I have a few questions and Im hoping someone can give me some advice. Im a first time buyer and honestly I really dont know much about buying a house. Ill be paying cash for the house. I have an annuity and Im receiving a large payment in 2 weeks. Ive tried looking up info on the net for the last couple weeks and everything I find has to do with buying a home if your getting a mortgage. Im wondering does paying cash give you any leverage when negotiating the price? What closing cost will i have to pay when paying cash? How do i go about looking at a property? Ive emailed an agent recently about a house Im interested in buying and it took them 2 weeks to even email me back saying theyll send me some info in about a week. Is this rude? I mean i know if I was selling something for 150,000 and someone seemed evenly remotely interested id be right on that. Im also worried that these ppl arent gonna take me serious when i show up to look at a house Im young and im sure you can guess by my screen name on here my appearance is far from the norm. I got tattoos and and live what would be deemed a less than ordinary life style. If I like a property I look at and I make an offer how long from that day till I can move in? cause my lease is up a week after i get the money next month. I could stay with family or rent a hotel room till its final just need an idea from the time i make an offer and its accepted if Im paying cash does this cut down on the time till I get to move in? I just want to have a smooth transaction but this is far from my area of expertise. I dont want to get taken advantage of nor do i want to make an offer on a property thats way too low and insults the seller. So any help would be greatly appreciated.

You didn't say where you are and yes you could be running many risk by telling folks you have cash and perhaps by your own admission your appearance. What you need is a buyers agent. That is someone in your area that specializes in working with the buyer and who is not the agent listing the property you are looking at.... perhaps try a Google search with "(your town )buyers agent" then call a few and see which one you feel you will click with. If you PM me or email me I may be able to point you in the right direction depending on where you live.

As far as cash it usually doesn't make a big difference as the seller gets their money from the bank anyway. The only advantage is that it can speed up the closing as they won't have to wait for financing to clear. It still seems to take an average of approximately a month to close most things as it depends: on the seller, if the property is occupied and the attorneys involved. Title searches need to be done to be sure liens are not on the property. I also recommend looking into personal title insurance this is something that can be overlooked when paying cash and often is written up just to protect the bank. But again it depends on where you are buying and the property type. Does a neighbors garage encroach on your property? Is there a right of way through the property etc. You really should have a Knowledgeable inspector look over the property to be sure the floor isn't rotten , it isn't infested with termites, the appliances work, there is no mold, the roof is good... just to name a few.


Buying property is one of the biggest investments you'll ever make it is important not to get taken advantage of and protecting yourself. It is not something you should decide on in a week. So yes find another place to stay for a month or two.

Now I'm not trying to sell you something ( really I'm not I'm just sold on the company and what they do for the "little guy") but you may want to look into my Pre-Paid Legal link in my signature. For only $17 a month you could have an attorney look over all the contacts, answer your legal questions, and if you want at 25% off their normal fee actually represent you in the closing. I promise it will cost you more then the $214 for a year of our plan in mistakes or overlooked legal issues. And the closing fees they charge should be within, if not below, any other attorney's in the area. Check it out
Pre Paid Legal membership.


Disclosure:
Just to clarify I am neither an attorney nor a realtor. (My husband is the realtor and has not advised me what to tell you. ) I have however purchased many properties over the years and have learned a lot from my own and others mistakes. This is all my opinion and could be wrong. Anybody else want to chime in?

Good luck in your search. Feel free to email me either through this forum or one of my sites
Sward

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Mountain land

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Oh one more thing that might help you understand what a buyers agent does check out this link on our site Buyers Agent
If you scroll down you'll see a few links to state sites that explain the roles of realtors. Now keep in mind this is for North Carolina and the laws can be different in different states (Another reason a good attorney can be helpful) but it will at least educate you a bit in what you should expect.
Sward

Okay all you realtors out there don't shoot me! Hopefully you are all practicing good business

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Thanx for the help, Im going to be buying in new york.Like I said I dont really know anything when it comes to buying a house. Im currently living in Buffalo but the house Im interested in is in grove ny which is about 80 miles away should I look for an agent in Buffalo or grove?

Hey Punkndisorderly...

First off, I am a real estate agent in San Antonio, Texas... so, I can't really offer any my assistance.

I do have several tattoos myself though. Agents come in all shapes, sizes and flavors. Most of them are pretty good about seeing green, though.

If you are worried about finding an agent that won't be judgemental of you, your lifestyle, your tattoos, etc. Maybe go to the nearest Harley Davidson shop, tattoo/piercing shop and ask the manager/owner for their agents name. Even if they aren't in the same town as where you want to buy, agents know other agents and could introduce you to someone that would be better at understanding you. It's just a start, then you will have to meet them and be comfortable with them.

I highly recommend someone to be on your team, that you are comfortable with as a buyer's agent to represent you and your interests, not the sellers. You would want to find an agent that services the areas you are looking at ...

You know there are 2 types of people in this world... those that "wonder why on earth someone would want to ink their body like that" and those that don't wonder.

Good luck, if you absolutely can't find someone to help you, let me know... I know an agent in New York and could possibly see if he would know someone for your area.

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Mission Realty-San Antonio Real Estate
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Im deffinately noticing from the post here and various sites Ive visited that hiring a buyers agent would take care of all the aspects of this whole tranaction that i dont understand. What I dont get though is who pays the buyers agent? And how much does it cost?Alot of what Ive read seems to say that the buyers agents fees are included in the sale price of the house. So wouldnt that mean the buyer pays them? If the money that is paid to the agent comes from the sale price of the house Im sure this added on money really doesnt make much difference to someone taking out a mortgage for 20 years. A couple extra thousand dollars wouldnt seem like much. But Im paying cash for whatever I buy and I wanna make sure I dont end up offering too much on a property, dont end up falling in love with something out of my price range. I have to buy alot of other stuff to furnish the house. So I dont wanna end up at closing time finding out I owe a little more than i took into account when spending my money. Also what I was wondering if there are any books I could read and possibly get a strong enough grasp on the legalities behind buying a house that i could be in a well enough versed situation to represent myself? Well thanx to those that have posted to this thread I appreciate it as well as any post to come.

Dude... There's no need to try to represent yourself! A buyer agent doesn't cost you anything!

You tell them what you're looking for in a house, they show them to you, and you make an offer on the property. You'll never see the seller, so it doesn't matter what you look like.

Since you have cash and aren't getting a mortgage, you will need proof of funds before closing. Generally, that means you need a bank statement showing the account balance.

As far as time to close: I'd say it depends on if the house is vacant. It it's empty, the owners prolly want to sell fast. You only need a few days for the closing agent to get the paperwork, title search, etc. Generally I say a week for my cash closings.

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Richmond Realtor

Richmond Real Estate Investor Association REIA

Yes as stated the "cost" of the buyers agent is in the commissions included in the price of the house. However there are fees on both sides of the deal that one of these realtors could tell you better then I.
I would go for an agent where the house you want is located.
Sward

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punkndisorderly: It isn't a book, but there are four websites that (with more than enough reading!) should give you a clear enough understanding of the buyer agent idea.
One from a B.C. Canada agent is a fine, quick explanation of the different approaches to buying a home: The Hard Way and the Easy Way. You can reach it at: http://www.homehunters.com/index.cfm...wn&reportid=65
Then there's a US site that tells you about the ultimate version of buyer agency -- the Exclusive Buyer Agent idea. You'll find it at http://ebasearch.com/index.htm and I'm also certain it could direct you to an EBA who serves the Grove N.Y. area.
With no thought of promoting myself, I like to think you could also get a detailed idea of how to "get the most house for the money" by visiting my own website at http://www.duncanpollock.com/ . Like the other contributors to this thread, I'm not able to help you myself, but you can apply what I say in finding a place in Grove.
And not the least, there's an excellent walk through the house buying process in an information site at http://www.homebuyersinformationcenter.com/


Duncan

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Real Estate in Canada's Niagara Peninsula

Hey puckndisorderly.....

check out this link - it should be lots of help:
the book is officially called:
How the heck do I go about buying a house?

My cousin is an attorney here in New York and he wrote it.... It's free to read right on the web!

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