Tag Archives: home buyer

You Should Visit Homes when it’s Raining

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     A question I get often from home buyers is…”should we cancel our scheduled showings for today, it’s raining?”  My reply comes extremely fast, “NO, this is a perfect time to see your future home.  We have more days of sun than rain, but rain can do more damage so this is a blessing in disguise, let’s go!!!!”  Bottom line, if your saftey is not put at risk, a rainy day visit is a GREAT idea. 

     Do not put yourself in harms way…do not drive through standing water if you ar not 100% sure that it’s safe.  Also be mindful of tornadoes, hail and lightning.  So if it’s a pop up storm, you might get to see how your home and property reascts to the rain.  Does the water pond in the backyard?  Are you being flooded by the neighbors draining.  Are the streets flooded, for how long.  These are questions you cannot view for yourself on a sunny day.

     Preparing to view a home in the rain is a little different and it’s mostly about trying to stay dry.  Rain coat, check, rain boots, check, umbrella check.  Under sunny conditions you would look at the front of the home, pan around to the neighbors and then go in the home.  When it’s raining your going to want to do more walking around the front of the home, viewing where the water is coming off the roof and where does it go from their.  I have actually made paper boats so my clients could visually see where the water is flowing.  Do all of your outside stuff first, then gather at the front door.  Now it’s time to take off your rain boots, your rain coat, collapse your unbrella and leave everything outside.  Yes, leave everything out side.  You do not want to track water or mud through your potential new home. 

Let me know if your ready for a rainy day visit, I’m here to help you to…Live Life to the Fullest.  Scott Culberson, Broker Associate, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Gary Greene, Email-Scott@ScottCulberson.com

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INTERVIEW WITH ED FALKENSTEIN INSURANCE AGENT

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Scott: Today we have another interview and today’s guest is Ed Falkenstein with Gibraltar Insurance Services.  Ed why don’t you tell us something that we might not know about insurance.

Ed:  One of the biggest things that I usually get questions about when we do insurance quotes is why does my insurance cost so much and why is the replacement cost of the dwelling coverage so much higher than the purchase price?  The reason for this is called replacement cost versus the actual cash value. Actual cash value is not necessarily the best thing in mind when you have a loss because if you insure on actual cash value you are not going to get full replacement cost and you therefore will not get 100% of your home rebuilt.  What you get is a settlement and not a good thing when it comes to clients claims process, therefore that is why an A plus rated carrier always insures on full replacement cost to protect you, the insured from that total loss

Scott:  Okay, so if your house wasn’t built yesterday then what do you want your home insurance to be based on?

Ed:  to have it based on the full replacement cost including inflation and cost to build, in other words if you are going to be in the house for 10 to 15 years from now and if you have a total loss, you will want 100% of your house rebuilt,  not 75 or 80 per-cent.

Scott:  Thank you Ed, that’s some great information.   Our Guest today was Ed Falkenstein with Gibraltar Insurance Service.  If you have questions about insurance you can email ED at Ed.falkenstein@ghfs.net.  You can also email me at Scott@ScottCulberson.com and I’ll make sure Ed gets back with you.

You CAN Live Life to the Fullest and I can help.

Scott Culberson Broker Associate, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Gary Greene.

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Best Practices for Buying a Brand-New Home

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Today’s topic is best practices for buying a brand-new home.  First let me make sure we are all on the same page, when I say brand new home, I mean a home that you will be purchasing from the company that built the home.  Real estate agents typically call this new home construction.  I think that covers it…new home construction is a home that:

1) is going to be built just for you

2) the building process has already been started—but you can buy this home and move in when it is   completed

3) is built and ready for you to buy. (also known as a spec home or inventory)

Some builders LOVE to have inventory homes available for you to purchase.  It’s simple, you love it, you buy it, this home is anywhere from 90-98% ready to be bought and lived in.

These three options make buying new home construction very appealing to potential home owners.  The new home owners could, and I will stress “could” have some say in the details for their home depending on which option is available to them.   Some builders allow lots of customer choices while others may give limited or no choices.  Choices could be the front elevation or how the front of the home looks…you can pick option 1,2 or 3.  or maybe a choice in tile or countertop.

You have options when you buy new home construction and you have the option to have a licensed real estate agent represent you.  New Home sales consultants are full time employees of the builder.  Because of this, a new home sales consultant is not required to have a real estate license or any of the required training that licensed real estate agents are go through.  Some new home sales consultants were once real estate agents, but the builders will make them place their real estate license as inactive in order to be an employee.  This is how the builders do business and they are within their rights to train their sales people how they see fit.  Builders typically see an employee with a real estate license as a conflict of interest and a potential problem since they receive 80% or more of their customers from real estate agents.

If you have a real estate agent and you want to look at new home construction take them along.  You want to have someone that represents YOU in any real estate transaction.  Your real estate agent can review the contract with you, negotiation price/upgrades, can help you with inspections, and help you stay within your budget when you go to the design center and pick the tile, counters, etc.  If you decide to go it alone, well… you will get no representation, no advise and counsel and no one to lean on when needed and there is always a need for help.

Myth—New home construction sales consultants do not like real estate agents

Fact—-New home construction sales consultants love to work with real estate agents that work for the best of their clients.  Remember 80% or more of new home construction buyers come from a real estate agent.

So, if you want to buy new home construction, GREAT!!!  Best practices…you will probably have an even better experience if you have a licensed real estate agent representing you.

 

I’m Scott Culberson, Broker Associate with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Gary Greene, email Scott@ScottCulberson.com.  Reach out to me, I would love to help you to…

Live Life to the Fullest!!!

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