Planning For Your First Minnetonka Home

If you are a first time homebuyer, you need to be aware that finding your dream Minnetonka home can take several months, but your home buying process can be made a lot easier by making a plan to sort through all the financing details, conducting research about the prospective neighborhood, and finding a reliable real estate agent to help.Drafting up a checklist or making a step-by-step plan will help you keep everything related to your home buying process get organized and kept on track.

Bridget McCrea, in her book, "The Home Buyer's Question and Answer Book", expertly explains that it is very important to create a plan for your financial side, and in terms of what you want and need for your home. Planning for your first home purchase will take everything into consideration, which includes making a budget analysis, and writing down all the amenities, rooms, theme of the home, and the other features you want your new home to have.

Here are some essential items that a first time homebuyer can include in their checklist or plan that will serve as an aid in their Minnetonka home buying process:

1. List down the different housing types of your prospective neighborhoods. Each Minnetonka neighborhood has at least 5 to 6 different types and styles of housing. It is to your advantage to know what the various styles and classifications are, unless you are building a new structure.

2. Start reviewing online Minnetonka listings. Though you may get a listing of the homes for sale in a given area from a real estate agent, these are not the only choices that you have. You can find homes for sale on your own by reviewing the FSBO listings in the local newspaper or searching online by typing in the state that you are interested in, and the words 'Minnetonka homes for sale'.

3. Know the home inspection process. Home inspections can be time consuming and quite complex, but they are well worth doing to be able to narrow down your prospective homes for sale. Learn about the various stages of the home inspection, and do create your very own do-it-yourself home inspection checklist when your visit the various Minnetonka homes for sale.

4. Use a scorecard to compare different homes for sale in a neighborhood. Design your own scorecard to rate and keep track of all the prospective homes for sale that you find or visit. Items that you can include would be the asking price, key benefits, drawbacks, number of rooms, accessibility to highways, and any other top priority items that will suit your requirements.

5. Select your ideal location. To narrow down your field of choices, you have to be specific about where you want to buy a new home. You can go about this by targeting a search by state, then by city, then adding to this input the words buy homes for sale. Some of the factors that you would have to take into consideration when choosing a specific area would be your proximity to work, to schools, to parks or your access to public transportation. Even if you don't get to purchase a new home in your ideal location, you will still be aware of where the key access points are and get to find a home as near as possible to these areas.

6. Map out your budget. A first time home buyer can ask a personal financial adviser of a local bank or of a credit union for some budgeting advice, or draft their own home buying budget to get a strong idea of what among the homes for sale they can or cannot afford to buy. Once a first time homebuyer knows what their budget constraints are, it will enable them to make a sound decision rather than simply relying on the options provided to them by a lender.

Author and Professional Realtor Alexandria P. Anderson helps clients to find and buy Minnetonka Homes and Minnetonka Real Estate in Minnesota.

Minnetonka First Time Homebuyers Guide

Many first time homebuyers end up working with a subagent, otherwise known as a seller's agent and it's important to understand that these agents are working on behalf of the seller, not the homebuyer. Seller's agents are hired to represent the seller and bring the buyer to the deal, but they do work on a commission and have certain rights and responsibilities towards the buyer.

Regulations vary from state to state, but there are certain things they cannot do according to national law. The author of '100 Questions Every Home Buyer Should Ask' encourages all buyers to review the agent's forms and disclosures thoroughly to understand exactly what types of services they will be offering; if you do not understand anything, do not sign the form. It's also important to understand the key things that a seller's agent can and cannot do for you:

The seller's agent can provide you with detailed pricing lists of the Minnetonka homes for sale in the MN area. These are often called 'comps' and are a compilation of similar homes in the Minnetonka neighborhood, Minnestota real estate listing information and their list prices.
This information ensures that you are not offering, or being offered, an unreasonable price when it's time to negotiate.

When you are still deciding, the seller's agent cannot give you hints on what Minnetonka home to choose. The seller's agent has the primary task of selling the home that is commissioned him to deal. However, he cannot insist or even suggest which among the Minnetonka homes for sale
you should buy.

In the case that you like two MN real estate properties and it happened that the subagent works for both sellers - you cannot be persuaded to select one over the other. In other words, only you have the power to decide.

The seller's agent cannot point out defects in the Minnetonka home. The seller broker cannot say anything that would influence your decision to purchase, or not purchase the property. Any
material hidden defects can be disclosed, but you will need to conduct your own research to find out if the home is in good condition.

The seller's agent is not allowed to disclose information and offer suggestions regarding the property's best offer. In most cases, the buyer is tempted to inquire on the amount that must be prepared for the Minnetonka homes purchase. However, your seller's agent cannot disclose said information at the time you were communicating. The seller agent has to follow certain conventions particularly as this may affect his relationship with the seller.

The seller's agent can ask list of referrals from you. Seller brokers have the right to request for referrals from you, and that includes your acquaintances, friends, and family members. Many of these seller brokers are independent business owners and it would be an act of goodwill to help
them find new clients.

When you are working with a seller's agent as a first time home buyer, it's important to remember that they are in the business to make the home buying process as easy as possible. This doesn't always mean that they have your best interests in mind, so it's important to do your own research about the property and work with a MN real estate agent and professional MN Realtor in addition to the seller's agent.

About the Author Alexandria P. Anderson is a Licensed Minnetonka Real Estate agent and Professional MN Realtor that helps people to find and buy Minnetonka Homes for sale and Real Estate in the Twin Cities of Minnesota.

How To Choose Your First Minnetonka Home Mortgage Loan

If there is one important thing that a first time homebuyer in must remember, it is that they choose the right mortgage package for the purchase of their new Minnetonka home. However, the selection process can be tricky at times even when you are coordinating with a mortgage loan officer.

This can be achieved when the basis set to qualify you is not your income ration and not exactly how much you are prepared to pay monthly. Borrowing the entire loan amount you qualified for can most probably exhaust your monthly resources which nobody would want to happen.

Setting your own limits for the loan will help you resist the temptation to just borrow up to the limit that your loan officers offer s and help you stay within a comfortable housing expense range based on your income level. Here are some more tips for selecting the mortgage for your new Minnetonka home purchase:

1. Know your tax benefits. When selecting the right mortgage for you to buy any of Minnetonka homes for sale, you can ask about the tax benefits. Some loans are 'interest only' loans that allows you to subtract the entire cost on your taxes intended for that year. But loans with negative amortization scale won't permit deduction of interest on the monthly payment.

2. Think long-term. If you're planning on staying in the home for 30 years or more, you will be a good candidate for a fixed-interest rate loan. While these types of loans may have a slightly higher interest rate than ARM loans and other loan products, they will protect you from changing market conditions. Still, there are some drawbacks of the fixed interest-rate loan. Barron's Smart Consumer's Guide to Home Buying points out that the demands of the escrow account associated with the fixed interest-rate loan may cause your payments to increase.

3. Know the payment options. With a flexible payment option, you can maximize your funds and avoid yourself of possible debts in the future. There are mortgage loans wherein you can make extra payments towards your principal loan without a penalty. This is good because as soon as you have some extra funds in your hands, you can begin to easily pay your mortgage for any of the Minnetonka homes for sale.

4. Discover some other techniques to pay affordably. Keeping your Minnetonka real estate loan payments manageable means making necessary adjustments on the loan amount such as when the lender offers you a huge loan. An example of this is keeping your payments only within your budget level through a low interest rate, longer payment terms for the loan, and a good plan to make interest only payments.

5. Avail yourself of mortgage insurance. Nowadays, majority of people do not have enough resources to pay for down payment. However your down payment can no longer be a problem since it can be provided by mortgage insurance and in some instances, you can even apply for your desired loan without making any kind of down payment on your Minnetonka real estate purchase.

Author: Alexandria P. Anderson is a Licensed MN Real Estate Agent and Professional Realtor who specializes helping people to find and purchase Minnetonka Homes for Sale, as well as Minnetonka Real Estate in Minnesota.