FREE Report 7 things you should know before buying your next home

Here's a great free report regarding the 7 things you should know before buying your next home. Great info whether your buying your first home or your 22nd home. Email me with any questions. Thanks.

Chuck
cvconto2@yahoo.com

You can all visit my website if you would like to sell your home for cash in Pittsburgh. www.CashForPittsburghHomes.com We Buy Houses in Pittsburgh! 412-567-2125


I normally charge for this report but here's a free copy just for visiting my blog:

“They Laughed When I Told Them
I Was House Shopping…
but I invited them to the housewarming party anyway.”

All my friends kept asking “why?” Why would I be wasting my time trying to find a house to buy? They reminded me of all the reasons I would have to keep on renting this lousy little apartment and why looking for a house would just be a waste of time and money:

· I didn’t have a down payment saved up.
· I didn’t have good credit.
· I couldn’t afford a house payment.
· I didn’t know the first thing about finding the right house.
· I would only end up wasting my time looking and would get screwed out of $100’s in application fees or credit fees and still not get a house.

But I knew that renting was a total waste of money and I hated living in an apartment. Why should I be buying this apartment building for the owner? He isn’t paying the mortgage on this building. I am. Yet, he’s the one who gets to keep the building when I and everyone else here gets done paying for it for him. And most of my neighbors are okay, but it seems like every night, somebody has to play their music too loud, or has to stomp their feet too loud, or has a screaming match…

I was sick of living this way and I was desperate for a change. But I had no idea where to start. I would find myself driving around town looking for “For Sale” signs in front of houses. I would slow and look at the front of the house. Once in awhile, I would even grab one of those flyers from the box on the sign post. I would look at the pictures on the flyer, check out the square footage and the number of bathrooms, and imagine myself living there. But I would never call the number. What’s the point? Look at the price tag? How could I afford that? All the reasons for not buying a house would flood my mind: No down payment, credit problems, not knowing what I was doing. The flyer would sit on my counter for a few days and then I’d toss it out.

“If only I could find someone to give me some straight answers
and show me how to get myself into position to buy a house!”


Sound familiar? You are not alone! There are thousands of people just like you who desperately want to own their own home, but have no idea how to start. That’s what this report is designed for. To give you the answers you need so you can get out of the losing cycle of renting.

Did you know that your rent payment is actually a mortgage payment? That’s right! You are already paying a mortgage payment every month. The problem is, you’re paying off someone else’s mortgage. The owner of your building doesn’t pay for the mortgage on the building – you do! You buy the building for him and he gets to keep it. Pretty good arrangement – for him!

Wouldn’t it be better to pay off your own mortgage on your own house and then get to keep the house for yourself? Buying a house for yourself is the biggest and most important step you will ever take if you ever want to be wealthy and enjoy a leisurely retirement. Instead of giving your rent money away every month and not having anything to show for it, you can put that money to work for you. Each month, you will owe less on your house as it increases in value over time. Eventually, it is paid off and you find yourself as the owner of a very valuable piece of property. It is yours. You can now retire with no worries.

With no more house payments, all you need is a little savings and/or a little retirement or social security income, and you can live a life of ease. If you choose to keep renting instead of buying, you’ll never be able to retire. Why? Because you’ll always have a rent payment and this is the largest bill you have every month. You’ll have to continue to work to pay this bill – it will never go away. And I’m sure you notice that rents keep going up every year too? That ain’t going to change. Bye bye retirement.

And consider the difference in lifestyle between renting and owning. With renting, you have to put up with the ceiling-stompers, the wall-bangers, the punk-rockers, the deaf TV-watchers, the smelly-cookers, the garbage-pilers, the yellers, screamers, and moaners, and the parking-space-stealers. Now I don’t want to be considered anti-social, but I don’t miss these people at all now that I own my home.

Besides, there is just something fundamentally good about owning your own little piece of this earth. Since I bought my house, I’ve discovered the joys of gardening. I love going out and getting my hands in my dirt, watering my flowers, watching my trees turn to fall colors. It’s my piece of earth and I love interacting with it.

Now maybe gardening isn’t and won’t be your thing, but wouldn’t it be great to have that one little piece of earth that you can claim as your own? To do with as you please? To shape and mold the way you want it? It’s a special feeling, let me assure you.

“Okay! Okay!” you say. “I’d love to stop this bad cycle of renting. But I don’t have a choice! I __fill in your excuse here___, so I have to keep renting.”

Yes, we all have excuses. I gave you a list of mine in the first paragraph of this report – no down payment, credit, can’t afford, etc. I overcame my excuses, and I hope this report can help you overcome yours.

Hello. I’m Chuck Conto. I’m a real estate investor who’s made a ton of money in real estate, and I’d love to help you get on the financial freedom train that home ownership and real estate can provide you. The following report offers you 7 secrets of real estate investing – secrets that I’ve learned over the years – that I believe will help you get started.

So how do you get started? Here are 7 secrets I think will help you achieve your dream of home ownership:

Secret #1: The “Pre-Approval”

You’ve probably heard that you should get “pre-approved” before you start looking for a house. But what does that mean and how should you do it?

The “what does it mean” part is actually a little confusing, but I’ll do my best here. The pre-approval process has evolved over the years thanks to the advances of technology. It used to be that you’d go in and sit down with your banker and provide him (there weren’t very many “her” bankers until quite recently) your income and debt information. You’d actually tell him, “I make this much and I owe this much to creditors.” Based on what you told the banker, he would issue you a pre-approval or tell you “no”.

With the pre-approval in hand, you could go shop for a home. Once you found one, the banker would then start to verify what you told him – calling your work to find out your income, calling your other creditors, calling your references, checking your banking histories, etc. There weren’t credit reports to get or any of the other electronic data we have available today, so it was a lot of work and took a lot more time to approve loans.

Nowadays, a pre-approval is much more thorough and accurate (although some mortgage people try to use some version of the old ways because it is easier and costs them less to do). Today, your pre-approval should involve an up-front credit check of all 3 credit bureaus, reviewing your income and asset documentation, and even running your file through something called “automated underwriting”.

It has gotten much tougher to qualify for loans these days since the loosy-goosy “subprime” lending days, so the more thorough your loan officer is up-front, the better off you’ll be. You don’t want surprises later on after you have found your dream home.

As far as “how you should do this”, you need to know about the different types of lending institutions so you can make an informed lending choice. This leads us to…

Secret #2: “There are differences in lending institutions”

There are basically 3 types of places you can get a mortgage loan. These are “Banks”, “Brokers”, and “Mortgage Banks”. Any of these 3 places may be right for you, but you should know the differences.

Banks: These are those places around town that have physical buildings, tellers who handle check cashing and deposits, and have a big shiny safe in the back. Banks have their own money, which they get from doing banking business with customers, like offering checking and savings accounts to people.

When you get a mortgage loan from a bank, they are lending you their own money, and they are setting their own lending rules. Most banks follow basically the same rules as each other (using Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guidelines), but most banks also have some of their own rules.

What that means is that you may be qualified to borrower from one bank and not from another. Or you may be able to get a better interest rate from one over the other. But unless you physically walk in and out of several banks, applying for a loan at every one, you’ll never really know if you’re getting the best deal or getting offered the best program for you.

The upside of getting loans from banks is that the fees they charge are typically much less than you find other places, depending on whether they want you as a borrower.

Brokers: These places do not have their own money to lend you. Their job is to help you locate money to borrow. They have relationships with several banks and other “direct lenders” where the broker can take your application and even process parts of your loan, but ultimately, you are borrowing from a bank. The broker just gets paid a referral fee of some type from the bank for finding you.

Brokers brag that it is better to come to them for a loan because they can shop many lenders and programs to find you the best deal. But watch out for the broker who just “sells you to the highest bidder”. Since they don’t make any revenue on the interest you pay on your loan, they make their money off the fees and bank incentives. So be careful and shop around.

Mortgage Banks: They are part bank and act much like a broker. They have their own money to lend you, but they lend it to you under the guidelines of their banking relationships. A good mortgage bank will have several relationships with other banks. Once they give you their money for your loan, they will immediately transfer your loan over to one of their relationship banks who will begin sending you statements.

The servicing bank is happy to accept your loan and start collecting your payments and interest because they know that the loan was processed and approved according to their rules. (If it wasn’t, they get to send it back to the mortgage bank.) The nice thing about shopping with a large mortgage bank is that they will have several relationships and can help you find the best deal and program that fits you, without you having to drive all over town and apply 30 different places. But again, be aware of being charged too much. It shouldn’t cost you any more to get your loan at a mortgage bank than it does the regular bank – but a greedy Loan Officer can charge you more than he should and keep the difference. Again, shop around.

Secret #3: “Decide for yourself how much you can afford”

The people who are helping you find a home (your realtor) and get your home loan (your loan officer) have one thing in common: They both get paid more if you spend more. You may be dealing with perfectly reputable and honest people, but money talks and encourages people to throw their ethics out the window sometimes.

So, just because you “can” afford the higher priced house and you “can” get approved for the loan, that doesn’t mean it makes good financial sense to buy it.

And NEVER, NEVER use some strange loan program that allows you to pay a lower payment in the beginning of the loan to help you afford a more expensive house. Foreclosures are at historic highs right now because too many people used these types of programs to buy homes they really couldn’t afford.

Stick with standard 30 year fixed rate mortgages – period – unless you are a sophisticated investor who can calculate cash-flows and present values and cite amortization schedules. And factor in maintenance expenses – homes do cost money to maintain and there ain’t no property management company to call when the plumbing fails.

Generally, the mortgage payment shouldn’t be much more than about 30% of your before-tax income. If you get up in the 40-45% range, you better not have very many other bills to pay, and plan on driving less-than-hot cars for a long, long time. Some people spend more on their home and less on other things – that’s fine. The problem is with people who spend too much on other things, and then spend too much on their home. See you at the foreclosure auction.

Secret #4: “Do your OWN homework”

A good realtor is going to help you find homes to consider, and will provide you with good information on the neighborhoods. But remember, he/she don’t get paid unless you buy something, so they aren’t likely to go out of their way to discourage you from buying something.

Once you’ve located a good prospect of a home, do your own homework. We don’t want to think about this, but the world can be a harsh place for trusting people sometimes. If it’s such a perfect home at a great price, why is it for sale? Get suspicious and put your detective hat on. Hopefully you’ll find nothing wrong, but what if you do?

First off, check the sexual predators lists. Almost every community have these lists as public records. Look! Do you really want to be the father who moved in next door to a level 3 offender?

There are other things you’ll want to find out too that the seller and your realtor won’t or can’t tell you. So my advice is, walk the neighborhood and talk to people. Seriously, go down the street knocking on doors. Introduce yourself and ask people about the neighborhood. If the people won’t talk to you, do you want to live here? But you’ll be surprised how open people will be. You’ll find out a lot.

And I always recommend that you walk around the neighborhood at night before you buy. Do you feel comfortable out and about? If not, is this neighborhood for you? Just remember that there are no perfect neighborhoods – anywhere. But a little up-front research could prevent a tragic and expensive mistake.

Secret #5: “Read a book on negotiating”

Even if you’re not a “reader”, you can get through one book, especially if it means you’ll end up saving thousands of dollars on your purchase. It will. I don’t have room here to discuss specific negotiating ideas, but I’ll give you one heads up on the kind of thing you’ll learn in a typical book – “Information is Power!”

You’ll learn to NEVER make an offer on a place that you don’t know anything about. Find out the property and ownership history on the place. Find out what other similar homes are selling for. Find out why the seller is selling. Find out how much the seller originally paid. The more you know, the better your deal will be.

I know, you just want to buy a house and you’ll know a fair deal when you see one. But trust me – just read one book. I don’t even care which one you choose. Go to the book store and pick the thinnest one if that makes it easier.

Secret #6: “Look for Assistance Programs”

If you’re trying to buy your first home and don’t have a lot of money for a down payment or are afraid you can’t afford a house payment, there are programs that can assist you. And the sad part is, few people even know these programs exist – mostly because realtors and loan officers don’t get paid as much if you use them, so they have no incentive to tell you about them.

Here are two phrases for an internet search: “State Bond __your state__” and “Housing Authority __your city__” Your state or city may use other terminology for these programs, but most states use some version of these phrases.

What you are looking for are the programs offered by your state or city that assist low to moderate income home buyers. Don’t think, “I make too much money for assistance.” Just try it, you may be surprised what you qualify for. Many areas provide assistance for families earning over $100,000 a year!

These programs can provide below-market interest rate loan programs and down-payment assistance and grants. There are other programs to assist borrowers who buy in rural areas, with “rural” being defined in many places as “anything outside the city boundary”.

If you have really low income, many state programs are out there that will pay part of your mortgage payment for you each month. And there are programs that help the disabled, veterans, teachers, fire fighters, police, healthcare workers, etc. If you truly need some help – it is probably available if you look. Don’t just assume, “I can’t afford a home.”

And don’t forget to negotiate hard during your purchase process. Get the seller to cover your loan closing costs. Some programs allow your seller to cover the down payment too. Don’t let lack of down payment or the fear of a high house payment keep you from trying.

Secret #7: “Anytime is a good time to buy real estate”

The news headlines are screaming that the real estate markets are collapsing and this is a horrible time to buy a home. That is absolute nonsense. It’s true that foreclosure rates are at all time highs right now – but that is because WAY too many people violated secret #3. They bought more house than they could afford using some weird mortgage program they really didn’t understand the risks of.

What those headlines should be telling you is this: Prices are dropping and I can get a great buy right now! Prices will not continue to decline for very long – it can’t and won’t happen. Take advantage of the current “Buy Low, Sell High” opportunity.

What you need to do with your purchase is what you should ALWAYS do with a real estate purchase: Buy A Good Value. For too long, people would buy anything, thinking it would go up in value and they could flip it in a year or two and buy something they really like. That is called, “The Greater Fool Theory”, meaning it doesn’t matter how much you pay or how lousy the home is, as long as you can find a greater fool to pay you more than you paid for it.

Those greater fool times are gone right now. You need to buy a home based on future value. Is it a solid home with good curb appeal in a good neighborhood with good schools, etc.? Is this home something that someone will want to buy from me in 10 years? If you buy with the long-term in mind, it doesn’t matter if prices fall a little more in the near term. Buy something you want to hold for 10 years or more, and you’ll be fine. Doesn’t mean you have to hold it that long, but if you’re prepared to do that, you’ll be in good shape.

Conclusion: I hope these 7 secrets will help you with your next home purchase. I love helping people learn how to invest in real estate – the number one wealth-building tool of all time. I would love to discuss any of these ideas with you and get to know you, so feel free to drop me a line sometime.

Happy Shopping!

Chuck Conto