Here are some of the common questions people like you had previously. If your question is not on the list, please don’t hesitate to call us and get it answered immediately.

Q: What kind of houses do you buy?
A: We buy ugly and pretty houses, in any area and price range.

Q: How can you close so fast?
A: We have more efficient, less paperwork programs, that banks and real estate brokers don’t want you to know about.

Q: Will I need to do any repairs before closing?
A: No. We use better lenders and techniques that don’t have strict guidelines like you are used to.

Q: What if I am behind on my payments or in foreclosure?
A: Not a problem. We have a program to stop the foreclosure process.

Q: Do you charge commission?
A: When we buy, we don’t charge you any commissions.

Q: How long after I submit the “Buy/Sell” forms, will I hear from you?
A: In most cases, you will hear from us the same day.

Q: I don’t have a house for sale, but my friend does. Do you pay for referrals?
A: Yes we do. Please call the office for details.

Q: I have tenants that are not paying. Do I need to evict them before you can buy?
A: Not, unless you want to. We can take over the eviction process, or start an eviction process ourselves.

No matter what the situation, we have experience and take pride in finding solutions to your real estate needs.

Lots of people “want” to buy houses, but we buy houses all the time. It’s what we do for a living and the people we work with feel that we do a great job. We are not realtors or brokers, so there are no extra fees that get charged when you deal with us. We’re real estate investors with real money and we are ready to spend it to buy your house at a fair price …. TODAY!

We also have buyers who are waiting on houses today in almost every price range. So, whether you are getting ready to sell your current house and move on towards your dream home or circumstances have left you in need of some help to quickly move your property - we can help make your real estate desires into reality.
Our pride in this community and for helping people with their real estate needs shines through in the way we approach our clients. We understand that a home is much more than four walls and a roof. We are also very aware that every customer is unique, so we take the time to custom tailor our approach to each client’s unique requirements. When you make your next move, put our experience, upbeat attitude and motivation to work for you.

Whether you’re buying or selling, need a mortgage (or a second mortgage), just have a few questions or need anything else that involves real estate … our sole purpose is to be at your service. Now, through this website, we are available 24 hours a day to work tirelessly to meet your needs. We look forward to earning your trust and helping you realize your dreams.

Please give us a call; send us an email; use one of the special forms on our website to request information or just enjoy our website. Have a great day and thanks again for visiting!

24hr info: 1-800-646-7382 ext:1

Serving Minnesota and Wisconsin

Matthew Maranell

Mobile: 612.978.7509

email: homesavings@pro-home-buyers.com

Get Moving

A very high percentage of people move on the day they complete the purchase of their new home. They’ve just come through an experience that can be very tense, yet they pitch into an activity that’s very tiring and requires a gazillion decisions to be made. It would be helpful if the move could take place the next day. Everyone in the family should be prepared for the time line in advance.

Allot enough time for packing. Allow more time than you think you’ll need. Be sure each family member has a few special possessions with them and not among the things handled by the movers. Yup, Linus had his blanket and most of us have the equivalent.

The year I was fifteen, my family moved for the sixteenth time. My mother was very good at setting up a household in a new location with a minimum of fuss. She always carried a set of sheets and blankets for each bed with her. (All containers were marked with the name of the room they were destined for.)

The first order of business was to set up each family member’s bed and make it. It was reassuring to know your bed was ready for you when you had exhausted yourself. The second place Mother focused on was the kitchen. Getting that organized and ready to function was a high priority.

I highly recommend Mother’s plan if you’re moving. It will give you some feeling of order and that can mean a lot on a stressful day. I’ve seen it successfully implemented many times.

That’s about it. Recognize you’re tackling a tough, big, exciting change. Discuss it with your family. Take your time. Have a plan. Keep your cool. You just purchased a home so be happy!

Home Equity

Equity is simply the value of a property after all debts have been deducted. If your home appraises at $500,000 with a home loan of $250,000, you have $250,000 in equity. Whether you realize it or not, this equity can get you through hard times or provide you with a funding resource. Let’s look at some examples.

Emergency

If you get through life without any family or financial emergencies, you are one lucky person. Unfortunately, most people aren’t so lucky. Home equity can provide a financial cushion when life gets hard. You can use it to pay medical bills, legal fees and any other expenses that arise from your particular problem. You will be extremely thankful you purchased a home if you ever run into this situation.

Education

If you’ve ever watched “The Simpsons,” you may have seen the episode where Bart and Homer go camping. Bart tells Homer a scary story, but you only see the end of it and Homer screaming in terror. The words Bart whispers are, “…and that’s how much it will cost to send Maggie [baby] to college.” It is a very funny scene until you, a parent, actually investigate the cost of college tuition. Trust me, nightmares will soon follow.

Home equity can put an end to college tuition nightmares. You can borrow against the equity to pay college expenses. As with an emergency situation, home ownership will give you the ability to pay the bills.

Making the decision to buy a home can be stressful and frightening. As time passes, you will be incredibly happy you made the leap.

Why Listen

To understand why I say that, we need to understand the functions of “listing brokers” and “buyer brokers.” Real estate brokers can and do serve both functions, though some specialize.

Some brokers who call you are interested in listing your home. They want to market your home for you. The amount of commission charged for this service varies, but where I live, most brokers list homes for a commission of 6 percent of the sales price. When the home sells, if another brokerage firm has brought the buyer to the deal, the listing broker pays the selling broker half or 3 percent.

When you’re successfully operating as a FSBO, you’re getting folks to come and look at your house, or condo, or whatever, and you don’t need a listing agent. However, what if you’ve been doing this for a while and none of the lookers has been converted to a buyer? What then?

Well, if a broker calls you and says he or she is working with buyers and they’d like to be able to show your home, maybe you should consider it. They probably only expect about half the typical listing commission. That still allows you to save serious money. Perhaps you can even negotiate down a bit from half. This is especially true if your home is appropriately priced above the average price for a home in your area. In my area where 3 percent to a selling broker is frequently acceptable, I’ve seen brokers accept 2.5 or even 2 percent. It doesn’t hurt to ask.

As a bonus in that situation, you get someone who is knowledgeable about the process with an interest in getting the deal to settlement. True, they don’t represent you. They represent the buyer, but the buyer wants your home and the broker wants a payday. In short, the buyer broker has incentive to put an oar in when problems arise.

Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not for one second suggesting that you pay more than is necessary to sell your home. At first, take names and phone numbers of “buyer brokers” who call you. Then, if you find you need to, call back the ones who impressed you.

There is a middle ground between going it alone and listing with a broker. If you find you need to, this middle ground can be worth exploring through buyer brokers.

Think Long-Term

Assume you fall in love with the masterpiece home in a particular neighborhood. It has everything you could dream of: black bottom pool, marble, an incredible kitchen, top of the line windows, stunning brick work and so on. The sellers obviously put a lot of time, effort and money into the home. Accordingly, it stands out as the pearl on the block. Why wouldn’t you want to snap it up immediately?

Before you start signing documents, take a look at the sales prices of comparable homes, “comps”, in the neighborhood. If you compare the comp prices to the dream home, you should notice a pretty significant price difference. This difference should act as a metaphorical slap in the face or pouring of cold water over your head. The dream home is undoubtedly selling for a price range far beyond the comps. Warning lights should be going off at this point.

You are going to have a problem if you give into temptation and purchase the most expensive home on the block. In fact, you are going to have two problems.

The first problem is the appreciation of the value of the home. The appreciation on the best home in a neighborhood is always going to be dragged down by the structures around it. If you take a $900,000 home from a private community and put it on a block of $250,000 track homes, the $900,000 value is going to come down a lot because the neighborhood will not support it. When you eventually sell, buyers are going to look at the comps in the neighborhood and laugh at a $900,000 asking price.

The second problem is “hemming.” Since you own the most expensive house in the neighborhood, your appreciation potential is already limited. This becomes a bigger problem if you want to remodel or add on to the home. Taking such action would typically add to the value of a home. With the most expensive home, not only will it not add value, it may cut into your equity. Why? If you do a $50,000 remodel, you may see a $10,000 gain for your $50,000 cost. You just lost $40,000. Dream or Nightmare

Unless you can accurately predict an increase in valuations for an entire neighborhood, you shouldn’t buy the most expensive home on the block. If you do, the dream home could quickly turn into a nightmare.

Looking Good

There is one mandatory step that must occur before holding an open house viewing. The property needs to be spruced up so it shows well. This probably should have been taken care of before the property was put on the market, but review that aspect of things before attempting an open house.

Getting The Word Out

To have a successful open house, you need a good promotional effort. Potential buyers need to know you are holding an open house, when and how to get there. How do you get the word out? How about trying several of the following ideas…

1. Put a classified ad in the newspaper.
2. Post flyers (with permission) in nearby businesses, churches, schools.
3. Post signs similar to “yard sale” signs in your neighborhood.
4. Put a sign in front of your property saying “OPEN HOUSE SATURDAY - 10-4″ and tie helium filled balloons to it. (On Saturday, add a sign saying “OPEN TODAY” with more balloons.)
5. Add info about your open house anywhere your home is advertised for sale on the Internet.
6. Pay some responsible older children or teens to distribute “Open House” flyers in several neighborhoods. (Don’t neglect nearby business areas.)
7. Announce your open house in any community newsletter you can get it in.

There is an endless array of things you can do to promote your open house. Don’t hesitate to give them all a try.

Mortgage Payments

The first step you should take in determining what you can afford is to talk to a mortgage lender. In fact, the best step you can take is to go through the loan process to the extent required to get a pre-qualification letter. A pre-qualification letter tells you and a seller how big of a home loan the lender will give you.

So, once you have the loan in hand, that must be the amount you can afford? The answer is maybe or maybe not. The prequalification letter is based on a number of factors such as your earnings and credit. It is not based on a picture of your life, which can lead to problems.

Other Expenses

There is nothing worse than buying a home and straining to make the monthly mortgage payments. This situation occurs when a homebuyer relies solely on the pre-qualification letter or their own wishful thinking. You may have purchased your dream home, but don’t let the payments be a nightmare.

In determining how much you can afford to expend on a home purchase, you must consider your overall financial situation. Although you may be in a decent financial situation at the moment, do you have future expenses that will put pressure on your finances? Such situations might include:

1. Planning to have kids in the next year or so?
2. Are your current children going to college soon?
3. If you own a business, is the financial outlook stable?
4. If you work for a company, are you reasonably sure the company is headed in the right direction?
5. Do you have any concerns regarding the dreaded downsizing?
6. If you are the sole bread winner, what would happen if you were unable to work for a few months because of health issues?

These general questions are intended to wake you up to the possibility of over extending yourself on a mortgage. Every situation is different, so make sure you take a careful look at your life to make sure you are committing to a loan you can afford now and in the future.

To Inspect or Not To Inspect

Clearly, if a seller got two offers and one requires a home inspection be done, most sellers will choose the non-inspection offer with all other things being equal. So, a home inspection requirement can put you at a competitive disadvantage. Still, are you willing to risk purchasing a home that has some fundamental, expensive problems? What if you purchase the home and subsequently learn plumbing under the floors must replaced? What if the repair costs $10,000?

One option may be to include a provision in your purchase offer that provides for a home inspection done for informational purposes only. That way, settlement under your offer is not conditioned upon the inspection. It would not provide you with the option of amending the contract to have the seller make repairs, nor would it provide a way for you to void the contract should serious problems be uncovered. Should serious problems be discovered, however, the seller is bound to know the deal will be in jeopardy. For that reason, even an “informational” home inspection won’t look as good to her as a contract with no requirement for a home inspection.

Another option you might consider in lieu of a home inspection is a sub rosa inspection. Instead of using James Bond for spying, you could ask a friend working in the construction or engineering field to walk through the house with you. The goal, of course, is to look for any glaring “red flags” that are deal killers.

If your friend doesn’t see anything disturbing, you can then write a clean contract offer without contingencies. Sellers love no contingency sales. The chances are good that you’ll get the home you want, but still have a some assurance there isn’t anything seriously wrong with the property.

There is no one right answer when it comes to deciding on home inspections. Each buyer has to ask himself how much risk he is willing to take. If you are the only party making an offer, demand an inspection. If you are one of many potential buyers, well, you are going to have determine your comfort level. Others can provide information, but the decision is yours.