Home Buying Basics

Buying a home can be an intimidating process, but with a little knowledge under your belt, you can better understand the process and become a stronger borrower. Here some things you should know before you buy. Obtain a pre-qualification from your lender: Before you begin house hunting, identify the prices you can afford with a reputable local bank. Obtaining a letter from them will help you become more knowledgeable about your future loan and make you a stronger borrower with bargaining position with the seller, showing them you are a serious buyer. Choose a Realtor: You want to find one … Continue reading...

Oklahoma Housing Market Remains Ripe for Homebuyers

According to a recent article in The Oklahoman, now is one of the best times in recent history for first time homebuyers to purchase a new home. According to Glen Reynolds, Manager of Mortgage Lending at Arvest Bank, the record low interest rates and historically low home values, plus a growing economy, make this one of the best times ever for purchasing your own home. "The affordability of homes is reaching close to historical highs." says Reynolds. Even though home prices are on the rise this spring, they still have not reached pre-housing crash highs so there is still good value in homes, … Continue reading...

Scary Home Inspections

When purchasing a home here in central Oklahoma, it is imperative as a buyer that you have a home inspection performed by a qualified and licensed home inspector.  Normally purchasing a home is the largest single financial commitment most buyers make, and buying a home with a multitude of problems can cause a financial strain to a new home buyer. Your first step as a new buyer is to pick your home inspector.  Remember, this person is working for you, the buyer.  Their job is to find every single little problem that can affect the integrity of the home, and report that information in writing … Continue reading...

Searching for Real Estate on the Internet

The Internet Changes Everything The biggest change in real estate in the past 20 years has been the ascendance of the Internet. The vast majority of buyers begin their search for a new home on the Internet, and nearly every home for sale can be found somewhere on the Internet. You can now find your home, apply for a mortgage, acquire homeowners insurance, and conduct much of the paperwork right on the Internet. Internet Savvy Realtor Being an Internet-savvy Realtor means more than just have a web site. It is estimated less than 60% of all realtors have web sites, but the vast majority of … Continue reading...

RE/MAX #1 in Real Estate Sales

RE/MAX has been the #1 seller of real estate in the world for a number of years. They recently created a new logo and videos that tout this fact. RE/MAX has become #1 because agents with RE/MAX in general have more experience. Their requirements for agents are high so only the top agents migrate to RE/MAX. In return RE/MAX offers us as Realtors a great deal of support, training and marketing to help us sell our customer's homes. … Continue reading...

Quality Service Certification

Lots of people and companies proclaim "we have the best service" or "our customers love us". But for me, it is more of a process than just making bold claims. To help show my customers how we treat clients, I joined the Quality Service Certification years ago. This is an independent organization that sends out customer satisfaction surveys after I complete a transaction. The results are reported back to me and are easily viewed by future clients. Below you can see my "Q Report" that shows how past clients feel about my performance. … Continue reading...