The Tools you Need Assessing and Buying New York Homes
Buying a home in New York City is not what it used to be. The recession has tightened up lending standards. Homes are cheaper than they used to be, lending standards have much greater rigor, and interest rates are pretty low. The housing market is beginning to improve for sellers now. There are more prospective buyers, everyone has access to public information on the Internet about a home to buy, its history, and also the kind of person a potential buyer is. As the market for New York homes begins to heat up, here are a few pointers on how to deal with the New York homes market today.
It used to be that Spring was peak season as far as buying a home in New York city was concerned. But having been starved of the opportunity to indulge their home buying needs the past couple of years, people are diving in when they have a chance right now. Its just all the pent-up demand. But people still do have a little caution left over from the lean years. It used to be before, that people would just buy a home on a whim. People who go in to buy New York homes now though refuse to sign until they are absolutely sure. And usually it takes a half dozen visits to a home and the neighborhood before any final negotiations take place.
When it comes to negotiations, the market out there now in New York City homes is nothing like it was when the prices began to descend two years ago. There are websites all about now that aim to help home buyers with immense quantities of readily available information. Websites like Streeteasy and Zillow will even tell use a number of times a house has had its price lowered since it went up on the market. They will also tell you how long it has remained unsold. If you want to explore the neighborhood of house is in, you could do no better than to head over to forums like Brownstoner, that will discuss the neighborhood, its positives and negatives, the schools and the grocery stores, all threadbare.
The information that the average buyer has on New York homes now truly rivalsthe what real estate dealers have access to. The average person using the Internet now can even have more up-to-date information than the brokers get. If as a buyer your aimis to learn as much as possible about your potential purchase before showing your hand in a negotiation, these websites will be perfect. Websites are able to appraise property for you and give you a figure that you can expect to pay. The tools on Zillow will even help you then negotiate like a pro. It will show you the most recent list price published for similar properties, and it will show you how much of a lowball offer you can swing.
Getting a mortgage deal to set up financing for your new home is tougher than ever in today's environment of excessive financial caution. Lenders want detailed documentation on the house you have your eye on to even sit down to discussing it. Anytime you go into an open house you wish to look at, you'll need to ask for copies of their paperwork if you're interested enough. It used to be that 3-4 years ago, you could casually call up the housing finance department at a bank out of your car on your way to work, and have it all financed and ready in 20 minutes before you reached your office. Now, when you bring the lender's documentary proof of everything in duplicate, they ask you to go back and see if there is a more recent version available. They want to look at tax returns, pay stubs and they want you to constantly update these in a process that can take almost a year. And before they actually send you a check, expect to be audited by the bank for evidence that you are financially responsible. And delays can really hurt you; New York homes sell very quickly.
You need to be prepared for all kinds of delays though; the final closing is the time the bank will think up all kinds of annoying new paperwork to demand. If they used to ask to see your tax returns for the last two years before, now they want to see them for the last five years. Co-op boards are overly cautious too these days, and can reject your bid. Rejection is the name of the game now. Rejection, and delays. Just getting a foot in the door is a big deal these days; and if you are rejected five times before you can land a deal, don't feel you're being treated badly. It's the same way with everyone else.
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