Real Estate Traps to Avoid

Barbara Corcoran has become a regular contributor on the Today Show on NBC.  She appeared yesterday offering tips on common Real Estate Traps to avoid.  While her advice was meant for a national audience they are very applicable to the Central New Jersey Real Estate market so I wanted to share them here. 

-         Don’t fall for teaser rates when shopping for a mortgage.  If a rate sounds too good to be true it probably is.  In the case of an advertised 1% rate the difference is usually added to your principle.  For low adjustable rates fees are added on at the end if you try to refinance. Another problem with trying to refinance if your rate goes up is that you may not be able to qualify for a fixed rate product.
 

-         Watch out for quick expiations on mortgage commitments.  A lot of banks are adding in a one or two week expiration date with mortgage commitments now, if you miss that date you may have to re-apply.

-         For Buyers; It is a great time to buy.  Rates have gone down so money is cheap.  There is a lot of inventory on the market and sellers are willing to negotiate.

-         For Sellers; Price right and price aggressively to sell in this market.  Your neighbor is your competition and there is lots of it in the current market, you need to set yourself apart when pricing.

One point I always like to remind sellers of in this kind of a market is that if they are going to be buying, they should not look at selling for less as a loss.  They will come out even when they get a good deal on the buying end.   So it really is a great time to buy or sell!