Bob Tettman

Remember "Quint", the salty sea Captain in the movie "Jaws" singing, "Show me the way to go home, I'm tired and and I want to go to bed!" Is that the way you feel after a day of riding around in your car looking for homes that are for sale? Are you one of the home searchers that get in your car without any information along for the ride and go for a "sign hunt". Let me tell you friends.... YOU'RE DOIN IT THE HARD WAY!

Today's multiple listing services enable professional real estate agents to create a custom search of all the homes available in your city.... so that the search returns ONLY those homes that fit the parameters of your particular search. Everybody knows you can search by price, city, county, subdivision, etc. But did you know a Realtor can search for only homes in specific school areas, subdivision amenities and kind of cooktop? Want a 4-side brick home for $250,000 to $275,000 in XYZ county with a finished sunlight basement and a side entry garage on a cul-de-sac (with sidewalks, a community pool, tennis courts and street lights) in XYZ elementary school district on a level 1/3 acre lot with gas heat, ceiling fans, hardwood floors and a dining room that will seat twelve? GOT IT! In todays world of search you can be as broad or as specific as you wish to be. But remember... the more you describe your "perfect" house, the fewer homes will be returned for your perusal and ultimately for you to go see. But then again... maybe the one that comes back from your search WILL be your perfect home! Just think of the time and frustration you'll save!

And to go even one step further... a really good Realtor will know how to enter all of your search parameters into a search engine and create a link which they can then email to you so that every home that comes back from that search will be exactly what you are interested in seeing. Now THAT'S service!

So the next time you think about getting in your car and heading out to drive around and burn up some gas (at nearly $3 a gallon), place a call, instead, to your local real estate professional and have them set up a custom search for you. You'll be saving gas, time and frustration all at once!

Bob Tettman is a full time Realtor with Keller Williams Realty in the Atlanta area and specializes in homes in Gwinnett County, Georgia including the cities of Buford, Braselton, Duluth, Lawrenceville, Norcross, Suwanee, Lilburn, Snellville, and Grayson. Visit his website at www.HomeTeamGwinnett.com or http://homesgwinnettcountyga.yourkwagent.com/home .

It seemed easy when we started... the buyers want a 2-story home with at least the front of the house in brick, a basement (finished or not), a 2 car garage and a particular middle school area. Their budget is $250,000 to $300,000. The search starts using all the limiting amenities and we find about 20 homes that "fit" the description. We look, and look, and look (extend this out to 20 times). But none of these homes listed in the active area of the local MLS are the right house. We check FSBOs (for sale by owner) and see one house in which the basement is too small. We've exhausted the active listings. Drop the brick front? No, please. A one-story home? No, please. A different middle school area? Absolutely no, thank you. Next step: Today starts the process of looking through the local MLS for homes that meet their guidelines that have expired in the last year that have not subsequently been re-listed as currently active or have already been sold. These are the homeowners that have raised their hand at some point in the last 12 months and said "I'm interested in selling my house"... but for whatever reason that sale has not happened. Might they still be interested in selling their home? We'll see. But at least it gives us a whole new pool of properties to investigate. And who knows... maybe one of these is "THE" house! We'll watch and report.

Bob Tettman is a full time Realtor with Keller Williams Realty in the Atlanta area and specializes in homes in Gwinnett County, Georgia including the cities of Buford, Braselton, Duluth, Lawrenceville, Norcross, Suwanee, Lilburn, Snellville, and Grayson. Visit his website at www.HomeTeamGwinnett.com or http://homesgwinnettcountyga.yourkwagent.com/home .

I recently had a good friend that expressed interest in buying a home of her own and getting out of the shared residence in which she was living. She has a good job and a good credit rating but she didn't have a down payment and could not go to family to have them "gift" her a downpayment. Long story short... her boss announced that possible cutbacks and layoffs were on the way and she immediately wihdrew from the buyer's market not knowing what her future income outlook would be. Smart woman!

In the course of researching all of the possible ways for her to get into a house I stumbled on what appears to be a great way to make a house purchase a reality for those that currently don't think it is possible. It involves three things:

1.) Employer 401K savings

2.) The 2009 First Time Homebuyer Credit (FTHC)

3.) A rule within the First Time Homebuyer Credit

Scenario: Potential homebuyer has good credit, a good job with 401k (or other) plan savings and wants to buy a house but doesn't have the cash-on-hand downpayment. The FTHC program allows the tax credit to be applied to tax returns for 2009 EVEN IF THE HOUSE IS PURCHASED IN 2010! That's right... a buyer that purchases a principal residence home in 2010 under the FTHC program can take the tax credit on their 2009 OR 2010 tax return! They don't have to wait to file their 2010 tax return in 2011! The homebuyer takes a short term loan against their 401k (no more than $8,000) to use as their downpayment. The government allows a loan against a 401k plan without penalty for a home purchase. They make the home purchase while making monthly payments (three or four months) on their 401K repayment loan that supplied the downpayment. They should take the "401k loan" for a longer term (three years for example) to keep the monthly payments as low as possible. Once the sale is closed and the mortgage has been secured the new homeowner completes their tax return including their FTHB tax credit which will generate a refund check coming back to them for the $8000 tax credit. With that money, they repay their 401k loan very early and are left only with the regular mortgage payment on their newly purchased home.