Lehigh Valley Real Estate Blog, Home Buying & Selling Information

Lehigh Valley First Time Home Buyer Seminar

Join us on Tuesday November 13th at 7:00 pm for a free First Time Home Buyer Seminar.

The seminar will cover the complete home buying process and provide time at the end for questions and answers. For more information and to sign up visit:

www.LehighValleyFirstTimeHomeBuyer.com

Each event includes a guest speaker. Amy Harris from Prosperity Mortgage will join us to answer any financing or mortgage questions you may have.

Top 5 Reasons It's A Great Time to Buy Real Estate!

Here are the top 5 reasons why now is a great time to buy a Lehigh Valley Home!

1) No Bidding Wars - the bidding wars of the past years are over - sellers will now typically review any offer

2) Large Inventory - More Lehigh Valley homes and Real Estate to select from

3) Low Interest Rates - rates in the 6 and 7% are still considered historically low

4) Financing is Tougher - since financing is harder to get, the Lehigh Valley Home Buyer is generally more qualified to receive financing than in the past

5) Inspections are Expected - in the past years, Home Buyers were skipping inspections to have their offer accepted over another offer - now, Lehigh Valley Home Buyers are requesting all the typical inspections (property, wdi, radon, water, sewer)

The current Lehigh Valley Home Buyer is less likely to make an offer on a property being sold As-Is. The Home Buyer wants the ability to negotiate repair costs with the Home Seller.

Is Now a Good Time to Buy that Lehigh Valley Home?

Now, could possibly be the best time to buy a house!!

As we go into the holiday season, you have two types of sellers. Those that must move and those that can take the home off the market and wait until next spring. Some of the sellers would really like to receive an offer that can possibly be negotiated into execution before the winter season begins. Now, may be the best time to act and purchase that new home.

Home Sellers will begin to take their homes off the market to rethink listing them in the spring to get their higher price. With interest rates still at an all-time low (yes...in the sixes and low sevens is still a great rate) and lots of homes to select from, the majority of control is in the hands of you, the Home Buyer.

I don't have a crystal ball to predict the Spring 2008 real estate market but now may be the best time to purchase your next home. Low Rates and Plenty of Houses!

Should Home Sellers Accept That Low Offer?

Should a Lehigh Valley Home Seller accept a low offer on their house? With the negative news (from the home seller point of view) about home prices going down and a larger number of homes on the market what is a seller to do? Can the home seller risk saying NO to that low offer? Will the seller get another offer anytime soon?

What if the low offer occurs within the first week or two of the listing? All of the marketing has not been completed on the property. It isn't even in the newspaper yet. Typically, the immediate reaction of the seller is to out-right refuse the offer. If the offer is real low the seller gets insulted and doesn't even want to negotiate with the home buyer.

Statistically, in the past, the first offer on a house was the best but now the media is causing home buyers to make what can be considered ridiculous offers. In some cases, the home buyer is justified and in some cases they are not. An offer of $450,000 on a $500,000 house only listed for a week can be out-right insulting to the seller.

If the sellers agent can get the home seller to consider and counter the offer a happy medium may be found but the tone of the complete transaction may be already set.

So, what is an acceptable offer that will keep everyone negotiating to reach that magic number that will please both the home seller and the home buyer and keep the transaction going through thick and thin?

Here's where an agent can help. A good sellers agent will constantly be updating the seller about current market trends and the marketing being done on their house.

A good buyers agent will be providing past market data to the potential home buyer to determine an offer that makes sense.

Other factors can come into play. How desperate is the seller? Has the home been on the market a long time? Is it vacant? Does the seller have an offer on another house?

How bad does the buyer want the house? Is the house in a desired school district? Is the neighborhood exactly what they want?

When it comes to purchasing a home we can't always let the media guide us. Does the buyer want to loose a house because the media said prices are dropping so the buyer can't get a "good" deal on it? Does a seller want to "not move" because they believe their house is worth more?

When I purchased my second home 8 years ago I didn't even care whether it was a buyers or sellers market. We outgrew the house and it was time to get a larger one.

I do recall checking the interest rates and they were in the low 7 percentile. So, we sold our home of three years and were thrilled to break even (breaking even after 3 years was great during that market)!

During the complete process, the rates went up and we were in the low 8 percentile by the time we closed on our new house.

With rates still at an all-time low (in the 6% range) is now the time to buy? Are home prices really going to go down?

If the seller is breaking even or aquiring a positive equity should they accept an offer that isn't what they really wanted? Should they risk selling at a lower price if the house ends up sitting on the market because of a refusal to negotiate a low offer during the initial marketing?

Every situation is unique and all of the real estate market data should be reviewed by both the buyer and the seller to determine how to go forward without losing thousands of dollars by making a decision without having all the facts.