream home!

Robert Phyle,CSP,GRI,RSA
Broker Associate, Realtor
Coldwell Banker Burnet
rlphyle@cbburnet.com
Cell 612-801-4657
Direct 952-997-1955
Fax 952-432-8372
7741 147th St W.
Apple Valley, MN 55124
www.facebook.com/robphylerealestate
Visit my website to find
Minnesota homes for sale