This was a struggle we personally dealt with as well when buying our very first home. We wanted it to be up to date but also in a specific neighborhood that we loved… this simply did not exist in our price range at the time.

This is why we love the option of going the fixer upper route/purchasing a home that is dated because it allows you to get everything you want specifically to your taste.

The best part? When going this route, if you do things properly, you will usually end up with an awesome amount of equity in the end!

We not only help people in these shoes find the perfect property but also help them coordinate, manage and even design the project!

Sound like the route you want to go ? Send us a message to get help from those who have been there and done that not once, not twice many times.

The post Can’t find a house that checks all the boxes? Do this instead. appeared first on ARHOUS.

Sometimes a property will sell for just 5 K over and sometimes they sell for 150 k over asking. So, how in the world do you know what price to offer?

You don’t want to pay way over the market value just to beat the others but you also don’t want to risk losing out because you didn’t go in high enough.

The most important thing in these situations is being able to trust and depend on your agents knowledge and skills. It is our job to know the comparables and what the house’s actual value is, based on a number of variables.

The secret sauce is in predicting how the seller and other bidders will analyze the comparables.

There are other factors that we can use to make your offer more enticing. Closing date, a higher deposit, letting the sellers leave behind any belongings (this is huge for those down sizers) and personal notes (sometimes this helps for sellers who are holding onto a lot of memories in the home).

We gather as many details as we can on the sellers and their motives to help make our offers more attractive.

At the end of the day the most important thing to remember is to not let your emotions take over. Make sure you’ve got a solid understanding of the true market value. Have a budget in mind and stick to your budget. When offer 5, 6, and even 15 come in, don’t let those emotions force you to make a decision you’ll later regret.

The post The most important thing to know about bidding wars. appeared first on ARHOUS.

So, here is the lowdown on a property listed “as is” and what to do when your purchase a home like this.

An “as is” home basically means, the Seller isn’t making any guarantees about the condition of the property. More importantly, they aren’t prepared to fix any deficiencies found, either.

It mayyyy have mold between the walls OR it could be listed this way due to a few other not so scary reasons.

It could simply be that its being sold by the bank, a hands-off investor who just isn’t familiar enough with the house to speak on its condition OR an older owner who doesn’t want to deal with any repairs or issues.

Make sure if your going in on this type of property you do the following:

Get a home inspection or have an engineer or someone else qualified to walk through the house to make sure theres no major issues and Have a clause in your offer so that you can back out if theres a budget-busting issue that you don’t want to deal with.

Ask ALOT of questions.

Accept that you likely won’t be able to sue the seller for deficiencies

Most importantly… have a GOOD budget set aside for repairs.

The post What does “as is” really mean? appeared first on ARHOUS.