The closing process is the last step to purchasing or selling Knoxville real estate. The process can often be intimidating because of how much legal paperwork there is involved. In this article I’ll walk you through the process so that the closing process will go much smoother for you.
1. Homeowner’s Insurance
Insurance is always necessary to get the mortgage. Remember to get homeowner’s insurance and bring proof to the closing.
2. Gather All Your Paperwork
Make sure you have all your paperwork in place the day before closing. Review all your paperwork to make sure that everything is in order.
3. Have Your Inspections Completed
Have the property inspections completed when you come to escrow. If there are any repairs that are necessary, make sure they’re in writing.
4. Have Title Insurance
It’s important to get title insurance for your home purchase. Title insurance insures that the title on your property is clean.
5. Get Approval of Mortgage
At this point, your mortgage should be approved so that you can get your loan to pay for your new property.
6. Bring Your Cashier’s Check
The amount necessary for closing the on your new home should always be in the form of a cashier’s check.
7. Clear All Contingencies
At this point, all contingencies and clauses should be cleared so that you can go ahead with the transfer of the deed.
8. Understand Your Closing Costs
Before closing, it’s important to have a good idea of what your closing costs are. It’s also important to know who will pay the closing costs. Unless otherwise stated, usually the buyer pays the bulk of closing costs.
Following these tips should make the whole closing process go much smoother for you. Remember to talk to your real estate agent and your loan officer about the closing process, as they’ve both been through the process many times.
More information about the Knoxville home market is available by visiting the Knoxville Real Estate website.
David Hamilton
Ferguson Realtors
865-690-1300 Office
865-310-0636 Cellular
Buying a house in Knoxville TN for the first time can be very exciting. It can also be very tempting to want to jump right into looking at houses and making offers. However, it’s important that you do your homework first. When searching Knoxville TN houses for sale, there are several steps you should take before making an offer.
1. Improve Your Credit Rating. If you’re thinking about buying a house in Knoxville TN, now is the time to start working on your credit. There’s very little you can do a few weeks before closing. However, if you get started six months before you make an offer, you can very likely improve your credit and reduce your interest rate when it comes time to qualify for a loan.
2. Find a Good Buyers Agent. Working with a buyers agent generally doesn’t cost you anything, because the seller usually pays all the commissions when you purchase a home that is listed in the Knoxville MLS, however, there can be exceptions such as a FSBO seller.
Working with a real estate agent gives you a huge advantage. You get access to years of real estate knowledge and experience, plus you have a trained professional to negotiate on your behalf. You have someone with a wide variety of contacts, from lenders to property inspectors you can call on.
3. Get Pre-Approval for a Loan. By getting pre-approved for a loan you will know just how much of a house you can really afford. It’s important to figure out how much you can really afford and work from there. Once you have a pre-approval letter, sellers are much more likely to seriously consider your offer to purchase.
A buyer who’s worked on his credit, is working with a real estate professional and has a pre-approval letter has a far better start on buying a house than a buyer who doesn’t. Follow these three steps and you’ll be well on your way to living in a great new house in Knoxville TN!
The $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit posted in a previous article, is set to expire November 30th of this year. For more information about living in Knoxville TN including current houses for sale, visit the Knoxville TN houses website @ www.davidhamilton.com.
David Hamilton
Ferguson Realtors
865-310-0636 Cell
865-690-1300 Office
A new twist exists to selling your house as a For Sale by Owner and it’s no surprise either… the Internet. Just as intriguing though; is the plethora of FSBO websites that have popped up all over the Internet.
Enterprising individuals have created Internet websites that offer a FSBO the opportunity to look totally professional when selling their home. The popularity of such sites is in response to the costs of housing, and the associated marketing costs and commissions incurred when selling a house.
It’s the new wave of house selling without the benefit of a Knoxville real estate agent; however, there are unexpected costs and associated risks when attempting to sell your house as a FSBO.
Thanks to the Internet, people that are wanting to sell their homes no longer have to settle for sticking a homemade sign in their front yard, and just running a local ad in a newspaper. For a fee, mass marketing for sale by owner sites provide Internet advertising to for sale by owners and a semi instructional guide for the steps necessary to sell their homes.
There are many services that you can garner from using an online website to sell your house, but remember that as the seller, you must be aware of the risk of taking advice from FSBO Internet websites. Often times there are other issues that you might not be aware of when ordering their services; such as the unexpected costs associated with the listing of your house, or even different levels of membership packages. Here is a typical outline that many websites promote for their online services; however, sellers need to do their homework.
Payment For Services – Different types of packages are available, and costs vary. Remember to read the fine print. Payment is usually accepted via a credit card.
Picture Submittal Service – Limitations exist on the amount of pictures that you will be able to submit. Additional fees are required if you feel that more pictures are required to show off your home to its fullest potential.
Yard Sign Service – In many packages a professional looking yard sign is available, but for an extra fee. Understand too that any unintentional damage to the sign will cost you for replacement. If ordering more than one sign to place at other areas to advertise your home there is extra cost associated with it too.
Paper Advertisements of Flyers Service – Basic print advertisements in a pre-designed format is an additional cost. You will need to be able to print quality advertisements from home on high grade stock or glossy paper, or incur the cost of having them professionally printed.
Print Purchase and Counter Offer Form Service – These forms are available for you to print with an additional fee.
Disclosure Property Forms – Usually there are no additional fees, but the standard disclosure form, and the federally mandated lead disclosure form are released only when services are paid for in advance. This does not include other attorney’s fees for the review of the forms to ensure compliance to the federal, state and local requirements.
Information tubes – For an additional fee an information box or tube to attach to your yard sign. Again, any damage to the individual sign or tube will be your financial responsibility.
As you can see a careful evaluation is needed when considering using an Internet website when selling privately. Without the use of a Knoxville real estate agent that is a trained professional, you loose out on their insight and experience when trying to sell your home privately. Remember to read the fine print and carefully weigh your options. Hidden costs can quickly eat up profits!
More free help is available to you when selling your house privately in Knoxville TN. To receive a free for sale by owner service packet with all the needed paperwork, disclosures, contracts, flyer templates, staging tips, developing a safety plan to protect your family and more, send me a blank email or visit the Knoxville TN houses website @ www.davidhamilton.com.
Here’s a short video about selling your house in Knoxville TN on your own:
David Hamilton
Ferguson Realtors
865-310-0636 Cell
865-690-1300 Office
800-747-0713 Toll-Free
Tips for staging your house for sale in Knoxville TN
Staging a house for sale is a detailed process. You’re going through the process of making your house as nice as possible to get the highest price possible in the quickest amount of time. When it comes to staging your house for sale there are many things to consider.
Scent… Scent plays a big part in staging a house. Remember that a home purchase is an emotional decision. The sense of smell plays a big part in influencing one’s emotions.
Odors, stale air, mustiness or strange smells will kill your chances of making the sale. It’s absolutely critical that your house smell at least neutral, if not good.
There are many ways to change the scent of your house. You could burn incense an hour before showing the house. You could install some air fresheners. You could even use essential oils that are used in aromatherapy to truly create a luxurious feel.
Lighting… Lighting is another very important factor that many sellers overlook. The lighting in the house literally colors everything else. A house that appears bright will feel vibrant, happy and alive to the buyer. A house that’s dim will feel gloomy, dark and dead.
Natural lighting is the optimal source of lighting, however, if you can’t get natural lighting to work or to be well lit enough, then get some artistic indoor lighting. Avoid hard lights and fluorescent lights.
Furnishing… It’s very common for agents to show an empty house. While this does create a clean and open look, the reality is that most people don’t have a very strong ability to imagine what a house will look like with their furnishings.
It’s important to have good furnishing in the house when you’re staging it so that the buyer can really get a feel for what the house will feel like when it’s furnished. Pick just a few key pieces to help the buyer do that.
Here’s a short video about staging Knoxville TN Houses:
More information about the local real estate market including the current inventory of Knoxville TN houses for sale is available by visiting the Knoxville TN houses website @ www.davidhamilton.com. Feel free to contact me with any of your real estate related questions and I will be more than glad to answer your questions. David Hamilton may be reached by cell at 865-310-0636.
David Hamilton
Ferguson Realtors
865-690-1300 Office
800-747-0713 Toll-Free
We all need help at times. The problem is, not all help will get you the freedom you need if you are facing the fact that your home won’t sell.
You have to consider that it might be the help you’ve enlisted so far, and perhaps it’s time you get a second opinion.
Buyer perception of your home can make or break a sale. Often times, it kills even a potential offer from being written. A fresh push to sell your home by the right folks often leads to your home being SOLD! Find out today if you’re guilty of the Top 10 Things That Make Your Knoxville Real Estate Too Ugly To Sell by grabbing your free report today.
More information about buying and selling Knoxville TN houses including Knoxville TN homes for sale and more is available 24-7 by visiting the Knoxville TN Homes website @ www.davidhamilton.com
David Hamilton
Ferguson Realtors
865-310-0636 Cell
865-690-1300 Office
Once you’ve found a home in Knoxville you’re interested in purchasing, the next step is putting an offer on the table. How do you determine that right price for a home in Knoxville? In this article, I’ll show you what you should consider when you’re picking a number for your offer.
Understand the Conditions in the Knoxville Home Market Area. The first step is to consider what the market conditions are. Real estate conditions in Knoxville have had both upswings and downswings in the last several years. Is it a buyer’s market right now, or a seller’s market? Is a house likely to sit on the market for weeks, or is it likely to receive multiple offers? Look into what other similar houses in the Knoxville TN area are selling for, both currently and in the last few months. This will give you a good baseline value to base your offer on.
Understand Your Seller’s Mindset. The goal of making an offer isn’t to offer market price. The goal of your offer is to make an offer that’s as low as possible that will be accepted by the seller.In order to achieve this, it’s important to understand the mindset of the seller.
One thing to look into might be how long the house has been listed on the market. If it’s been listed for several months already, the seller may be more likely to accept a lower price.Another thing to look into is how much the seller paid for the property. Although this doesn’t affect its current value, it has an impact on the seller’s mentality. If the seller is already making a profit no matter how much they sell it for, they’re likely to be more lenient. If they’re losing big money by selling right now, they may be more likely to pinch pennies.
It’s Not Just the Numbers. Your offer must be considered in its entirety. The clauses and contingencies have a big impact on whether or not your offer will be accepted. Work with your real estate agent to craft the best offer possible.
More information about the Knoxville home market area is available by visiting the Knoxville homes website @ www.davidhamilton.com. Feel free to contact me with any of your real estate related questions and I will be more than glad to answer your questions.
David Hamilton
Ferguson Realtors
865-310-0636 Cell
865-690-1300 Office
800-747-0713 Toll-Free
Repairs can be a big question mark for sellers. On one hand, you’ve probably heard that you should make repairs before you sell your home. On the other hand, it may be unclear which repairs you need to make and which ones you shouldn’t make. Which repairs will give a positive ROI and which ones won’t? To learn what repairs you should make and what repairs you shouldn’t, read on.
The most important repairs are water repairs, heating repairs and electrical repairs. Not making these repairs will prevent your home from selling, period. If the water doesn’t run, if the electrical system isn’t safe or if the heating system is about to break, most buyers will simply stay away.
What other repairs should you make on your Knoxville home?
First off, cosmetic repairs are cheap and have a big impact on the perceived value of your home. For example, is there a small hole in the wall? It’s easy to fill and repaint. Do the hinges in your cabinet squeak? It’s easy to spray a little bit of WD-40. Is there a gash in the window screen? It’s cheap to replace the screen and can have a big impact on your sale price.
Making cosmetic repairs arguably has the biggest impact on your bottom line.
One area you should pay special attention to is your front yard and your doorway. This is your buyer’s first impression of your house and should definitely be in good shape.
Before selling your home in Knoxville, it’s best to avoid large renovation projects. Renovating your kitchen completely may or may not be a profitable investment. More likely than not, you’ll end up spending thousands of dollars without much return on your investment.
If you focus on repairing the essentials and the cosmetics, you’ll be well on your way to a very profitable sale.
Here’s a short video about pricing Knoxville TN houses:
For complete information about the Knoxville area market including current Knoxville TN houses for sale and more, visit the Knoxville home website at www.davidhamilton.com. David Hamilton may be reached by cell at 865-310-0636.
Have a great day,
David Hamilton
Ferguson Realtors
865-690-1300 Office
800-747-0713 Toll-Free
How can you get the most out of your home inspection when shopping for Knoxville real estate? After reading this article, you’ll know how to make your home inspection an educational process.
The most important thing to do is to ask a lot of questions during the home inspection process. Remember that you’re working with a professional home inspection company who you’re paying. It’s both your right and your job as the client to get the most out of the experience by asking questions and learning as much as you can about the house.
Here are some of the key questions you should ask during a home inspection:
Safety. Are there any safety concerns with the house you should know about?
Plumbing. How long is the plumbing likely to last? Is there any evidence of previous plumbing problems?
Code violations. Are there any code violations you should be aware of?
Heating. How old is the heating system? Should you be concerned about having to replace the heating system in the next few years? If the system is old, are there any fire safety concerns you should be aware of with the system?
Foundations. How does the foundation look? Are there any red flags you should be aware of? Keep in mind that although the inspector can give you an educated guess with the foundations, they usually can’t give definite answers about the foundations.
It goes without saying that if you’re putting in a purchase offer, it’s important that you either get the inspection done beforehand or that you include an inspection clause in your contract. The last thing you want is to make an offer only to find out later that there’s a problem.
There is a lot of free information available to you about buying, selling or investing in Knoxville real estate. David Hamilton may be reached by cell at 865-310-0636 or by visiting the Knoxville real estate website @ www.davidhamilton.com.
David Hamilton
Ferguson Realtors
865-690-1300 Office
800-747-0713 Toll-Free
Buying foreclosure properties is getting more popular and more profitable every day. There are dozens of foreclosed properties hitting the Knoxville market every week. The reality is, however, that foreclosure properties can be both gold mines and land mines. In this article, we’ll go over several simple tips to help ensure that your first foreclosure purchase is a successful one.
Search for Low-Repair houses for Your First Deal. We’ve all heard about people who make thousands of dollars buying foreclosures and fixing them up. Doing such a deal requires a high degree of expertise.
Do you know how to fix a worn-out roof? Can you estimate how much it would cost to replace the HVAC system? Can you estimate how much the repairs will cost and compare it to your selling price in the end?
Although you can make a lot of money doing fixer houses, you can also make a lot of money by buying foreclosed properties; making cosmetic repairs and selling them again. For your first foreclosure deal, try and look for houses in Knoxville that don’t require much work so you can get some experience under your belt.
Research the Knoxville Homes Market. There are generally three reasons to buy a foreclosure property:
1. To rent it out
2. To sell it
3. To live in it.
If you’re buying to repair and rent out or sell, then market research is absolutely essential.
If you’re buying to rent, it’s important to know what other properties in the area are renting for. It’s also important to know what the vacancy rates are. Based on these numbers, you can accurately predict what your cash flow will be like.
If you’re buying to sell, it’s important to know what you can expect to sell your property for once your repairs are completed.
You should know these numbers before you make your purchase. Remember, with real estate investments, the profit you expect to make on the deal is made on the buy end, not the sell end. You must know how much your property is worth or how much you can rent it out for before you can make a profitable investment decision.
These tips will help you avoid some of the biggest pitfalls beginning investors tend to fall into with their first investment properties. Foreclosures in Knoxville can be a very lucrative business, but it also has its dangers.
A complete list of Knoxville foreclosure homes is available to you by visiting the Knoxville Foreclosures website.
David Hamilton
Ferguson Realtors
8085 Kingston Pike
Knoxville TN 37919
865-310-0636 Cell
865-690-1300 Office
800-747-0713 Toll-Free
Buying a new home can be either a very stressful experience or a very enjoyable experience. If you’re going through the process unprepared and not knowing what to expect, chances are you’ll find the home buying process hectic and stressful. But with proper preparation, you can easily remove the stress from buying a home and make the whole process much easier. In a few months, you could be the proud owner of your new home.
How can you reduce the stress involved when buying Knoxville TN real estate? There are several important steps to take.
First, it’s important to understand the home buying process in Knoxville. How does making an offer work? How does closing work? How does negotiation work? By doing your homework upfront, you’ll know what to expect when it comes time to actually handle what’s at hand. That way, you won’t have to stress about it because you already know what to do.
It’s highly recommended that you create a checklist of the various tasks you need to complete to buy a house. This takes the guesswork out of the everyday processes.
It’s particularly important that you understand the loan and mortgage procedures. This is an area that can cause a lot of stress if you go into it unprepared.
Next, it’s important that you work with a good real estate agent. As the buyer, it really doesn’t cost you anything and can save you a whole lot of headaches.
By working with a REALTOR®, you insure that you have a good negotiator on your side. You also get access to years of real estate experience. On top of that, you also get access to a wide range of contacts, from real estate lawyers to real estate inspectors who your agent can call at a moments notice to help you with your transaction.
By creating a checklist and understanding the process beforehand and also working with a real estate professional, much of the stress can be removed from the home buying process.
Are you ready to start the process of buying a home in Knoxville? If so, call David Hamilton at the office – 865-690-1300 and we’ll set up a time that is easy and convenient. If you’ve just started exploring the process of buying a home, more information about the Knoxville TN real estate market is available to you including current Knoxville homes for sale by visiting the Knoxville Homes Web site at www.davidhamilton.com.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!
David Hamilton
Ferguson Realtors
865-310-0636 Cell
865-690-1300 Office
800-747-0713 Toll-Free
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