real estate Q&As

[Night Wolf]

Ive been wondering a few thing about when people buy homes. so I got some questions for the experienced ones...

1.when you look for a house, should you get yourself an agent even when youve found yourself some houses online?

2.also how how house yearly taxes determined?

got a few more too but I cant remember now

[axmarque]

when I bought mine i used realestate.com it's a great site gives you a lot of important info like square footage and property taxes. Property taxes are determined in my county by living square footage. As far as an agent goes I got mine threw a friend you just want to be sure that they are not pushy and have experience with locations that you're interested in. Hope this help let me know if you need any more help.

[deevergote]

The house will usually be listed through an agency, so there will be an agent representing the seller. Real estate agents aren't like lawyers, so you don't really need your own! However, having your own agent can be useful if you haven't found the house you want, as they can assist you in finding one. They also are very familiar with the areas that they work in, and can tell you if a house is fairly priced for the area. The agent representing the sellers certainly will NOT do that for you!

As for taxes, different areas do it differently. Where I live, it's wrapped into my mortgage payment (it's about HALF of my monthly mortgage payment... damn taxes here are killer!) My mortgage company keeps an escrow, and pays my taxes for me as they come due. When I finally pay off my house (in the next couple years, I hope), I'm going to have to figure out how to pay my taxes myself!


Get in touch with Rusty. She's now a realtor, so she'd probably be able to offer you lots of advice.

[19dabeast85]

Most mortgages accumulate tax and insurance premiums through the monthly payment and into an escrow. When you close on the house you will pay the first year's worth of insurance and taxes ahead of time and then pay monthly into the escrow so that when tax time rolls around the money will all be there.

Tax varies greatly from place to place. I have a 1080 sq. ft. home in the city and tax is $790 per year. Deev probably pays that in a couple months though.


If you don't have a real estate agent, I suggest you at least close with a real estate attorney to make sure ALL the paperwork is taken care of. It's alot to figure out and worth paying for to not have to worry with.

[h22sparkle]

Also if you live close around a school you get taxed even more on property taxes for one. Two make sure you are getting what you paid for. Nothing worse than paying for a house that needs extra work and if it does make sure you get a real good deal from it as long as it doesnt have termites,or subjected to a potential fire hazard issue.

Then later on if you are serious about it and cutting your mortgage in half look for other sources of income perhaps a reliable tenant and charge them a fair amount to rent out a section of your house. Ofcourse with all of the backround checks,credit checks individual personal backround and you should be set.

Also have a agent that knows what he is doing when negotiating with another agent. They will be the ones forwarding the papers over to you to sign it and make sure you look over all of that understanding the fine print too. There are certain little phrases in there if you are not careful as quick as you got that house you will lose it too and it will be back up on the market forsale again.

[Night Wolf]

when I bought mine i used realestate.com it's a great site gives you a lot of important info like square footage and property taxes. Property taxes are determined in my county by living square footage. As far as an agent goes I got mine threw a friend you just want to be sure that they are not pushy and have experience with locations that you're interested in. Hope this help let me know if you need any more help.

tryed that site, remax, realtor, & zillow. I like to cross reference the homes for accurate pics/info.

& I got ya. "make sure theyre from that same town/city"

The house will usually be listed through an agency, so there will be an agent representing the seller. Real estate agents aren't like lawyers, so you don't really need your own! However, having your own agent can be useful if you haven't found the house you want, as they can assist you in finding one. They also are very familiar with the areas that they work in, and can tell you if a house is fairly priced for the area. The agent representing the sellers certainly will NOT do that for you!

As for taxes, different areas do it differently. Where I live, it's wrapped into my mortgage payment (it's about HALF of my monthly mortgage payment... damn taxes here are killer!) My mortgage company keeps an escrow, and pays my taxes for me as they come due. When I finally pay off my house (in the next couple years, I hope), I'm going to have to figure out how to pay my taxes myself!


Get in touch with Rusty. She's now a realtor, so she'd probably be able to offer you lots of advice.

ah so your saying its better to get your own realtor cuz the realtor for the seller will leave out alot of legal info? because I have found a few homes myself already. & it dont seem like theyll show me houses I havent already seen online.

& didnt know she was still around

Most mortgages accumulate tax and insurance premiums through the monthly payment and into an escrow. When you close on the house you will pay the first year's worth of insurance and taxes ahead of time and then pay monthly into the escrow so that when tax time rolls around the money will all be there.

Tax varies greatly from place to place. I have a 1080 sq. ft. home in the city and tax is $790 per year. Deev probably pays that in a couple months though.


If you don't have a real estate agent, I suggest you at least close with a real estate attorney to make sure ALL the paperwork is taken care of. It's alot to figure out and worth paying for to not have to worry with.

so a real estate agent & real estate attorney are different things?

Also if you live close around a school you get taxed even more on property taxes for one. Two make sure you are getting what you paid for. Nothing worse than paying for a house that needs extra work and if it does make sure you get a real good deal from it as long as it doesnt have termites,or subjected to a potential fire hazard issue.

Then later on if you are serious about it and cutting your mortgage in half look for other sources of income perhaps a reliable tenant and charge them a fair amount to rent out a section of your house. Ofcourse with all of the backround checks,credit checks individual personal backround and you should be set.

Also have a agent that knows what he is doing when negotiating with another agent. They will be the ones forwarding the papers over to you to sign it and make sure you look over all of that understanding the fine print too. There are certain little phrases in there if you are not careful as quick as you got that house you will lose it too and it will be back up on the market forsale again.

got ya about the fine print, tent & inspection.


but I got some more questions,

what do most real estate agents normally charge?
same question with a house inspector?

[deevergote]

A real estate agent and a real estate attorney are two VERY different things! That's like comparing a car salesman to the engineer that designed the car. (Rusty also happens to be a lawyer... though not a real estate lawyer.)

Real Estage agents get 6% of the selling price of the house. If you have an agent that finds a house that is listed by another agent, then each agent gets 3%. You don't pay out of pocket for a real estate agent. They get paid by the seller (well, they get paid out of the selling price... if the seller chooses to pad the price to cover fees is on them.)

Agents cannot by law do anything with the legal info. They must follow the rules. The ONLY thing that your own agent will provide is information on his/her interpretation of the true value of the house. If you find a house priced at $150,000 that is in an area that is clearly on the decline, the seller's agent won't tell you that. They don't HAVE to... but it'd be nice for you to know. Your own agent would be more likely to tell you such a thing, if he/she knew the area well.

[19dabeast85]

Yep, to follow up on what Deev just said. A real estate agent is a paid advocate for ONE person. If the seller has an agent and you don't, ALOT can be wrong with the deal that the agent cannot legally tell you about because he is under contract with the seller to advocate for the seller. Similar to attorney/client privileges. Either get your own agent or close at a real estate attorney's office who generally make sure all is fair and in place before closing.

[Night Wolf]

A real estate agent and a real estate attorney are two VERY different things! That's like comparing a car salesman to the engineer that designed the car. (Rusty also happens to be a lawyer... though not a real estate lawyer.)

Real Estage agents get 6% of the selling price of the house. If you have an agent that finds a house that is listed by another agent, then each agent gets 3%. You don't pay out of pocket for a real estate agent. They get paid by the seller (well, they get paid out of the selling price... if the seller chooses to pad the price to cover fees is on them.)

Agents cannot by law do anything with the legal info. They must follow the rules. The ONLY thing that your own agent will provide is information on his/her interpretation of the true value of the house. If you find a house priced at $150,000 that is in an area that is clearly on the decline, the seller's agent won't tell you that. They don't HAVE to... but it'd be nice for you to know. Your own agent would be more likely to tell you such a thing, if he/she knew the area well.

only 6% huh, I thought it would be more. like 30% lol. is this what they call closing costs?

Yep, to follow up on what Deev just said. A real estate agent is a paid advocate for ONE person. If the seller has an agent and you don't, ALOT can be wrong with the deal that the agent cannot legally tell you about because he is under contract with the seller to advocate for the seller. Similar to attorney/client privileges. Either get your own agent or close at a real estate attorney's office who generally make sure all is fair and in place before closing.

interesting so I guess just to be safe Ill have to get a real estate agent.


also whats the average price to a home inspection?

[19dabeast85]

interesting so I guess just to be safe Ill have to get a real estate agent.


also whats the average price to a home inspection?

It's safer and less of a headache in the long run. Inspections vary but usually anywhere from $300-$500 I'd say.

[deevergote]

Yeah, that's about right for the home inspection. Most states require an inspection. If yours doesn't, I'd get one anyway... you don't want to get stuck with a house that's falling down, and not see it because you don't know what you're looking at!

Closing costs are usually the other costs associated with the sale of the house, not the realtor's fee. Often the seller takes on the costs to make it more attractive to a buyer, but the buyer is just as often the one to pay closing costs. The realtor's fee comes out of the sale price, though. That's all on the seller.