Cape Coral Luxury Real Estate - Andrea Palmer
SW Florida Luxury Real Estate - Andrea Palmer
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Saturday, October 24, 2015
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Study: Most buyers fail to shop for a mortgage
NEW YORK – Oct. 14, 2015 – Nearly 80 percent of Americans consider themselves bargain hunters, and the majority says they search prices online before making a purchase. However, when consumers are asked how often they search for better prices on big-ticket items, like a mortgage, most fail to shop around, according to a new LendingTree survey of more than 1,000 American customers.
Less than one-third (30 percent) of consumers say they always shop around for the best rates on major financial loans, such as a mortgage or auto loan. About 18 percent say they never looked for better rates or prices on loans.
"It's an interesting phenomenon," says Andrea Woroch, LendingTree's consumer savings expert. "Consumers are generally very savvy with their shopping behavior when it comes to day-to-day purchases and material goods. But, once it comes to a major financial investment, we see a collapse of the normally rational pattern of behavior and mentality for saving.
"Consumers sometimes may be too focused on price and fail to consider the lifetime cost of interest, which is really where banks and lenders make their money," Woroch adds. "Over a five-year auto loan, or thirty-year mortgage, a one percent difference between interest rates can easily translate into thousands of dollars."
The survey found more than 80 percent of consumers say they would drive out of their way to save 10 cents per gallon on gas. However, only 17 percent of car owners negotiated the interest rate when financing their new car.
"There could be a number of causes for this irrational behavior, and it may vary among types of consumers," Woroch says. "One is simply that many Americans don't understand the long-term costs associated with compounding interest and the time-value of money. Another possibility is that consumers are uneducated about loan shopping and the importance of comparing interest rates before financing a purchase."
Woroch says it's "easy to become emotionally involved with the purchase itself or to find the loan process so frustrating that you would rather finalize the purchase instead of shopping around."
Source: LendingTree
Friday, October 9, 2015
Sunday, October 4, 2015
Saturday, October 3, 2015
How to Lose the Bidding War But Still Get the House
Here are seven reasons why your initial unaccepted offer may eventually close the deal.
1. A backup offer is a secret weapon.
You made your best offer, but it wasn't strong enough to secure the home -- maybe your competition offered more money, or their terms were slightly better. All is not lost. Ask the seller to accept your offer as a backup offer. There is no cost to you, yet you are in line to get the property if the deal goes sour.
2. It's all so close, they can taste it.
Once a seller has an offer and it's progressing, they are already psychologically moving from their home. They're picturing closing day and the moving trucks in the driveway. If the deal abruptly comes to a screeching halt, the seller is much more willing to move forward with a backup offer just to keep that momentum going.
3. Your chances improve after the inspection.
I have been successful in backup situations where an inspection has uncovered more issues than the first buyer wants to deal with and the buyer walks away from the house. The good news for you is that those issues won't go away. The seller may realize he or she can no longer play hardball and be more willing to accept your offer, rather than lose the deal a second time.
4. We're in an era of tougher loan qualifications.
As loan qualifications become tighter and more scrutinized, some home buyers may not qualify and will have to back out of the deal. In this situation, you have the advantage of jumping in to save the day.
5. Set a 30-day time limit.
The longer the current transaction takes, the greater the chance the two parties are struggling to come to an agreement. Set an expiration date of 30 days for your backup offer. If the two parties are unable to close the deal, it may force the seller to settle for the next best thing before it's too late.
6. Get first right of refusal.
Ask for a first-right-of-refusal clause in your backup offer. In this case, you're not bound to purchase the property, but you're first in line if the other deal falls through.
7. Get the terms of the backup in writing.
Once the seller agrees to accept your offer as backup, get a fully executed detailed agreement, in writing. Be sure they are obligated to sell to you within a certain period at the agreed-upon terms if the property becomes available.
Here's one more bonus for the backup buyer.
Legally, the sellers have to disclose any problems the first-position buyers uncovered, even ones that made them bolt. As a result, you'll know the property's flaws in advance, saving you time and money on your own inspections.
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