Heather the Realtor. Orlando & Lake Mary First Time Home Buyers & Luxury Homes

Orange County NSP stands for Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The program is designed to help purchase foreclosure properties that might need some rehabilitation and sell them to home buyers using state funds. These homes are then eligible for grant funds from the county to go towards the home buyers down payment. They fall in the same guidelines as the Orange County SHIP.

The program has two options to increase the number of homes for sale in Orange County made available to those buyers needing Down Payment Assistance.

Option A:

These homes will be purchased by the Orange County Government in their designated areas. They will then rehab the homes bringing them up to todays standards and partnered with Progress Energy to bring you Energy Efficient Homes. Then those buyers who are eligible and are represented by a Realtor can purchase one of these properties and receive:

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. Up to $35,000 in Down Payment Assistance
            2. And All buyers closing costs paid for by Orange County (excluding prepaids)

Orlando First Time Home Buyers this is your guide to everything real estate related and where to begin. The first parts of this series discussed if purchasing a home is right for you and how to finance your first home, the second part discussed why you need an Orlando Buyer's Agent. Thirdly went over How to Make an Offer on your First Home and what can go wrong while under contract. Lastly we discussed what happens at the closing table

You are officially a home owner and have successfully moved into your New Orlando Home. A new house isn’t a home until it’s warmed by your personal items. It’s easy to forget that a home is also a house made up of thousands of parts, many of which require maintenance regimen and regular inspection to ensure they are at peak performance, just like your car.

You will want to devote regular attention to home and have proper maintenance at least twice a year, say Spring and Fall. Area's of particular importance are the homes

• Air Conditioning units
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• Plumbing - including your water heater and main shut off valves
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• The exterior of your home - maintaining shrubs and trees that may touch the roof or exterior walls.
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• Keep the exterior walls clean and keep the paint up to date.

Orlando First Time Home Buyers this is your guide to everything real estate related and where to begin. The first parts of this series discussed if purchasing a home is right for you and how to finance your first home, the second part discussed why you need an Orlando Buyer's Agent. Thirdly went over How to Make an Offer on your First Home and what can go wrong while under contract. Now you've made all the hurdles and have arrived at the closing table.

You did it, you worked hard to keep your credit in line, listened to your Orlando Realtor, found the perfect first home and have now made it to the closing table. Those weeks of anticipation finally are at a culmination of hard work. You hear all about this "Closing Table" but what does it mean. When you finally make it to the closing table that means you will be signing all the documents to take title to this property and signing over the agreement that you are accepting a mortgage.

You often times hear horror stories that it takes hours of signing your name and by the end of it all you wont be able to feel your hand. While this was true a few years ago when people had 80/20 loans and had to sign all the documents twice, todays closings are generally handled in under an hour. It's customary for the sellers, their agent, the buyers and their agent plus the title rep to all be at the closing table together signing documents. Sometimes the lender will even show up to verify you fully understand everything you are signing and that they are prepared properly. However with bank owned deals and out of state sellers it will just be the buyers side at the closing table.

At the closing table the documents cant really be changed, if there is something wrong on the document a new package may have to be prepared which can sometimes take hours. However after all the documents are signed by both parties and your mortgage has gone through (they call this funded) you are now the proud owner of your first home and can take possession of the property that day. However on bank owned deals if the seller hasnt already signed the documents and your mortgage hasnt funded you may have to wait a day or two after signing before you get keys to your home.

Going back to my old saying "You cant get excited about a home until the keys are in your hands, well here is when you can become very excited!"

You have reached the end of our series about purchasing a home and are now a successful home owner. We have one last blog coming up for you about after the sale and caring for your home.

If you are a first time home buyer in Orlando make sure to check out our Half Million Dollar Challenge where you can get up $12,000 free money!

Orlando First Time Home Buyers this is your guide to everything real estate related and where to begin. The firs parts of this series discussed if purchasing a home is right for you and how to finance your first home, the second part discussed why you need an Orlando Buyer's Agent. Thirdly went over How to Make an Offer on your First Home. This blog will discuss what can go wrong while under contract.

You worked hard, did your due diligence getting a preapproval, finding the perfect Orlando Buyer's Agent, found the right house and made a good offer on it. Now your under contract and sailing into home base, right? Wrong! There are many issues which can arise while you are under contract on your first home. There are 3 contingencies in a FAR/BAR AS-IS contract that lets you legitimately get out of a contract. 1) Inspections - You can have inspections on this magnificent first home and find out it's riddled with issues, termites, plumbing leaks, old and deteriorating roof you name it. During this time period you have the right to walk away at your sole discretion. This is probably the least surprising and most expected where issues arise. Now lets discuss some other problems.

In today's market Appraisals are a #1 killer of a lot of deals. With the declining market and appraisers under the magnifying glass they have been devaluing property. When a home doesnt appraise that means the bank will not lend you the money above the appraised value. So unless you have or want to pay cash to bridge the difference between the purchase price and appraised value you will need to walk away from the deal or potentially renegotiate with the seller.

Next there are things that you as a buyer can do to hurt your chances of closing on a home a few of those items but not limited too, opening new lines of credit, purchasing large items like appliances, furniture on credit or a new car. Not continuing to pay your bills on time, not filing tax returns this list can go on but while you dont see the big deal the underwriter can kill a deal in the last hour. Meaning you dont get to purchase a home.

There are many issues that can go wrong and this just skims the surface, this is just to make you aware that just because you are under contract does not mean it's smooth sailing. My motto to First time home buyers in Orlando is "You cant get excited until the keys are in your hand."

You now have all the keys of how to successful purchase your first home. In the next blog, I will discuss the closing process.

If you are a first time home buyer in Orlando make sure to check out our Half Million Dollar Challenge where you can get up $12,000 free money!

Orlando First Time Home Buyers this is your guide to everything real estate related and where to begin. The firs parts of this series discussed if purchasing a home is right for you and how to finance your first home, the second part discussed why you need an Orlando Buyer's Agent. This part will discuss how to make an offer on your first home.

Lets retrace our steps, you've come to the conclusion buying is right for you and you have spoken with a lender who has given you a pre-approval letter, you have also chosen your buyer's agent to represent your best interests in a transaction, we have found that perfect house and now it's time to make an offer on that house and hopefully turn it into a home. But what can you do to make your offer stand out.

Your agent will now sit down with you and go over what are known as comps or comparable properties that have recently sold in usually a 1 mile radius around the home for most homes in Central Florida and within the past 3 months. These houses will be as similar to the house you want to purchase as possible. However we all know that generally isnt possible so your agent will make some adjustments to the pricing to make the homes more exact. From here they will arrive at a range value of what the house you want to purchase should appraise for and will discuss with you making the offer. An offer isnt just about price, it's about the terms and conditions as well.

Depending on the type of property you are looking at bank owned, new construction or owner occupied will dictate how you structure the offer. Bank owned homes you will always have to write the offer AS-IS with the right to inspect, the bank is looking for a deal that nets them the most amount of money with the least amount of risk. Next new construction you will always use the builders contracts, here you will be allowed to do a final walk thru prior to taking possession of the home to find any of those nicks, dings or items that might not work and they will fix them. The builder is looking for price and bottom line net to them. They will throw in extra's like appliances, design center options and closing cost incentives but you might pay more of a premium. There is usually some wiggle room when negotiating with builders but not much. Owner occupied properties have emotion involved you have a seller that might have raised their kids in this home or built it with their bare hands, they put a price tag on that emotional attachment even though an appraiser wont. Here we have flexibility with negotiating terms, pricing and having the seller make repairs to the property, however to make your offer stronger in this market consider doing an AS-IS contract. Here's it's important to play up how much love you will give this home and appreciate it the way they did, play to their senses while trying to get the best deal on it.

Once a successful contract has been negotiated the process of buying a home really begins, you will generally have a week to do your home inspections, from there we quickly move into making sure the home will appraise. The lender will become very involved with you at this step gathering all the final documents and sending this information to underwriting to get a final approval on the loan and get you to closing.

By now you should have a better understanding about how to purchase your first home, some of the key players and steps to getting you to your ultimate goal, owning your first home. In the next blog, I will discuss things that can go wrong while your under contract.

If you are a first time home buyer in Orlando make sure to check out our Half Million Dollar Challenge where you can get up $12,000 free money!