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发信人: acer (acer), 信区: Money
标  题: Re: A Home Buying Primer
发信站: The unknown SPACE (Mon Apr 15 13:13:45 2002) WWW-POST

【 在 godeyejie (财神仙) 的大作中提到: 】
home/buying/index.cfm?story=primer

1. "Do I really need to use a real estate broker?"
2. "How do I figure out which type of loan makes sense?"
3. "How does a bank decide if I get a loan or not?"
4. "How much cash am I going to have to produce upfront?"
5. "Just what are points, anyway?"
6. "How long after I apply will I get the money?"
7. "How do I know the house won't fall apart?"
8. "I've got a deal with the seller. Now what?"
9. "Where do the tax benefits come in?"

IF YOU'VE NEVER BOUGHT A HOUSE BEFORE, much of the jargon and terminology
could prove daunting. After all, who would give "discount points" or "5-1
adjustables" the slightest thought unless they absolutely had to? We've
arranged this short primer on the basics of buying a home as a series of
questions and answers that try to address the basic issues with which every
home buyer must grapple.

1. "Do I really need to use a real estate broker?"
The first thing you need to know about real estate brokers is that they
typically work for the people selling the home -- not you. The standard
practice is for the seller to hire a broker, who then takes over marketing the
home and seeking out potential buyers. For this, brokers usually are paid
around 6% of the sale price, which gives them a built-in incentive to find the
seller the highest price they can.

That sounds simple enough. But as you begin to drive around town with seasoned
agents, you'll quickly find that they act like they are, in fact, working for
you. So don't get too cozy. You will probably be tempted to tell an agent the
highest price you are willing to pay for a house or the size of down payment
you can afford. Don't. The agent is obligated to pass those details on to the
seller, which could hurt you in any negotiation. Also, don't feel obliged to
buy a home through one particularly helpful broker. Use several to have the
widest selection of possible homes.

You don't need to use a broker at all if the house you want is being sold by
an owner himself. Indeed, you'll have a lot more room to negotiate on price if
the broker's 6% fee is absent from the equation. It's also not that difficult
to sell your house without a broker, though it is a significant commitment of
time and energy -- one you may not be willing to make. Check out Going Solo
for more information on what you can expect.

Are all brokers bad? Of course not. A good agent can be very helpful, if only
because he or she has access to a large database of listings in your
neighborhood of choice. Agents can also recommend schools, local contractors,
and mortgage brokers. (Although, you shouldn't rely too heavily on their
advice; they've been known to take kickbacks.) And they can often help steer
you through the home buying process, while smoothing out bumps in the
negotiations. Remember this, too: An agent's fees are always negotiable. Are
you and a seller at loggerheads over who's going to repair that damaged
furnace? Maybe it should come out of the broker's fee.

In the past few years, so called "buyer's brokers" have become more popular in
certain parts of the country. Unlike traditional real estate agents, they work
for -- and are often paid by -- the buyer. They are supposed to help assure
you get the best deal. They can be invaluable if you are moving to a town or
part of the country you are unfamiliar with or have little time for
house-hunting. Like a regular broker they are a font of listings.

The problem is, their terms often require that you use only them for a set
time period. That's fine if you trust the broker and just want someone to
screen homes for you. But it can leave you hamstrung if you'd like to go out
and do some looking on your own or if you want to use a number of brokers.
Also, compensating a buyer's broker can be tricky. Paying by the hour adds up,
but paying a percentage of the purchase price gives a broker the wrong
incentive: Getting you to pay the highest price returns the most to him.
Sometimes, a buyer's broker will settle for splitting the fee with the broker
who has the listing.
Back to Top

2. "How do I figure out which type of loan makes sense?"
The answer to the first question is easy enough: Mortgage products proliferate
because lenders, hungry for business, are trying to rope you in any way they
can. That certainly makes mortgage shopping confusing, but it also means you
can probably find a mortgage tailor-made to meet your needs. What Kind of Loan
Should I Get? can help familiarize you with the different types of loans
available and which might be right for you.

At the most basic level, mortgages come in two categories: fixed rate and
adjustable. In both cases "rate" refers to the rate of interest you pay the
bank for the privilege of borrowing its cash.

Fixed-Rate loans
A fixed-rate mortgage is so called because its interest rate doesn't change
over the life of the loan, no matter what rates do on the open market. Many
people feel more comfortable with a fixed rate, because they know their
monthly mortgage payments will remain steady over the years, making at least
one aspect of their monthly cash flow predictable. The downside is that you
pay for that comfort: Lenders charge a higher rate of interest for fixed-rate
loans. Why? Because they figure that if interest rates shoot up, they lose the
opportunity to make more money on the funds they are lending you.

The standard fixed loan lasts for 30 years, but if you can handle higher
payments and want to build up your equity in your home faster, you can opt for
a 15-year fixed. With a 15-year, you'll get a lower rate and pay much less
interest over the life of the loan. The payments each month, however, will be
quite a bit higher since they aren't being stretched over so long a period.

Here's an example: If you get a $125,000 loan with a 30-year fixed rate of
7.75%, you'd be on the hook for monthly payments of $895.52. On a 15-year
version of the same loan, you might get a rate of 7.25%, but your monthly
payment would be $1,141. If you were cash-short and wary of higher monthly
payments, you'd go with the 30-year loan. But ultimately it would cost you: On
the 30-year loan you pay a total of $197,386 in interest over the life of the
loan, while the 15-year mortgage sticks you for only $80,394.

A fixed rate makes the most sense for those who plan to stay put in their new
home for a long time. You pay a little more in interest, but it is stretched
over a longer period so the monthly effect can be minimal. And if you're
buying when rates are low, locking in a good deal is probably worth it.

Adjustable-Rate loans
Adjustable-rate loans get their name because the rate you pay changes
according to a set formula as interest rates fluctuate on the open market. As
noted above, the upside is that lenders charge a lower rate for such loans
because you are taking on some of the interest-rate risk. This makes your dWww Fixedmortgagehouseloan R R Fixed Mortgage House Loan Fixed Mortgage House Loan Fixed Mortgage House Loan Szh Javascript:doTranslate('zh CN%7Czh CN') Fixed Mortgage House Loan Re: A Home Buying Primer - 未名空间(mitbbs.com)a r Loan Fixed Mortgage House Loan Fixed Mortgage House Loan Investment yWww Fixedmortgagehouseloan R R Fixed Mortgage House Loan Fixed Mortgage House Loan Fixed Mortgage House Loan Szh Javascript:doTranslate('zh CN%7Czh CN') Fixed Mortgage House Loan Re: A Home Buying Primer - 未名空间(mitbbs.com)b Fixed Mortgage House Loan House Mortgage