Trying to find the best home for the money: One step at a time.
Looking for a home is exciting, you now can look back and remember what you like about your present living arrangements and try to also find that same feeling in your next home. Making that house your home is what it is all about. Many families shopping for a home often look at neighborhoods with large tracks of land and large beautiful homes for example and know that they cannot afford those neighborhoods at the present. How did many of those families afford those lovely large homes, by starting out with what they could afford, just as you are doing now. Many families will first own what is called a starter home. Let’s say a 3 bedroom 1 bath with a monthly payment not much higher than the rent they were paying a short time ago. After they live there for several years, they find that they now can afford a higher payment and now want a larger home with more baths. They sell the house and are now ready to move up to a larger home with more space. Again, as time go on, and believe me time is going to go by pretty quickly and soon your second home has begun to build equity. When you talk to the families that live in the larger homes with more land, you will find out that their first home several years ago was in the neighborhood you now live in. Take it one step at a time, keep your monthly expenses low and watch your equity build, soon you will be able to afford the homes you never thought you could, but again take it one step at a time. Be comfortable with your home mortgage payment and your bills and time will move on and soon you’ll reach your goal and be in the neighborhood of your dreams.

Choosing the right House for today and reaching your goals for tomorrow: Our Tenth Degree agents will take you there.
Searching for a home that will give you the most value is important. Searching for the right house that will make you comfortable and build equity is important so you can reach your goal for the neighborhood of your dreams.  

You may find the right house with more space at a lower price and say this is it, but is it? Did you check on the schools and the test scores from the county records? Surprise, after moving in you may be disappointed to find out how low they may be. Did you notice what was just visible just down the street; Surprise, the high powered electrical wires three houses down could be a problem, Did you look over the wood décor fence? Surprise, that high wood décor fence was up for a reason and you didn’t notice the low income apartments over the hill. When you are looking to buy, your agent also has to help you understand that this is going to be the house that you will want to resale to other families someday. You may get a good deal now, but will the school system with lower test scores eliminate buyers in the future, will the electrical wires humming with power throughout the night and day be a health hazard, or the families who want to invest in neighborhoods where there are similar price homes instead of low income government housing where the rents are subsidized and again eliminating families who may not want to invest in that area. You want to build equity as fast as you can; do the research and the work in takes to not only find a home with the exterior and interior features you love, but also a home that will have all the advantages that other families may also want to invest in later. This will help you get to your dream home and Tenth Degree agents are ready to guide you.

Planning your search for you new home and how Much House?
Begin planning your home search by first finding out the total amount that your mortgage banker will loan your family. This does not mean you have to borrow the highest amount, but it will give your family the knowledge to begin your home search with a price. A price not to go over as you price for your home search. If your family is paying cash. You will not be required to go to a Mortgage Banker, but you will be required to show proof of your funds in an account with the amount of the sales price in that account.  You will be required to have a pre-approval letter from a mortgage company for the amount of the sales price or verification of funds if paying cash. Once you have sent the mortgage banker the information for him to verify for your mortgage loan, plus the amount you will use for your down payment you will then be able to focus on your search at the right price. When you meet with your mortgage loan officer, make sure you get in writing the amounts you will borrow and the rate and years of your loan, have the mortgage company representative sign it. This allows you to keep this signed copy prior to settlement, and you can compare the numbers at settlement with your copy to make sure the rates given to you in the beginning were not raised to increase your costs. That will eliminate any surprises at settlement if the figures are changed. Just show your signed mortgage rate form and make sure it matches up.

P.I.T.I is another term for monthly house payment. Many TV mortgage advertisements sometimes get you to call in because they show a low payment which equals only the principal (P.) and interest (I.), so you call in fill out the forms and then you find out that your total house payment includes two other important costs that raise your payment significantly, taxes (T.) and insurance (I.), we call that another surprise. Remember it is P.I.T.I. Depending on where you buy, some neighborhoods will have monthly housing costs may also include homeowners association dues and condominium fees. Some of your loans may also have an additional fee called mortgage insurance, this is not a bad fee or a surprise, it is a fee that is charged for some loans, government and state that will allow the home buyer to put less down but they will charge a monthly fee over a certain period of time. These programs that offer this allow some renters to become homeowners sooner, they may not have enough down payment but can afford the higher monthly payment which they can afford. This allows some families to begin building equity in ownership and also allow a deduction on your income tax for owning a home instead of renting. 

Here are key questions to ask yourself when thinking about your new home: 

 “DAILY COMMUTE”
The commute from the County to the City: America’s day begins. 
Home shopping should examine the distance from work and your daily commute.
Are you going to want to live in the rural areas where there is more privacy between the homes, more land and less people? You will have a longer drive to work to the city, but you will know that when you do get home, it will all be worth the time and effort. So you decide to invest in the home in the country just forty minutes from the city and then you find out; Surprise, there is only one grade school and you did not realize that your children have an hour ride on the bus each way to get to the school because there is only one bus for that route to the school.  This daily ride can wear down the best and soon you find that this location may not have been the best for your family. Sometimes there may be advantages but you want to eliminate surprises that also could affect your equity, (growing value of your home) and ask the right questions when you call the school board. A long bus ride could later eliminate many buyers from that particular neighborhood.

Consider the suburban, simi-rural neighborhoods. Closer to work and more houses in the neighborhood may not have been exactly what you were hoping for, but you may find some good advantages as well. Your children have more friends and parents who share in taking the children to after school activities. These are the same children who will remain friends with your children for years to come. As you get to know your neighbors, you and your children will begin to take pride in the neighborhood you live in and enjoy it more. Saying hello and waving to someone in your neighborhood is a simple nice thing to do. Try being a part of your neighborhood, many times you will be glad you did. Sure you were looking for a larger tract of land, let your agent know how much privacy you want, because some neighborhoods have more privacy than the larger tracts that have more land but sometimes less privacy.  

“EQUITY- GROWING VALUE”
Water front homes, Building equity fast.
Ask your Tenth Degree Agent what options you have in your price range that may put you closer to your favorite past time, fishing, boating, or just enjoying the water view. As more and more Baby Boomers retire, water front properties will be in short supply, as these families retire they often will be looking for homes near or on the water. When ever there is a short supply and you have more buyers than sellers, prices go up and your equity can INCREASE.

Golf Course homes, Building equity fast. Purchasing a home on a golf course may be a great way to build equity with more and more families learning the game of golf. Even if you don’t fish, boat or golf, sometimes buying a house now on the water or the golf course that will become a rare home to find later for another family is a great way to build equity fast.

New Construction Townhouses and Condo’s: Building equity fast.
When new signs go up advertising a new subdivision of Condos or Town homes, you may find an excellent way to build equity fast. Many times the early prices put on these homes are pre construction prices and may rise significantly before the subdivision is complete. When they are all sold out there are usually many families who were too late to invest and are looking for the first few re sales to arrive on the market, again you may have many families bidding your property price up because you invested during the pre construction period.

Homes near the Metro and Public Transportation: A good equity builder most often.
Many families are looking for homes close to the areas where they can find a ride to work. This includes Metro rails, bus lines, car pools and trains. When you invest in a home that is close to one of these transportation options it is most often a good equity builder. Surprise. London’s metro rail has found itself in the middle of terrorist attacks, will the prices go higher or lower near these metro rails in London?  It surely will go down for now. Who wants to live near an area where their family can be harmed, being close to a Metro rail has always been a positive way to build equity, these days, it may be a risk.

Homes near the Shopping Malls: a good investment everytime.
Many women love to shop and spend many hours at their favorite shopping malls. A good equity builder is surely owning a home near a spectacular popular modern mall. Too far from the mall and less families will want to invest in your home, closer to the mall where many women spend much of their time is a great equity builder. These days the malls have everything for all occasions and they are a magnet for women. We do realize that there are men who also love to shop but we have not met any so far in all our years. And that is why there are ten times as many women’s stores to shop in at these monster malls than men’s stores.

Taking care of your daily errands. How much time will it take to get a few things done from where you live?
For example, your family decides to buy a home in the suburbs outside a small city. You may find that there is plenty of time to run to the mall, swing by a small shopping center and pick up the cloths from the cleaners and deliver a business proposal and pick up another one on the way home.

Larger cities with more traffic will surely eliminate the number of errands because of the amount of traffic and the time it takes to wait through the traffic mess. You may choose a large city to live near because the pay is higher than the small city. But you will surely find yourself sitting in traffic instead of enjoying time with your family only because all of us have errands to run. So, you can spend your life in traffic in a large city, or choose a small city and enjoy your time at home. You can drive for miles through the neighborhoods of large city metro areas and never see anyone at home, and the reason is simple, they are still waiting through all the traffic mess to get home.  

Many families who live near large metro areas sometimes forget that life is short. They may not realize that the families who choose to live in small cities and towns may have lower pay but they find the life style and pace of life much more enjoyable.

 “SCHOOL FACTS”
What are the school factors when choosing your area to live? Distance, test scores, special education programs and teacher student ratios are important things to review.

The first thing that is easy to compare is the standardized test scores. Also compare the teacher pay scales from one county or city to the next one. The county’s who pay the highest usually will attract the best teachers and also eliminate the teachers over a period of time whom do not come up to the level they require. Test scores will not always tell you how good the teachers are, but it will let you know where the kids live who receive the highest scores. This is simple, the most expensive neighborhoods have the highest test scores. The parents who can afford tutors, who send their kids to camps that teach everything from computers to the arts will usually have an edge over the kids whose parents can not. Parents who have a higher income may afford one parent to stay at home to help educate their children, where parents who are working two jobs to keep up will not have the time to spend and this is always a competitive edge in the education field. But there are always students who excel in the schools no matter what neighborhood they live and test as high as any in the wealthier neighborhoods. Their higher test scores are averaged with the remaining lower test scores and it appears that these schools are producing only lower academic levels and they are not.

Private schools an option. As we stated the best teachers go to the highest paid counties is basic for any successful teacher. For the amount of work many teachers put in, they are usually paid less than many jobs throughout our country in comparison. Private schools usually have a pretty tight budget because they are not funded by the tax dollars of the county. In many areas public schools salaries are much higher than private school salaries. As the counties eliminate teachers who do not meet their standards, these teachers will sometimes accept lower paying positions at the private schools. The private schools will have usually have a lower student teacher ratio, but remember the best teachers will usually go where the paychecks are higher. But whether teaching at a public or private schools there are good and bad teachers in all schools. Choosing a home near a good school is important but the education your child receives is often determined by how much attention and oversight the parents have throughout the education process. Some of the most educated and successful people in our country were educated by candlelight at home. What does that tell you? It’s still up to you and your family to get the job done.

College bound? Pointing you children in the right direction, but what direction is that?
Choosing a home and a neighborhood where the scores are higher and the academic competition is greater is a choice. The end result is not always what you would expect. Going to school in a competitive academic county you would think is surely going to make you children have a competitive edge and many times they do. But there are many thousands of families who are happy and have gone to school in lower test score areas and did not attend college.

 “PUBLIC PARKS” Close to recreation, public parks, and sports parks. Taking your children to the little league field for practice and games, allowing your children to play at the public park and being close to the sports parks are all good areas to increase equity in your home. Health and physical exercise is one of the most important things your family can do and living close to these activity areas will make it easier to enjoy them. Thousands of families take part in these activities and your homes location to these activities can increase your equity. The more families who also want to live in these areas will make their best efforts to purchase a home close to these as well.

 “QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD”
Knocking on your neighborhoods door is a good idea.
When you find a home you want to live in and your real estate agent tells you how nice it is. Remember, most of the people who live there will also tell you just about everything you want to know. They will not be upset to answer a few questions and if they are maybe you may not want to live near them.

What questions should you ask?
How long have you lived in the neighborhood? How do you like your neighborhood? Have you had any problems with vandalism or theft? The safest neighborhoods sometimes become the targets of the criminal mind. In Fairfax Virginia many years ago, the neighbors never really got to know each other and there was not a lot of let’s say neighborhood friendships. They were just basically military families here for two years and then a transfer to another military base. People were moving in and out and sometimes some of the movers were thieves moving furniture out, complete households of furniture and the furniture was not theirs. No one called the police because no one was very friendly and figured that the moving company was suppose to remove all the items in the house. This group was called the Beltway Bandits and stole several households of furniture in areas that you would never think there was a crime. 

After work, drive to the neighborhood and what do you see?
Are the families in the neighborhood taking time to walk for exercise, taking time with their children, their pets? This is a wonderful sign when you see that every block or two, couples walking and children playing outside. It is a good indication that the neighborhood is safe and it is fun. You can then see your family enjoying the neighborhood as other families are doing. So don’t just ask your real estate agent, do your home work and ask questions and try to take the time to see what is going on after work, you will be glad you did.

Questions you may want to ask about your new neighborhood.
Is this neighborhood dominated by Association meetings and social gatherings? 

You may want your privacy once you get home or you may enjoy the social gatherings. Neighborhoods that are dominated each time an association decides to change may not be your kind of neighborhood. You can paint your home but you can only use these colors. You can have this but you can’t have that. Sometimes associations protect the value of neighborhoods and sometimes they are just a big pain in your life style.

School activities bring neighbors together. All of a sudden you are sitting at your child’s Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and you meet two neighbors who also have children at the same school. One is a coach for the little league team his son played for just a year ago. The other is there to participate and become active in his child’s education. All three of you are home owners and belong to the home owners association. Becoming involved in your area’s sports teams, PTA’s and neighborhood associations will allow you to bring in your families ideas and suggestions to make the area even better.  

A neighbor can be a friend, a good friend for life. How about you?
Sometimes neighbors help each other with home projects. Remember if you get help from your neighbor with a project that you just need an extra hand with to get it done; soon there will come a day when you will have to take time to help him in return. It’s the neighborly thing to do. And as time goes along neighbors sometimes become closer friends than some family members and you may be sharing time at parties and get together with the same people who you live day in and day out near, and find a trust that in many areas does not exit. Spending time with your family is a wonderful thing, but don’t forget that there are wonderful people all over the world and your next door neighbor just may be one of them. It never hurts to reach out a hand and ask, “Hey do you need some help with that”. Someday it may be the same words you’ll be glad to be hearing. 

Different places to live, which style is right for you?
A townhouse, a condo, a single family home with a big lawn, a home with an acre or more, all of these are places to live that may be right for your family. Remember your goals, sometimes to reach them, you have to start out with something little before you can get to something big. And when you decide which place you want to live, then take time to drive around and research the neighborhood yourself by driving through it at different times of the day. It is work and time that you may not have, but it is better to spend time now then to learn them later after you have moved in. For good or bad, it’s something that you may wish you had done.

Look for what is best for you, is the home in good condition with a good price or is it in poor condition with a lower price?
Purchasing a home in poor condition, needs new paint on the exterior and the lawn is in terrible shape maybe an excellent way to built equity fast. Did you notice that most all of the homes have nice neat lawns where you see a pride in ownership, and this property sits in between two that look great. It’s up to you, if you have the time, and can put in the work soon enough so that your wife is happy, get it. But if you take forever, and you find yourself in a big mess with too much work, you may wish you never purchased the home. Then you come home and your wife is gone, and you can’t blame her because you remember your promised to fix that place up in six months, now it’s been over 24. Now you have plenty of time to work on it, right. Don’t take on more than you can chew. That’s another expression for life is short, you may need to pay the higher price and get a home that does not need any work, then when you come home your wife may meet you at the door with a big smile. 

Are cars parked mostly in garages, driveways, in the street? How old are the houses? More than 30 years old? 15 to 30 years? New? How far apart are the houses? Are property upgrades common? Swimming pools, tennis courts, fences, walls, patios, extensive landscaping?  

For convenience, how does the neighborhood rate? Can you walk to shopping or is a car necessary? List your five most frequent destinations. Are they clustered in one stop-and-shop location? Two stops? How much time is required for fire, police, or ambulance services to arrive in an emergency? How close are cultural centers, parks, restaurants, theaters, playgrounds?  

How do the children routinely reach their schools, play areas, friends’ homes? By walking, bicycle, bus, or do parents drive them? Is public transportation available for commuting or shopping? Do any local ordinances affect pets, parking, lawn, etc.?  

What are the disadvantages of the neighborhood? Freeway, railroad, or airplane noise? Factory pollution, heavy traffic, exposure to heavy storms, possible flooding?

 “What are the area house styles that are selling fast.”
The metropolitan area is known for its variety of housing. This section is designed to introduce some of the styles that are selling fast in the area. A number of variations and other unique styles not mentioned here are also available. But it is important to ask what styles are selling first, because when you go to resale, your equity increase will be partially determined by the demand from buyers. And the houses that are selling faster are probably in demand. And you want to also buy a home that is in demand, because this same house that you will come to love will also be a fast seller, and will usually mean better equity than those homes styles that have not sold as fast in the past markets. 

Cape Cod. A symmetrical peaked roof often with dormer windows, a dormer window looks likes this (>) but place it in the direction of the sky with a square shaped window below it on each side of the roof facing the front of the home, this creates a one-and-a-half story design with living space upstairs on the second level. Two story homes can have more square footage with less foundation than 1 story homes. The larger the foundation the more the cost are, although this style, the cape has less foundation space but with an additional story above will give you more total square footage for the same price. 

Colonial. A two-story design with a square front exterior design. It will also have a entrance hallway , and this type of home may have a basement and may not. Variations often feature double or single wings with attached garage, and some may not have garages. There are numerous styles which include New England, Federal, Plantation, Dutch Colonial, Georgian, and French Colonial.

Contemporary. Contemporaries are modern and non-traditional exterior designs with a creation of living spaces that have a spectrum of shapes, materials, and designs. An “open” use of space is characteristic. These contemporaries may be single or multiple stories, but often the shapes are often loved by some families and disliked by other families who also love the same contemporary style. Remember when you go to resale, there may be only a few buyers who have the same contemporary style as you have. That means less buyers when it comes time for resale as compared to a Cape, rancher or Colonial that has traditionally more buyers. Don’t get disappointed if you build this wonderful contemporary that is pleasing to your eye but is now not reselling as fast as you would hope, because contemporary style homes are appealing to some but may not be the exact contemporary style as others may find appealing. Contemporary home lovers are also as different as day and night in their choice of sizes and shapes of their exterior and their interior space. 

Hi-Rise Condominium. Over 4 stories, or 4 floors high is what many real estate agents refer to a multi-story building. Each floor has several apartment like homes that families own and are not rentals. Some families may buy one and rent it out later, but you can own this style home just as you would a detached home. .  Resident owns title to living space while jointly owning public areas; condominium fee often covers maintenance, amenities, sometimes water; other utilities may be individually billed. Find out all the details with ownership of your condo home that may be different in different states. But you do own this home.  There are association fees to keep the interior and exterior in good shape with elevator access to owned apartments. Your monthly fee usually pays for use of recreation facilities, maintenance and utilities, but check with the association and make sure you are aware of all fees inside the association packet. This association packet will or should be given to you prior to your settlement date. Read it from cover to cover yourself. This is not the document that you have read over by someone else in the last minutes prior to settlement. Surprise: There was a retired lady who had all her documents explained to her by her real estate agent and attorney. After she settled and move in, she found out later that she had monthly association fees that she did not know about, and was now required to pay them by the association. Since the agent was a relative, she did not sue for damages. The damages could have been for the total amount of association fees for the total amount of time she lived there. The agent got off easy, her relative did not. Read everything yourself.

Low-Rise Condominium. Less than 4 stories or 4 floors is considered a low rise condo by many real estate agents in many areas. This cluster of attached units, four stories or less ranging from converted garden apartments to ramblers and two-story townhouses are homes . Find out all the details with ownership of your condo home that may be different in different states. But you do own this home.  Resident owns title to living space while jointly owning public areas; condominium fee  covers maintenance, amenities, sometimes water; other utilities may be individually billed. 

Rambler/Rancher. In one part of your state real estate agents may refer to a single-story house with all living areas on same level as a rambler or a rancher. But they are the same single-story house with all living areas on same level.   These one story homes can include L-shape or U-shape plans, perhaps with basement. Sometime called a “bungalow” or “cottage”. 

Split Foyer. This home has a foyer, an area just as you enter that is between the upper floor level and the lower floor level. Usually at this entrance foyer both levels are visible. That makes both areas less private, but also more open and gives a you a more spacious looking feeling.  Families enjoy this style home because it allows them to have their space up and allowing the teens to be down and visible to the upper level as well.  

Split Level.  There are two levels off main ground floor with a side wing; this home is designed for maximum living space while taking up the least amount of land. Often a garage and sub-basement are frequent options that are built onto this style home. 

Townhouse. Many times you will see a row of two or more two-or-three-story dwellings that are attached and sharing common walls, these are call town homes.  They are also called “row houses”. There are many styles of town homes from contemporary to colonial. “Semi-detached” is a home that is a pair of townhouse end units; and functions similar to a duplex.

Choosing A House
There are thousands of homes for sale each month. The area you may want to live may have many homes for sale or just a few. Depending on your choice of counties and schools, this may be the determining factor of how many homes you may have to select from. 

Let your 10^th Degree Agent know your most important details to narrow your home search. By this time you should have a price that you must first allow the agent to know that you do not want to go over based on mortgage loan information or cash on hand, in the bank.

Your 10^th Degree agent will be able to sit down with you and review the number of homes that are in your price range and in the area you want to live. Then you can eliminate the ones that may not be your first choice and select the homes that you first want to enter and inspect as you begin your home search.

House Questions
By the time your 10^th Degree agent comes to your home and begins to review homes to go into on your first showing,  your agent should know how many bedrooms and baths you will need. If your price range includes new homes, then take the time to look at both new and resale. And take a look at a few different styles that you may have not seen before. You may decide to change styles once you get into the different new and resale options.

Don’t go over this price!  Once your price is set, the number of rooms in these homes may differ but you will begin to learn how much home you will get for your dollar. You may need more rooms after your agent shows your family what your dollar will pay for. But it is best to buy a home with a few less rooms if you qualify for that home instead of continuing to rent. What you want your agent to do is to get you the most home for the money. That is what your 10^th Degree will do, get you the most home for your money. Once you see the market, the homes for sale at that time, you will have the knowledge of exactly what your dollar will buy. So often many people will say things about better home value, but usually these rumors are spread based on a different time period and a different market. Your 10^th Degree agent is the person to ask once you hear all the talk from friends and relatives who say what they have heard, now tell your 10^th Degree agent what you heard from everyone who wants to pretend to be Mr. and Mrs. Real Estate. The current MLS, multiple listing service will have the most current homes for sale and accurate information on real estate sales. Listen to your relatives because they love you, but trust your 10^th Degree agent to show you the market that will give you the best way to get the most for your dollar.  

Home Search: Comparing value
Your 10^th Degree agent will get you a copy of each home information multiple listing sheet. Keep a copy of all the homes you have seen and mark the ones that have the best features and the most value for the money. Keep these in the file along with everything you’ve worked on to find your dream home. Years later as prices increase you will want to look at the old home information multiple listing sheets as a reminder of your choices when you first started your home search. It is all work, you have to get off the couch on rainy days and meet your 10^th Degree agent to show you what is your best value. Once you found the home that suits your family, you will be happy that your 10^th Degree Agent took the time to get you your best home for the dollar. That is what we do.

Sales Prices are different in the same neighborhood.
Some lots may have a half and acre and some lots may be a acre and a half in the same neighborhood, so remember there will be different features in the home and in the sizes of the lots. These differences may show prices variations. Ask your 10^th Degree agent to get you a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) on the home that you want to buy so you can compare and see that you are getting the most house for the dollar.

Find your home on the Web
Tenth Degree Real Estate and begin your home search. You will see why 10^th Degree is your best choice for all your real estate needs.

This search is approved by the Virginia Association of Realtors and our local board of real estate.

This computer based information is from all the brokers in the area who are members of our board and the agents who put this information in the computer are basically advertising homes for sale that you may want to buy. You can search by price and information on lot size; exterior material (brick, stone, wood); the number, size, and number of rooms (5 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, kitchen, living and dining rooms, family room, finished basement and attic, foyer, utility room, garage) and the age and kind of home (condo, townhouse, single family); style (colonial, contemporary, Cape Cod, etc.) 

Also included are the annual taxes; the mortgage balance, monthly payments and the amount of cash a buyer would need to assume the existing mortgage (assumable?), or the amount of cash required if the seller offers to take a second mortgage. Features will be shown; fireplace, walkout deck, patio, wooded lot, and equipment  such as stove, dishwasher, and carpeting, etc.; the heating and/or cooling systems; the water and sewage systems.  

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Copyright © 2006 Tenth Degree Real Estate
Last modified: 12/14/06