Buying a home in Mesa is a great opportunity right now (August 2010) since home prices are some of the lowest we have seen in the past 6-7 years. With a slow market coming out of the summer, home sellers are likely to be interested in negotiating on home purchase contracts. This is great news for you if you have Veteran loan benefits and looking to purchase a home with your VA eligibility.
With the Mesa real estate market as slow as it is, you may need to do some extra negotiation with home sellers which may also be the case if you plan to use your VA loan benefits. With a VA loan, the home you are looking to purchase will have to meet certain physical conditions in order to qualify. Although property requirements for VA loans have lessened over the years, there are still some requirements that must be met. If these conditions come up while the appraisal is being done, you may have to go back to the home seller to get the work done in order to satisfy the appraisal.
To ease your mind a bit, I am experienced negotiator given my years in real estate and negotiating between sellers and buyers is something that comes with the territory, but is that I’m not too worried about.
The VA appraisal process makes buying a short sale more advantageous than buying a foreclosed home because in the case where you need to get some home repairs done in order to qualify with a VA loan, a short sale owner is more likely to be motivated to do the work because they want to sell their home before they lose it to foreclosure. Banks in most foreclosure situations are not doing physical property repairs in order to get the home ready for a new mortgage – especially when it comes to a VA mortgage.
Home sellers, just a note to you about this too – please don’t over look the VA buyer. If they have gone through the prequalification process with their VA lender then barring any significant problems with your home, we should be able to work through selling your home to a qualified VA buyer which is important in today’s real estate market.
To get started with your home buying or home selling process and if you live in the Mesa AZ area, please consider me as your real estate agent. Contact me for your real estate needs.
