What to expect when you’re inspecting: Inspection Tips

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Oct. 11, 2012 – Many homebuyers don’t understand how a home inspection works. Buyers should first understand an inspection isn’t adversarial. Everyone involved in the purchase – the buyer, the buyer’s agent and the listing agent – have the same goal, which is to move forward with a clean sales transaction.

Inspection tips

• The buyer, who hires and pays the inspector, should make sure the inspector is licensed. He or she should also read the seller’s disclosures and note any questions they have for the inspector.

• If possible, buyers should follow the inspector everywhere, including the roof and into the basement or crawlspace. However, buyers should understand that an inspector’s job is to note problems. He may not have all the answers, such as information about the cost of potential improvements.

• While the home listing agent advocates for the seller, the buyer’s Realtor should also take part in the inspection to help advise the buyer how to proceed if the inspector uncovers serious flaws.

• After the inspection, the buyer and his Realtor should examine the detailed inspection report and discuss the next step.

• Experts generally recommend that buyers not bring along a relative or friend who is a contractor. Since they’re not licensed property inspectors, contractors could raise unnecessary red flags that hamper the transaction.

Full inspection versus four-point inspection

For some older properties, mortgage lenders or insurers require a four-point inspection, which sounds as if it’s top of the line compared to, say, a one-point inspection that doesn’t actually exist. However, “four point” refers to the number of housing elements checked, not the quality of the inspection.

Since the cost of the four-point inspection is generally lower than a full inspection, some buyers cut corners to save money. However, they should understand what a four-point inspection does not cover.

In general, the elements covered in a four-point inspection are the ones that could cost a lot to repair should something go wrong shortly after a home purchase. They include: roofing, electrical work, heating-air conditioning systems and plumbing.

Other elements that can need repair in the early years of homeownership – such as appliances, hot water heaters, etc. – are not included in a four-point inspection.

© 2012 Florida Realtors®

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Home prices build to new peaks in dozens of U.S. markets

 

WASHINGTON – Oct. 9, 2012 – As U.S. home prices begin to edge up after largely falling for years, prices in a smattering of cities are already at all-time highs, new data show.

More than 100 metropolitan areas hit their peak home prices in July and a few did in June, according to data through July from mortgage tracker Lender Processing Services. Those areas include Pittsburgh and Anchorage. Another 50 areas are within 2 percent of their previous peaks, LPS’ home price index shows, including: Austin; Denver and Boulder, Colo.; Indianapolis; and Portland, Maine.

Many cities whose prices are at or near peaks never experienced the large swings in prices, up and down, that marked the national market’s boom and bust in the past decade, says Mark Zandi, Moody’s Analytics chief economist. Those cities haven’t had as far to come back to hit highs.

Some of the markets have also risen in tandem with growing local economies, especially those built on strong energy and agricultural business.

All told, the 150 areas account for about 7 percent of the nation’s residential housing stock.

Their price trends are a stark contrast with prices in most of the country.

Nationally, July home prices were up 1.2 percent from a year ago. But they were still 30 percent below their 2006 peaks, according to the closely watched Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller index of 20 leading cities.

But a look at a wider group of cities illuminates what Realtors have long maintained. National housing prices don’t always reflect what’s going on at a local level, where job growth, housing supply and other regional factors play big roles.

Most of the cities that are hitting highs now are smaller than the nation’s leading cities. Almost half are in Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and North Dakota, the data show.

In Texas and Oklahoma, home prices didn’t rise as fast or as much as the U.S. average leading up to the bursting of the housing bubble, Moody’s Analytics’ research reports show.

“We’re been pretty steady in good and bad times,” says Ron Croushore, owner of Prudential Preferred Realty in Pittsburgh. Average prices there have been rising since 2010 after dipping only slightly, Croushore says.

Some of the cities have also been standout job creators. Pittsburgh and Denver, for instance, posted faster job growth than the average for 49 similar size cities from the first quarter of 2010 to the same quarter this year, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce says. While LPS shows Denver 2 percent off its previous home price peak, Case-Shiller’s latest data show prices 5 percent off their 2006 peak.

Las Vegas prices are still 56 percent off the 2006 peak, LPS says. Other cities with July home prices more than 45 percent off former peaks include Cape Coral, Fla., and Riverside, Stockton and Bakersfield, Calif., LPS’ data show.

© Copyright 2012 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc., Julie Schmit

 

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Sellers have trouble estimating sales price

 

NEW YORK – Oct. 9, 2012 – Many homeowners think their home is worth a lot more than it really is, according to HomeGain’s third quarter 2012 National Home Values Survey Results of 300 real estate agents.

 

Seventy-seven percent of sellers say their home is worth more than their real estate agents’ recommended selling price, according to a survey of real estate agents.

 

Nearly 40 percent of real estate agents say homeowners believe their home value is 10 to 20 percent higher than it really is, with another 40 percent overestimating 1 to 9 percent. Only about six percent of homeowners underestimate the value of their home, believing it’s worth less.

 

Meanwhile, most homebuyers believe homes for sale are overpriced.

 

Twenty-three percent of real estate professionals say that buyers believe home prices are overpriced by 10 to 20 percent, and 36 percent say prices are inflated by less than 10 percent. About 28 percent say home prices tend to be fair.

 

The survey found that about 77 percent of homes sell for less than the listing price. Nearly 60 percent of real estate professionals say that the average difference between listing price and sales price is less than 5 to 10 percent.

 

Source: HomeGain

 

© Copyright 2012 INFORMATION, INC. Bethesda, MD (301) 215-4688

 

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