Tiny Varner

Ok, so you're ready to buy a home. You've spent hours on the internet looking at homes in your area. Before you even THINK about calling an agent and asking them to chauffer you around on the weekend, do yourself a big, huge favor.

CALL A LOAN OFFICER. Do not go to INeedALoanNowPlease.com. Call a real, live loan officer that works for a bank that will still be here next week. I know that might be a little tricky right now, as seemingly invincible outfits are going under. If you're not sure whom to call, ask a real estate agent. If they're good, they'll be keeping up with who's begging the feds for money and who's not.

Be prepared to answer some personal questions. Long gone are the days of you saying you earn $100,000 per year and they just believe you. You'll actually have to document this stuff. So have your tax forms, bank statements, and credit card statements handy.

And if you really want to be prepared, get a copy of your credit report. Once a year, you can get a free copy from each of the three major credit-reporting agencies. I don't know about you, but I love free stuff. If it's free, it's for me. Go to http://www.annualcreditreport.com/ to get your report.

Once you have your pre-qualification letter in hand, go ahead and start looking in earnest for your new home. You've already done one of the hardest parts of home buying: taking a good look at your finances to know your buying power. So go ahead and call an agent to show you some houses. Now kick back, relax, and enjoy the ride.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and be sure to tune in next week. Hopefully I won't be in a turkey coma. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!!

Welcome to the first installment of my blog. For the most part, I’ll cover real estate related material. Occasionally, I might go off on a tangent about some other subject near and dear to my heart, but I’ll try to keep everything timely and informative. With a little luck, I might even manage to make the material interesting and humorous. That’s the goal, anyway.

A lot of real estate blogs are written by agents for other agents. Not mine. I want a direct line to you, the average person wandering around in cyberspace hoping to gain a bit of knowledge about the messy business of real estate. And, oh man, has been it messy lately.

When I got into this business, I had no idea how bad the public’s perception of agents was. In case you don’t know, surveys show real estate agents rank right up there with politicians and used car salespeople in trustworthiness. (Seriously, politicians!) So I’ve made it my personal goal to change as many minds as I can. I promise not to write anything titled, “10 Reasons Why You Should Use an Agent,” or “NOW is the Time to Buy/Sell/Rent (choose one).” I’d actually like to impart valuable knowledge to the brave souls who read my posts. I don’t smoke anymore so I’m not going to waste my time blowing smoke. This is my pledge to you, dear reader.

I’m still searching for a permanent name for the blog, so if you have a suggestion, please send it along. If I use it, you’ll get a heartfelt “thank you” and if you’re not embarrassed, I’ll even give you credit. Then when I’m famous, you can tell your children how you helped me get my start. Also, if there are subjects that you’d like me to cover or questions you want answered, let me know. (Note: If you are one of those creepy people who has found this post at 3am and who wants to know what I’m wearing, don’t bother. I never wear anything when I write. And no, I don’t have a web cam.)

Be sure to tune in next week for some good tidbits. Thanks for stopping by, and be careful out there.