How much should you offer for your dream house?

Now that you have found the home of your dreams, how much should you offer for it?
Some other questions to ask yourself before you make an offer include:

1. How much can I afford?
2. What is my debt-to-income ratio?
3. How do I find out the answer to #2? (see a mortgage company or bank)
4. How badly do I want this home? In other words, how high is my motivation level?
5. How long do I see myself living in this home?
6. Do I think I could resell this home easily if I really needed to? (Resale value
is an important thing to consider when buying a home.)
7. Are there any other homes similar to this one that are less expensive?
8. Do I plan on staying in my current job long enough to make the mortgage payments worthwhile?

Are you an experienced home buyer, or are you a first-time home buyer? What are the feelings you are going through? Are you excited? Nervous? Scared? At peace? If you have been nervous, but have asked all the questions you need to ask or have been afraid to ask and are satisfied with the answers, go ahead and make an offer. If you're still a little bit nervous as to whether or not you can afford it, make your offer contingent on financing. In other words, apply for a loan and have your mortgage company or lender make sure you can afford your offer. Go ahead and submit your offer, then let the lender put a stamp of approval on it, or not.

If the lender approves your loan and says that you can afford the monthly payments, which include property taxes, homeowner's insurance, and sometimes mortgage insurance, you've got a solid offer which hopefully, cross your fingers, will be accepted by the seller, and you'll have your dream home!

On the other hand, if the lender doesn't approve a loan for you based on your income and expenses, you don't lose anything with a financing addendum attached. You get your earnest money back, and you have learned a wealth of information from your experience of making an offer on your dream house.

Help yourself in this process by pre-qualifying first, and THEN looking for the home of your dreams that fits your budget. I can't stress this enough.


Tip of the day: Buy a lot that is zoned for manufactured homes and put a brand new manufactured home on it with a garage. Need help finding a manufactured home dealer with a good reputation? Let me know, and I'll help.

509-431-5804 my cell
509-765-3463 ext. 110 - office of Gary Mann Real Estate

When is it time to talk to a lender?

Before you start looking for a new house to buy.

Why? A lender will help you to know exactly what price range you can afford in a home. What if you could only afford a home for $200,000, but you tell your real estate agent, before talking with a lender, that you are interested in homes in the $200,000 to $300,000 range? Let's say you go look at beautiful homes, like the ones we have for sale on Viking or Laguna, and you fall in love with one of them, only to find out it is out of your price range?

Will you be glad you looked at those homes because they have so many ideas for you to try when you decorate your home that you're going to buy? Or will you be a little frustrated that you looked at homes during your family time or lunch hour, which is valuable time?

I know it's a LOT of fun looking at homes. That's half the reason why I'm a real estate agent. But the other half of the reason is that I primarily enjoy helping people find a home that fits into their needs, which definitely has a lot to do with their budget. I'm not going to ask about your budget. That's private. But I do want to know.... what did your lender say you could afford?

And if you want to know which lender to use, I'll let you know about a couple of lenders (bank and mortgage company) that I've begun to get to know here in Moses Lake.

Looking forward to helping you find that home to fit you to a tee...