Home buyers can avoid costly mistakes when buying a house by heeding the advice of experts who know that although your home purchase is traditionally an excellent financial investment, there are ways to put more money in your pocket from the transaction.

• Choose An Exclusive Buyer’s Agent
  Learn the local real estate market by choosing an Exclusive Buyer’s Agent whose job is to educate you about homes available and what you should offer by preparing a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) or property value study.  Your exclusive Buyer’s Agent will also protect your interests by including typical contingency clauses for a satisfactory appraisal, home inspection, and mortgage commitment.

• Save Money on Your Mortgage
  If you are looking for ways to save money on your mortgage, shop before you start looking at homes so that you can get your best rate and be sure of the amount of your pre-approval.  A pre-approval is a negotiating advantage for you and is an absolute necessity in a hot market or ‘priced-right’ homes with competing offers.

• Time Your New Home Purchase
  The best time of the year to buy a house is when the season slows down and there are fewer home buyers in the market – Thanksgiving to mid-January. Homes listed and available during the slow season are from serious home sellers. Most people don't want to move until the summer months so they don't start actively looking until early spring.

• Protect Yourself with a Good Home Inspection
  Home Inspectors will tell you all houses, including brand new homes, have defects; some of which are incurable.  Some defects will be obvious to you, such as peeling paint or broken windows; others will call for the education and skill of a good home inspector and/or other professionals to test for the presence of pests, radon, or lead paint.

The bottom line: Prior to affiliating with any realtor, please ensure they're qualified to legally pledge to represent you as an Exclusive Buyer's Agent. Anything less poses a potential conflict of your best interest!

Of course, we at Total Real Estate take great pride in serving our clients through literally every phase of the home buying process, but we understand consumers have choices on representation.  We stand ready to earn your business and would appreciate your consideration as you begin your EBA search process.

Feel free to give us a call -- we'll be happy to answer any of your initial questions with no obligations on your part.

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