Sw03es, And Other Real Estate Ppl, I Need Your Help!

[denslexusgx470]

also, realtors, i know how they work on the selling end, you sell your property with them, and they get a cut, usually 7-10%. how do they charge for the services when your a buuyer? and can these charges be integrated into your mortgage?

NADA, ZERO Josh, the commission works like this... There are several different listing agreements available, and the most common one (at least in my area) is a maximum of 6%. That 6% comes from the SELLER (not you, you're the buyer) and the buyer pays NOTHING to their realtor because the seller's commission pays for both realtors. Now people assume that their realtors get the 6% all the time, so they presume on a $100,000 listing the realtor earned $6,000. WRONG.

The 6% is broken up like this.... If there's two different agents involved (meaning one agent for the buyer, one for the seller) the commission of 6% is split into half, so both sides get 3%. Now that 3% is SPLIT AGAIN in half, between the realtor and their real estate office (unless they are the broker) so technically sometimes the realtors only get about 1.5% of the commission really. Now if the realtor found the buyer for their listing, they get the full 3% because they only have to split up the 6% commission between them and their office.

Now that may sound a little confusing, but that's the most simple commission setup out there. We've got a 2,4,6 setup, a 5% setup, a 5% with advanced fee, B.O.S.S. program (forgot what it stood for lol) and a 2% FSBO (for sale by owner) setup.... But don't ask what these all mean because that's not your current dilemna. lol.

[SW03ES]

Hold of on the names steve, as i said, give me till around thanksgiving... I REALLY do NOT want to rush this. at all. this is the LARGEST financial commitment i have made in my life (aside from getting married :P) and i dont want to botch it up.

Actually even if you want to wait until Thanksgiving you should still talk to someone now. A good realtor won't push you into anything and its important that you have a picture of what your options are and what this transaction is going to cost you now so you can make any preparations for Thanksgiving. I've had initial consultations with buyer clients that haven't bought for over a year, but the initial consultation is still important. The more time you have to plan the better off you are.

as far as income goes, meghan is still unemployed...but with my promotion my base pay has gone up. the credit check was done at the credit union i am a member of, as a courtesy to us for the purpose of homebuying.

As long as you have an income at all that you can deduct mortgage income from, it makes sense to have a mortgage.

If they pulled credit at the CU then the scores are accurate, they pull directly from the bureaus. The issue seems to be these online deals. In fact when I got approved to purchase this investment I just purchased my scores were as much as 25 points lower in reality than they were on like FreeCreditReport.com.

my only issue i can forsee is my debt to income ratio...with meghan not working, its like 52%...however, if i turn in my housing and begin getting my BAH (basic allowance for housing, which i would get a sa homeonwner and it would pay my mortgage). then i would be WELL under my 50% D2I ratio.

As long as you have your BAH in writing from the Army the lender can use this to offset any DTI problems when they approve you.

...food for thought. I just figure since the housing in my area is going private, they are gonna make us sign a lease for $1200 a month plus utilities, which i can, but DO NOT WANT to put in someone elses pocket. if im gonna pay that much, it will be on a property so i have something to show for it in 5 years, not just giving it away to my landlord, that is stupid IMO.

I absolutely agree.

Steve, is there a way you would be willing to fly/drive up from DC to represent me? If you even do that sort of thing. I dont know what kind of real estate you deal in...

I do mostly residential sales and listing, a little commercial but not much. Unfortunately I'm not licensed in NY and even if I were, without knowing the area I wouldn't be much help to you. I can find you an agent up there every bit as good as me that knows the area and knows the values, you'll be better off with that.

also, realtors, i know how they work on the selling end, you sell your property with them, and they get a cut, usually 7-10%. how do they charge for the services when your a buuyer? and can these charges be integrated into your mortgage?

I wish it were 7-10% lol. In reality its more like 5-6%, 7-10% for land and for commercial. The buyer's agent is almost always paid by the seller. So out of a 6% commission if I were a listing agent and you were the buyer's agent, I would get 3% and you would get 3% and then however much of the 3% we would get to keep would be dependent on what we have negotiated with our companies. If there was no buyer's agent and the listing agent sold the property directly to the buyer he would, absent any agreement with the seller dictating otherwise, make the entire 6%.

So, the answer to your question is its really free for you to be represented by a buyer's agent. Most companies charge the buyer a small administrative fee, we charge $295 but I always waive that to the client and pay it myself. I'm making a *lot* of money on a transaction, and it seems petty to me to then turn around and ask the buyer for that fee but not everybody does that.

Now, some people will tell you if you don't have an agent the seller will give you a better deal but that has overwhelmingly not been my experience. This year I've saved my buyers an average of 8% over the sales price of the homes they've bought, would they have been able to do as well without me negotiating for them? I don't think so. When you're thinking about a $650,000 house, 8% is $52,000. Nothing to sneeze at.

[ArmyofOne]

Hold of on the names steve, as i said, give me till around thanksgiving... I REALLY do NOT want to rush this. at all. this is the LARGEST financial commitment i have made in my life (aside from getting married :P) and i dont want to botch it up.

Actually even if you want to wait until Thanksgiving you should still talk to someone now. A good realtor won't push you into anything and its important that you have a picture of what your options are and what this transaction is going to cost you now so you can make any preparations for Thanksgiving. I've had initial consultations with buyer clients that haven't bought for over a year, but the initial consultation is still important. The more time you have to plan the better off you are.

as far as income goes, meghan is still unemployed...but with my promotion my base pay has gone up. the credit check was done at the credit union i am a member of, as a courtesy to us for the purpose of homebuying.

As long as you have an income at all that you can deduct mortgage income from, it makes sense to have a mortgage.

If they pulled credit at the CU then the scores are accurate, they pull directly from the bureaus. The issue seems to be these online deals. In fact when I got approved to purchase this investment I just purchased my scores were as much as 25 points lower in reality than they were on like FreeCreditReport.com.

my only issue i can forsee is my debt to income ratio...with meghan not working, its like 52%...however, if i turn in my housing and begin getting my BAH (basic allowance for housing, which i would get a sa homeonwner and it would pay my mortgage). then i would be WELL under my 50% D2I ratio.

As long as you have your BAH in writing from the Army the lender can use this to offset any DTI problems when they approve you.

...food for thought. I just figure since the housing in my area is going private, they are gonna make us sign a lease for $1200 a month plus utilities, which i can, but DO NOT WANT to put in someone elses pocket. if im gonna pay that much, it will be on a property so i have something to show for it in 5 years, not just giving it away to my landlord, that is stupid IMO.

I absolutely agree.

Steve, is there a way you would be willing to fly/drive up from DC to represent me? If you even do that sort of thing. I dont know what kind of real estate you deal in...

I do mostly residential sales and listing, a little commercial but not much. Unfortunately I'm not licensed in NY and even if I were, without knowing the area I wouldn't be much help to you. I can find you an agent up there every bit as good as me that knows the area and knows the values, you'll be better off with that.

also, realtors, i know how they work on the selling end, you sell your property with them, and they get a cut, usually 7-10%. how do they charge for the services when your a buuyer? and can these charges be integrated into your mortgage?

I wish it were 7-10% lol. In reality its more like 5-6%, 7-10% for land and for commercial. The buyer's agent is almost always paid by the seller. So out of a 6% commission if I were a listing agent and you were the buyer's agent, I would get 3% and you would get 3% and then however much of the 3% we would get to keep would be dependent on what we have negotiated with our companies. If there was no buyer's agent and the listing agent sold the property directly to the buyer he would, absent any agreement with the seller dictating otherwise, make the entire 6%.

So, the answer to your question is its really free for you to be represented by a buyer's agent. Most companies charge the buyer a small administrative fee, we charge $295 but I always waive that to the client and pay it myself. I'm making a *lot* of money on a transaction, and it seems petty to me to then turn around and ask the buyer for that fee but not everybody does that.

Now, some people will tell you if you don't have an agent the seller will give you a better deal but that has overwhelmingly not been my experience. This year I've saved my buyers an average of 8% over the sales price of the homes they've bought, would they have been able to do as well without me negotiating for them? I don't think so. When you're thinking about a $650,000 house, 8% is $52,000. Nothing to sneeze at.

huh...so it really is "practically" free for the buyer? ill be damned. ill take you up on some of those names then i guess steve. i will have a hard time meeting with them being in iraq, you think they will want hostile fire pay to come visit me?

LMAO I'm jp, seriously, the names ill give to megs and she can call around and maybe go look at a few houses.

NC, yes my wife is VERY handy around the house, excellent with money, and best of all she isnt stupid LOL. she never repairs or replaces anything without talking to me about it first and if she cant talk to me, she calls my dad.

[SW03ES]

Yep, its practically free. So it makes absolutely no sense NOT to do it.

As for coming to Iraq, you never know LOL

Send me a PM with the specific area you're looking in, a good email to reach you, and your price range and I'll find somebody for you ;)

[branshew]

First thing you need is to check out that area real good. That's a really low price for a house in good shape with that square footage.

From my quick search it looks like you'd need to spend over $100K to get something suitable inside the Watertown limits. Most nicer residences w/ similar sq. ft. are in the $175K-$300K range depending on location.

Maybe he'll flip it and make some $.