Save BIG $$$ Buying Your Home, A Smart Buyer Guide

By Michael Beech

Don’t Buy a Home Until You Read This Guide.

It makes me angry to see honest, hard working people—people who trusted their real estate advisors—get bad advice and then a raw deal when they buy a home. Brokers and trusted agents let them go out and get killed, figuratively (even actually), when buying their dream home. They don’t seem to care that people work hard for years and cut back on expenses to save, save, save toward the day when they can finally make a down payment on a home. It is a core dream in America. Then, uncaring participants in the real estate industry take advantage of inexperienced buyers and lead many of them into big financial losses and disasters.

In this absolutely unique how-to manual, you will learn things never before revealed about the murky inside workings of real estate transactions.

Exposed—the dark side of real estate and the dirty little secrets that can cost you tens of thousands of dollars in hidden and unnecessary expenses.

Expert Tips You Won’t Find Anywhere

Owning your own home can be a wonderful thing. But buying the wrong home, one filled with problems, can be a life wrecking experience. Your first attempt at buying a home can easily be your last, especially if you get it wrong. You see, many homes can be money pits to repair or maintain and cause you endless grief and worry.

I will show you a safe path through the home buying minefield. You will not hear about mythical “make a fortune in real estate” tricks or any complex financial shenanigans that normal people can never use. I will, on the other hand, give you a down to earth, easy to apply method of examining a house and determining if it is worth turning into your dream home. Then I will show you how to buy a house at the best price you can reasonably get.

Over my house buying career I have bought many dwellings. In addition I have examined perhaps half a thousand houses for myself and for others. Many of those just didn’t make the cut. I, personally, remodeled all of the homes I purchased. It was full contact, hands-on remodeling, using very few contractors except for the most specialized or labor intensive work. Later, I worked for a number of years as a home inspector, inspecting houses for families buying homes. Whenever I found serious defects, I reported these to the prospective buyers. Many of those people did the smart thing and walked away from houses that I exposed as having shocking hidden flaws. By rejecting those sick houses they all dodged big bullets, survived financially intact, and went on to find and buy better houses . . . houses that were solid and well maintained.

So, here you will receive the benefit of all my years of experience. Like a secret advisor on your shoulder, I’ll be with you to every step of the way through the real estate swamp, to help you arrive safely to the home of your dreams.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael Beech
• Release date: Jul 7, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370656790

Michael Beech

Author of 3 books in both print and PDF and 8 ebooks, Michael Beech has been helping the 3D community since 2002 by writing and publishing educational manuals on 3D photography. A leader in developing and promoting innovations in digital 3D special effects, he has shared his findings and knowledge about such topics as: — Simplified stereo base calculation — Virtual (floating) windows — Forward windows — Frameless windows — Out-of-frame effects — Techniques to cure window violations — Legal” and “soft” window violations — Fatal mistakes when photographing 3D — Ways to fix errors made when photographing 3D — 2D to 3D conversion — Slide-bar designs — Photoshop stereo alignment techniques His books have provided “how-to” information that could not, and cannot be found elsewhere. Over the past 12 years, thousands of students of 3D have been helped by his tireless advice in multiple 3D stereo forums online. He has been published in Stereo World (NSA) magazine and Stereoscopy (ISU) magazine and won a first place award in an international 3D photography contest. Books include: — Digital 3D Stereo Guide — Mastering 2D to 3D Conversion — 3D Stereo Magic — Super Stereo 3D — Beginner’s Guide to 3D Photography — 3D Photography with Photoshop — 3D Photograph Assembly with Photoshop Actions — Mastering the 3D Cha-Cha — 3D Photography Slide-Bars --- 3D Photography Stereo Base Made Easy — 2D to 3D Conversion with SPM — 3D Photograph Assembly with SPM — 3D Photography Made Easy

Book preview

TABLE OF CONTENTS

for

Save Big $ Buying Your Home

●

Introduction

1—How to Gain Advantages

The Advantages You Will Gain

The Costs of Mistakes

Learning How to Look at a House

2—Costs of Home Ownership

How Much House Can I Afford?

Pre-closing Costs

Closing Costs

Pre-move-in Costs

Move-in Costs

Recurring Costs

Repair and Maintenance Expense

Unexpected Expenses

3—Don’t Be a Sucker

Buyer Beware

No Friends in This Deal

Everybody Lies

Choosing a Home Inspector

4—The Preliminary Look

The Preliminary Look

Exterior and Surroundings

A New Point of View

Fatal Flaws

Homework and Research

Drive Time

5—Getting Serious

The Revisit or Serious Look

Examining the Numbers

Don’t Overextend Yourself

Housing Price Cycles

Interest Rates

6—The Offer

Calculating the Value of the House

Positive Factors Affecting Price

Negative Factors Affecting Price

What Happens Now

The Offering Price

Making an Offer

The Accepted Offer

Disclosure Documents

7—The Home Inspection

Why Hire a Home Inspector

Choosing a Home Inspector

Don’t Be Cheap

What is a General Home Inspection?

Material Defects

8—The General Home Inspection

Conducting the Home Inspection

Sewer Inspection

Radon Danger & Inspection

Mold Danger & Inspection

Asbestos Danger & Inspection

Other Inspections

9—Structural Inspections

Personal Safety

Roof

Attic

Foundation & Structure

Crawlspace

Basement

Geology

Exterior

10—Mechanical Inspections

Climate Control/HVAC

Plumbing

Water Heater

Electrical and Service Panel

Fireplace

11—Miscellaneous Considerations

Doors, Windows & Interior Inspection

Structural Modifications

Building Code Restrictions

Geology, Water & Drainage

Health Hazards

Building Permits

Vermin

Tools

12—The Home Inspection Report

Understanding the Report

The Objections Letter

Example Objections

13—Estimating Repair Costs

Why You Need to Estimate Costs

Making an Estimated Cost List

Using the Estimated Cost List

How to Make a Remodel Estimate

Using the Estimate

14—The Closing

The Walkthrough

Closing Activities

Absentee or Remote Closing

The House is Yours

Appendix A—Repair Costs

Estimated Repair Cost List

Appendix B—Photos

Photos of Weird Defects

More Books

By Michael Beech

Connect with Me

●

Save BIG

$$$

Buying Your Home

A Smart Buyer Guide

***

A Book in the Unlimited Power Series

(Gain Power in Your Life)

by

Michael Beech

●

Copyright 2017 Michael Beech

Rev. 7/2/2017

Published by EnfoPress.com

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people.

If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for your honesty and respecting the hard work of the author.

The images and text remain the copyrighted property of the author and may not be reproduced or distributed in any manner without the permission of the copyright holder.

●

Introduction

●

The profit you will make,

Buying and selling houses,

Depends mostly on

How well you buy.

●

Buying a home can be an exciting, frightening and confusing event, particularly if you are a first time home buyer. The secrets and inside information about how to buy a home are things they don’t teach in school. Invariably you will have many worries about making a mistake and buying the wrong house, particularly one with serious problems. This is a valid concern. You are absolutely right to be worried, and it wouldn’t hurt to be even more worried. Being worried will help keep you focused.

Secret Hazards to Buying a Home

Yes, you can buy a house and, with luck, make many thousands of dollars when you sell. But, there are numerous secret hazards in the home buying process. Nobody will point these out to you; not the seller and not even your own agent. The worst mistakes you can make will most likely occur during the purchasing phase.

Messing up the home buying process by getting a sick house or by getting stuck with a money pit house or by buying at the wrong time can be a life wrecking mistake. If you get it wrong you may never recover financially and/or emotionally. The only way to fix a bad house deal is with money . . . a lot of money in sometimes staggering amounts. Financial disasters on this scale can lead to divorces, bankruptcies, depression and worse. PTSD is often a very real result when a home buying disaster costs someone a lifetime of savings.

Whether you are buying a house to make it a home, buying it as an investment, or buying it to remodel and resell, the process is the same. The potential profit on a home can be hugely impacted by any mistakes you make when you buy. Usually, houses are overpriced for their condition. Very rarely is a house underpriced. If you lack the skills and knowledge to uncover the hidden flaws in a house, you will never get the best possible deal. My job is to give you the information you need to help you avoid disaster and find the hidden gems.

Maybe you want a house where you don’t have to fix anything, or maybe you want a house that you can completely overhaul and update. Regardless, you have to discover if the house is in acceptable condition . . . you do not want any big surprises.

On the other hand, if you are looking to buy and flip a house . . . fine. You still need to know how to look for costly problems. There are hundreds of books available that discuss flipping houses for fun and profit. It sounds really exciting and it can be, if done right. The grim reality is that I have often seen the results where people, with great hopes, have bought a house, been overwhelmed by the expenses of fixing hidden defects, and were forced to sell at a huge loss or even to declare bankruptcy.

My goal is to get you safely into a house with strong bones and at the right price, no matter whether it appears well maintained or horribly battered on the surface. It is the stuff beneath the surface that matters the most.

CHAPTER 1

●

HOW TO GAIN ADVANTAGES

Wherein We Discuss:

The Advantages You Will Gain

The Costs of Mistakes

Learning How to Look at a House

●

The Advantages You Will Gain

Yes, buying a home is serious stuff. The banks and the sellers don’t give you any take-backs or rewinds. If you buy it, you’re stuck with it and all the consequences that come with it. Only in cases where the seller has committed provable fraud will you have any recourse at all, and then only at a great cost in time and money. So, let’s get it right the first time. I will help you do that.

There are 3 Ways You Can Save Thousands of Dollars—To gain maximum advantage in buying a house; 1) you need to get the house for a great price, 2) you have to make sure it has no hidden and costly defects and 3) you have to buy at the opportune moment.

I have bought more than a few houses in my life. Some I bought to live in, some were bought to be fixed up and sold, and some I fixed up and kept as rental houses. Of the many I’ve purchased, only two houses were not serious fixer-uppers. All the rest required serious