The Ultimate Guide To Buying & Selling Real Estate

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The largest and most overwhelming purchase and sale most people will ever make is on real estate. The most common of which is a home. When it comes to making this decision there is a vast amount of information available. However, most of the information covers only pieces of this transaction. This article compiles all of the best resources available for the entire real estate transaction.

The Current State Of Real Estate

There are various arguments for why you should or why you should never purchase a home. One of the best articles containing up-to-date facts and figures is from the website Accidental Fire titled, Have We Reached Peak Home Bloat? 

To get an overview of the current state of housing the following resources will help you better understand current facts and figures. 

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Before You Buy Or Sell

You might find it helpful to read 2 Years of Home Ownership – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly which will give you some insight into one perspective from relatively new homeowners. When you think you have found the perfect new property and feel as though you need to make a move right away be sure to take into consideration factors that you are likely not considering. For example, have you knocked on the doors of your potential new neighbors to meet them? Do you have cell phone service inside the home? 

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The (Very Near) Future Of Real Estate

The impact technology is having on real estate is significant. Technology will continue to impact high margin, arduous industries. It is hard to think of a more laborious industry than real estate. Zillow is a household name that has started to bring to light real estate data once confined to multiple listing services controlled by local boards of realtors but there are now many others entering the real estate industry taking on and improving various aspects of a real estate transaction and the housing industry as a whole. 

With today’s technology, it has never been easier to sell your own real estate. The cost of many financial transactions including; banking, investing, and insurance, has come down exponentially in recent years. However, the cost of selling your home or other pieces of real estate has remained stubbornly high. 

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Should You Use A Real Estate Agent?

For current or future real estate agents – a paragraph in an article from My Journey To Millions caught our attention.

“Our first inclination was to put it on Zillow’s “Make me Move.”  We didn’t get the traction or responses we thought. Side note: I don’t think the market is there yet, but realtors hear me now, this service and others like it are your future.  Being a real estate agent in 2028 is going to be the equivalent of a taxi driver in 2018”

It used to be that you would have a real estate agent post your listing on the multiple listing service in order to get your property viewable online to buyers. Today, that is no longer the case and the vast amount of tools are now available online for free (or nearly free). For example, need professional photos for your property? Take them yourself and then upload them to a service like Boxbrownie to have them professionally edited for you for less than $50. 

As is the case in most industries…the best agents will continue to thrive and all the others will fall away. We had the recent experience of looking at a property with a local agent. We had little interest but still, there was zero follow-ups. Our guess is they will be in a different line of work in 2028!

Sites For Buying & Selling Without An Agent

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Real Estate Documents & Transactions

Get a sense for the documents and paperwork involved. Once you arrive at the point of having a potential buyer or have set your sights on a certain property there are a number of documents to be aware of. One great resource for handling all of this for you is Flare Agent. (Note: Flare agent is currently only available to registered real estate agents. This post will be updated once they open it up to the general public)

Real Estate Documents

Mortgages & Mortgage Brokers

The 2008 financial crisis was driven by the subprime mortgage crisis. Today, there are a number of different places to get a mortgage. Shopping around for the best mortgage can be a challenge but here are 5 Money-Saving Tips Your Mortgage Broker Doesn’t Want You To Know. 

After becoming aware of these 5 tips it's time to get the best mortgage rate and experience you are able to get! In order to do that, be sure to read and take notes on How To Fail At Getting The Lowest Mortgage Interest Rate Possible and The Super Secret Source For The Most Competitive Mortgage Rates.

Getting To Know The Different Types of Mortgages

15 Year Mortgage Instead of a 30 Year Mortgage

There are significant benefits you can get from taking out a non-traditional 30-year mortgage and instead going for a 15-year. Chief Mom Officer goes into the specific details about why she loves her 15-year mortgage and why you should strongly consider a 15-year over a 30-year mortgage when shopping for a mortgage. Better yet – here is why you should aim to pay off your mortgage in as little as 10 years! Take a look at an amortization schedule and you will quickly see the benefit of a 15-year mortgage. 

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