Recently my wife and I have decided to purcahse a new home. We spent years renting and have decided it is now time to ensure the kids had a home in which they could call their own as they grow up.

During our search for a new home we have dealt with many reality agencies such as remax reality, prudential reality, era reality, edina reality, gmac reality, coldwell banker reality. Let's just say the list goes on. We even took on the task ourselves and viewed private sales. This is how we found our new home. After working with so many reality agencies we have gained a firm understanding of reality law and what is required to complete a successful purchase.

Let me elaborate a bit here. As a result of taking on the tasks ourselves we estimate we have saved approximately $27,000 in total after the dust has settled. Allow me to provide some figures. First of all we managed to negotiate a lower asking price for the home with the current home owners. To be exact we managed to reduce the price by $13,000. We saved the 6% reality fee. We found an inspector to perform the home inspection at our local housing authority. The inspector alone saved us half of what everyone else quoted us for. We are very pleased with the results as well. The bank even stated the inspection report was one of the most detailed they have received. I must say he was very detailed during the inspection. We also managed to negotiate with the current home owners that they pay for additional items which are required by law to have complete prior to the closing date which is May 15th. Such things as they are responsible for the land migration to the new zoning which would have cost an additional $450. They are required to ensure that all leases and taxes on the home are paid up to the closing date. There are a few more that I can not think of right now that we have included in the terms of the sale as well that helped to reduce costs and place more money in our own pockets.

So as you can see we are quite happy with the results of purchasing our new home on our own.

The purpose of this site is to provide information to other potential home owners that will assist in reducing costs. Whether you decide to work with a reality agency or do it on your own. Soon I will be listing some sites and materials that helped us enormously to reduce costs. They will be located to the right.

To all of you who are looking to buy a home happy hunting.
posted by Rick at 4/11/2006 10:29:00 PM

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