Bruce Lynn

1. If all are priced the same, I might tend to use builder financing. They may have better commincation with title company where they close 100s of homes as well as a coordinated effort between all major parties to get the deal done. This is rare in my opinion that all 3 would be very competitive. Could be, but there is usually some spread. There may be more to rates and closing costs though. What about rate locks?
2. Disadvantage to using builders lender is what happens if their good faith estimate is not what is good at closing and loan will likely be sold at closing. Your financial information is perhaps less secure if anything goes wrong and you need to neogaiate something out of the ordinary. Maybe even too late for that now.
3. ALWAYS do a home inspection, no matter what lender you use. Really two separate issues.
4. They will do the appraisal for you. It's more for them, than for you. Builder appraisals are almost always off. Most buyers in a new neighborhood pay more than the house is worth, but that won't be reflected on the appraisal.
5. HOA startup fee is in the HOA docs. You might want to read them, before you sign.
6. ALWAYS use a realtor when purchasing a new home. They'll answer all these questions for you and many many more. They may even have contacts who can give you better financing. I just saved one client over $5500 on his financing by using my main lender contact and this guy was a real shopper. - A few hours ago

1. If all are priced the same, I might tend to use builder financing. They may have better commincation with title company where they close 100s of homes as well as a coordinated effort between all major parties to get the deal done. This is rare in my opinion that all 3 would be very competitive. Could be, but there is usually some spread. There may be more to rates and closing costs though. What about rate locks?
2. Disadvantage to using builders lender is what happens if their good faith estimate is not what is good at closing and loan will likely be sold at closing. Your financial information is perhaps less secure if anything goes wrong and you need to neogaiate something out of the ordinary. Maybe even too late for that now.
3. ALWAYS do a home inspection, no matter what lender you use. Really two separate issues.
4. They will do the appraisal for you. It's more for them, than for you. Builder appraisals are almost always off. Most buyers in a new neighborhood pay more than the house is worth, but that won't be reflected on the appraisal.
5. HOA startup fee is in the HOA docs. You might want to read them, before you sign.
6. ALWAYS use a realtor when purchasing a new home. They'll answer all these questions for you and many many more. They may even have contacts who can give you better financing. I just saved one client over $5500 on his financing by using my main lender contact and this guy was a real shopper. - A few hours ago

1. If all are priced the same, I might tend to use builder financing. They may have better commincation with title company where they close 100s of homes as well as a coordinated effort between all major parties to get the deal done. This is rare in my opinion that all 3 would be very competitive. Could be, but there is usually some spread. There may be more to rates and closing costs though. What about rate locks?
2. Disadvantage to using builders lender is what happens if their good faith estimate is not what is good at closing and loan will likely be sold at closing. Your financial information is perhaps less secure if anything goes wrong and you need to neogaiate something out of the ordinary. Maybe even too late for that now.
3. ALWAYS do a home inspection, no matter what lender you use. Really two separate issues.
4. They will do the appraisal for you. It's more for them, than for you. Builder appraisals are almost always off. Most buyers in a new neighborhood pay more than the house is worth, but that won't be reflected on the appraisal.
5. HOA startup fee is in the HOA docs. You might want to read them, before you sign.
6. ALWAYS use a realtor when purchasing a new home. They'll answer all these questions for you and many many more. They may even have contacts who can give you better financing. I just saved one client over $5500 on his financing by using my main lender contact and this guy was a real shopper. - A few hours ago

I'd think this is tough to do, but not impossible. One thing you might want to do is put down significant cash and lease the home for 90 days through closing. That would be the most comfortable for many sellers.

Every deal is different. Let us know how it works out. - Earlier today

I'd say about 1/3 of the process is finding the home. I often tell my buyers and sellers the battle has really just begun when they get a potential.
If the house is listed with a realtor, then the agents commission is already determined whether or not you employ the service or not. If you don't get a buyer's agent than that commission will typically just revert back to the listing agent and not be reflected in any discount on the house.
For my buyer clients I'm going to help evaluate prices, get the sellers disclsoure for you, evaluate your offer, advise you on stand and customary fees and who normally pays what. Help you evaluate lenders, title companies, and other vendors. Help you when things dont go your way and have access to a board certified real estate attorney should there be an unusal problem I don't know how to handle. I also have lots of other real estate resources in my network that I can call upon. Just a quick lender referal and evaluation for one client this week saved him $5500. Another saved $5000 on just a quick catch of a discrepancy on house sizes. Things I know a normal consumer who is not working real estate transactions every day would not catch. These are just normal every day things that come up, but most consumers don't know about. - Earlier today