HOW TO FIND YOUR DREAM PROPERTY? THERE IS NO SECRET!
In the Internet era, nearly all property data is online and available to the public including school district ratings, property taxes, neighborhood criminal rates, neighborhood sex offender information, and property listing information. There is really no secret for a buyer—whether a seasoned real estate investor or a first-time home buyer—to find their dream property.
The buyer, however, needs to diligently do the homework. Whether or not they are a first-time buyer, they can use the following steps to find their dream property.
KNOW your affordable price range
To avoid wasting your time and money, you need to determine the price range that you can afford the beginning of the process.
There are mainly two ways to finance your property purchase:
Cash. Most sellers will require bank statements to prove that you have the cash for closing when you make a cash offer.
Mortgage. Almost all sellers will require you to provide a pre-approval letter issued by a bank or mortgage broker to show the maximum loan amount that you can afford when you make an offer backed by a mortgage. If your income source is complicated (e.g., includes wages, rental income, and capital gains), we recommend using a local bank as it's easier to communicate with the underwriter of the local bank and the local bank usually closes in a short period. Email us at service@olaie.com, if you need a referral for a lender.
find neighborhoods you like
You can search online, ask your friends and colleagues, or even drive around to find multiple neighborhoods that interest you.
You can check the properties in the neighborhoods that have open houses to get a feeling for the neighborhoods and associated price ranges.
These steps will help you focus your search area to one or more neighborhoods.
SEARCH PROPERTY LISTINGS ONLINE
You can search property listing information in the neighborhoods that you like through public real estate websites such as Redfin.com, Zillow.com, or Trulia.com.
You can even set up search criteria and reminders at these websites so you will be notified of new listings as they hit the market.
These websites usually have good information on school districts, property history, and similar property sale transactions in the neighborhood.
Also, check the local police website for accurate criminal and sex offender information around the property.
CHECK THE PROPERTY IN PERSON
Be aware that the property description in online property listings or brochures may not tell the whole story. The photos may be photoshopped. The map information won’t tell you about traffic or noise around the property.
You need to check the properties in person, preferably during their open house dates and times. You can also fill out our Contact Form to ask our agent to show these properties
To facilitate foreign states or international buyers, Olaie also provides a REMOTE PROPERTY VIEWING service to show the property via online communication software (Skype, FaceTime, or WeChat) in real-time, and answer any of your questions.
HOW TO WIN A DREAM HOME? THERE IS NO SECRET!
“Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire. ”
You find a dream property that you can afford. Now, thinking from the perspective of the seller, ask yourself what kind of an offer will the seller be likely to accept, especially in a seller’s market where there are bidding wars for popular properties. Of course, you also need to make sure you don’t make a regrettable investment decision by overbidding. You can write a touching letter to the seller to show how much you love the property, which may be helpful if your offer terms are identical, or very similar, to competitors. However, most of the time, the seller/listing agent will just compare the competing offers based on several key factors:
Money talks!
The higher your offer price, the more likely you offer will be accepted.
However, you don't want to overbid.
Olaie provides a detailed property analysis, including market trends, information about neighbors, a neighborhood profile, an assessor map, and a flood map (Sample Detailed Property Analysis) to help you determine fair values for the property.
Depending on the pricing plan, Olaie can provide 2%+ Rebate to help you make a competitive offer and save money.
cash is king!
A cash offer, even if it’s not the highest offer price, often beats the other offers backed by mortgages, as it is almost certain that the buyer can close the deal with cash on hand while the bank may disapprove a loan at the last minute for various reasons.
Buyers need to bear in mind that the pre-approval letter from the bank is only an intention of the bank and is not legally binding.
If possible, check whether you can get cash from your relatives, friends, current home equity, or securities account.
Waive inspection and/or financing contingencies?!
In a bidding war, an offer that waives inspection contingency and/or financing contingency, even not the highest offer price, often beats other offers that retain such contingencies.
We recommend the buyer conduct a pre-inspection before waiving inspection contingency. Before waiving a financing contingency, ensure that there is sufficient cash in hand to cover the difference between the estimated appraisal value used by your mortgage lender and your offer price.
We also recommend that the buyer obtain an underwrite pre-approval letter from the lender to ensure the loan approval is solely contingent on the appraisal result.
HOW TO MAXIMIZE THE BENEFITS OF OLAIE?
VERY SIMPLE — DO YOUR HOMEWORK to save tons of money!
Fill out the Contact Form to obtain data for the property that you are interested in. We will let you know whether the listing agent will wait to review offers until the OFFER DEADLINE or will review them on a FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED basis.
Many, if not all, popular properties have an open house. The listing agent often will not review offers until an offer deadline after the open house date to attract more buyers to make offers. You should check the property at the open house FOR FREE.
If the offer is first come, first reviewed, you need to prudently determine whether this is really your dream property and you need us to show you the property before the open house. Carefully review the property data or even drive around to check the property from the outside.
In addition, NO EXCLUSIVE AGENCY IS REQUIRED WITH OLAIE. So you can work with us only when you are sure that you want to make an offer on a particular property.
Which pricing plan should the buyer choose?
It really depends on how often you need our agents to visit the properties with you. For a limited time we have a 2.25% rebate plan — the property visit fee is non-refundable and the first property visit is free if you take advantage of our promotion to share us on social media. For our 2% rebate plan, the first property visit is free, and a nonrefundable $100 fee is required per property visit afterwards. For our 1.5% rebate plan, the first three property visits are free and a $100 fee per property visit is required afterwards, but they’re fully refundable at closing. This allows a balance between keeping our costs low and refunding the largest rebates possible to our buyers.
If you only occasionally visit the properties with our agent, you might consider our 2% Rebate Plan.
If you expect frequent property visits with our agents, you might consider our 1.5% Rebate Plan, in which all property visit fees are totally refundable to our buyers at the closing, with no time limit. You have nothing to lose!.
UNDERSTAND THE LIMITED FUNCTIONS OF REAL ESTATE BROKERS
“A buyer’s agent is required by law to advise the buyer to seek expert advice on matters relating to the transaction that are beyond the agent’s expertise”
First-time home buyers and even seasoned real estate investors often believe that the real estate broker can help them on all issues in the real estate transaction. That's not true! By legal restriction, real estate brokers cannot give professional advice on property inspection, home appraisal value, legal enforcement of the sale contract, and other matters. Instead, buyers should hire a licensed home inspector for a home inspection report, an appraiser for a home appraisal, and a lawyer for legal advice.
So even if a real estate broker, whether from Olaie or not, accompanies you to the property, such broker cannot give assurance as to whether the condition of the property is acceptable or not. The buyer needs to hire a licensed inspector to inspect the property. You also need to review the inspection scope. For example, the inspection is mostly based on the inspector's observations without disturbing the surface of the property so the inspection won’t uncover pest, foundation, or plumbing problems (unless they are obvious). If you have a specific concern regarding the foundation, you need to hire a structural engineer for his/her opinion.
The inspection report and extra examination, if any, may each cost several hundred dollars. But it is a wise investment and provides valuable protection. This is not the place to try and cut costs. You should use a portion of Olaie's BIG REBATE to do this due diligence work to make sure you are making a sound investment.