About Huntington's Northport

Purchasing a home is one of the largest financial investments most Americans ever make. Though traditionally the REALTOR® was hired by the seller and acted in the seller's interest, a Certified Buyer Representative (CBR®) is specially trained to represent the buyers, helping them get the best possible price for the home they desire.

How Can a Buyer Agent Help Me Buy a Home?

A buyer agent works to protect your best interests by providing complete and professional guidance to you.

To buy property, you need to

* locate and evaluate properties in your price range,

* exercise a level of diligence on the proposed purchase,

* determine an offering price,

* document the contingencies you will need,

* and develop a negotiating strategy based on the competition.

* You will then prepare an offer to purchase contract

* and enter into negotiations .

Going through this process with the help of a buyer agent will enable you to purchase the property at the lowest possible price and on terms that meet your specific needs.

Once you have the home under contract, you'll need an agent to

* recommend inspectors,

* to walk through the property with the eye of a professional,

* and to provide options and guidance through the problems that often arise.

What Are Some Benefits of Using a Buyer Agent?

When a relationship is created between the purchaser and the real estate agent, the agent must work in the buyer client's best interest at all times, thereby providing purchasers with the same level of representation traditionally given only to the seller. Here are just a few of the benefits you will receive from having your own personal representative when seeking to purchase property:

1. Confidentiality. The agent you hire to represent you will not disclose confidential information regarding motivation, price and terms, or anything else of a personal nature to the seller or seller's agent without your permission to do so.

2. Loyalty. The buyer's agent must work in the buyer's best interest at all times, even if it is not in the agent's personal best interest to do so. This means that the agent will virtually do for you what they would do for themselves in the transaction.

3. Full disclosure. The agent you hire to represent you will fully disclose any information gained from the seller or the seller's agent that could be used by you in the transaction. In addition, the buyer's agent will undertake a level of diligence and discovery that will give you the necessary information to make an informed decision as to the property you wish to purchase.

4. The buyer's agent will search for all available properties for sale by owner, unlisted properties, new construction, foreclosures, and others and will not limit their showings to properties they have listed. A listing agent's job is to move the inventory of their seller clients. A buyer's agent's job is to locate satisfactory properties for their client. Any limitations on this search will be documented in the buyer agency agreement.

5. As the buyer's agent goes through the properties with you, they will assist you with analyzing the properties and determining their strengths and weaknesses, allowing you to make informed comparisons. A lifestyle analysis will be performed to determine whether or not the property would suit your particular needs.

6. The agent you hire to represent you in the transaction will do a market analysis on the chosen property and will provide you with an offering range for that particular property. They will then set a negotiating strategy for you to assist you in acquiring the property at the lowest price and best terms possible for your situation.

7. The buyer's agent will complete an offer to purchase that is "buyer friendly" and contains the contingencies and protective clauses you need

These are just a few of the benefits received from having your own personal buyer agent when purchasing. Considering that the majority of buyer agents are paid through the transaction or by the seller's agent, doesn't it just make good sense that you have the representation you deserve?

Please feel free to call or email me with questions or comments. I look forward to the opportunity to assist you in finding and helping you purchase your next home.

Paul Dougherty

Realty Executives North Shore

631-697-5777

paul@callpaulhome4sale.com

http://www.CallPaulHome4Sale.com

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9 Buyer Traps and How to Avoid Them

"A systemized approach to the home buying process can help you steer clear of these common traps, allowing you to not only cut costs, but also secure the home that's best for you."

No matter which way you look at it, buying a home is a major investment. But for many homebuyers, it can be an even more expensive process than it needs to be since they fall prey to at least a few of the many common and costly mistakes which trap them into either:

* paying too much for the home they want, or

* losing their dream home to another buyer or,

* (worse) buying the wrong home for their needs.

A systemized approach to the home buying process can help you steer clear of these common traps, allowing you to not only cut costs, but also secure the home that's best for you.

9 Buyer Traps

This important report discusses the 9 most common and costly homebuyer traps, how to identify them, and what you can do to avoid them:

1. Bidding Blind

What price should you offer when you bid on a home? Is the seller's asking price too high, or does it represent a great deal. If you fail to research the market in order to understand what comparable homes are selling for, making your offer would be like bidding blind. Without this knowledge of market value, you could easily bid too much, or fail to make a competitive offer at all on an excellent value.

2. Buying the Wrong Home

What are you looking for in a home? A simple enough question, but the answer can be quite complex. More often than not, buyers have been swept up in the emotion and excitement of the buying process only to find themselves the owner of a home that is either too big or too small. Maybe they're stuck with a longer than desired commute to work, or a dozen more fix-ups than they really want to deal with now that the excitement has died down. Take the time upfront to clearly define your wants and needs. Put it in writing and then use it as a yard stick with which to measure every home you look at.

3. Unclear Title

Make sure very early on in the negotiation that you will own your new home free and clear by having a title search completed. The last thing you want to discover when you're in the back stretch of a transaction is that there are encumbrances on the property such as tax liens, undisclosed owners, easements, leases or the like.

4. Inaccurate Survey

As part of your offer to purchase, make sure you request an updated property survey which clearly marks your boundaries. If the survey is not current, you may find that there are structural changes that are not shown (e.g. additions to the house, a new swimming pool, a neighbor's new fence which is extending a boundary line, etc.). Be very clear on these issues.

5. Undisclosed Fix-ups

Don't expect every seller to own up to every physical detail that will need to be attended to. Both you and the seller are out to maximize your investment. Ensure that you conduct a thorough inspection of the home early in the process. Consider hiring an independent inspector to objectively view the home inside and out, and make the final contract contingent upon this inspector's report. This inspector should be able to give you a report of any item that needs to be fixed with associated, approximate cost.

6. Not Getting Mortgage Pre-approval

Pre-approval is fast, easy and free. When you have a pre-approved mortgage, you can shop for your home with a greater sense of freedom and security, knowing that the money will be there when you find the home of your dreams.

7. Contract Misses

If a seller fails to comply to the letter of the contract by neglecting to attend to some repair issues, or changing the spirit of the agreement in some way, this could delay the final closing and settlement. Agree ahead of time on a dollar amount for an escrow fund to cover items that the seller fails to follow through on. Prepare a list of agreed issues, walk through them, and check them off one by one.

8. Hidden Costs

Make sure you identify and uncover all costs - large and small - far enough ahead of time. When a transaction closes, you will sometimes find fees for this or that sneaking through after the "sub"-total fees such as loan disbursement charges, underwriting fees etc. Understand these in advance by having your lender project total charges for you in writing.

9. Rushing the Closing

Take your time during this critical part of the process, and insist on seeing all paperwork the day before you sign. Make sure this documentation perfectly reflects your understanding of the transaction, and that nothing has been added or subtracted. Is the interest rate right? Is everything covered? If you rush this process on the day of closing, you may run into a last minute snag that you can't fix without compromising the terms of the deal, the financing, or even the sale itself.

Please call or email me if I can answer any questions or provide more info. I am standing by to assist you when you're ready to purchase your first or next home.

Paul Dougherty

Realty Executives North Shore

631-697-5777 paul@callpaulhome4sale.com http://www.CallPaulHome4Sale.com

FICO, FICO, FICO - Know Your Score. Improve Your Score, Monitor Your Score...

My focus is working with first time home buyers and I always take the time to thoroughly discuss and review the steps a client needs to implement in order to build a successful home buying plan.

The first step you need to take towards home-ownership is getting pre-approved for a home mortgage. Which lender to choose is an important decision, and like most big (financial) decisions you should seek out advice from trusted sources.

No matter the lending institution you work with, your FICO score speaks volumes about you and your credit risk.

Most people have heard the term FICO - what does it stand for and how did it get started, let's ask Wikipedia - Hey Wiki What's a FICO?

First time buyers are inundated with lots of advice from countless sources. My advice to building a successful plan and approach to buying a home is not unique; in fact I teach what I've learned. My value is that I take the extra time often needed to educate and counsel new buyers about the importance of knowing your FICO score and what it means and what they can do to improve it.

Many share the dream of home ownership; home shopping on line and in person (open houses) is fun and exciting. And while having a specific wish list of must haves and type of home, area and amenities you want is helpful and necessary, knowing what you can afford and more importantly knowing what the lender says they will loan you is essential and should be the starting point of turning your dream into a plan and into a reality.

The first step in getting pre-approved for a home mortgage is finding out what your credit report says about you, and the level of risk that you pose for your mortgage lender.

You may not know it, but, you can monitor your credit history (free of charge) on an annual basis through:

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

And any/all of their three participating credit-reporting companies:

1) Experian: http://www.experian.com/,

2) Equifax: http://www.equifax.com/,

3) Transunion: http://www.transunion.com/

You are allowed to down load your current credit report once every year from each company listed above. All without any charge to you what so ever.

For an additional one-time charge of $6.00 to $10.00 (depending on which one of the companies you use) they will give you your current credit score (which usually includes information from as little as a week or two ago).

And, for about $30/month you can have unlimited access to both your credit reports and credit scores from all three companies.

Knowing your FICO and keeping it strong - It is the step that you should always take first.... when you decide to purchase a home, or any other large purchase where a loan and interest rate are involved.

Please feel free to give me a call @ (631) 697-5777 or Email me at

paul@callpaulhome4sale.com

For answers to any/all of your Real Estate questions!!

"Call Paul Home 4 Sale" ~ "I can help you build a plan"

Hello Friends The Long Island Board of Realtors (LIBOR) recently released the 2nd Quarter sales summary. I thought I would share the info about the towns I service. While sales price and volume is down in many markets, I am encouraged by some of these numbers that show price is actually up over last year in Greenlawn, Northport and East Northport. Also total home sales is up in Centerport. I am also encouraged to hear some good news about the housing market starting to trickle through the media wires. Let's keep the good news and momentum building.

If you're looking to buy or sell in Huntington, Northport, Greenlawn, Centerport, East Northport, I'm standing by to help.

Paul Dougherty
Realty Executives North Shore
631-697-5777
paul@callpaulhome4sale.com
http://www.CallPaulHome4Sale.com

2008 Suffolk - 2nd Quarter 2008

(Centerport, Greenlawn, Huntington, Northport, East Northport)

Zip Code 11721 11740 11743 11768 11731

Average $639,800 $619,000 $769,200 $816,200 $527,400
Price

Price Change -3.95% 27.21% -2.44% 6.99% 6.74%
(1 Year)

Total # Homes Sold 13 11 89 52 37
(Quarter)

% Change in
# Homes Sold 8.33% -35.29% -20.54% -20.00% -27.45%
(1 Year)

Average Days on 136 84 124 136 121
Market