We Buy Houses in Fairfax Virginia

Everyone has heard the news on the current deteriorating state of the economy, the severe credit crisis and the declining housing market. Fox, CNN, MSNBC, other news, outlets and even the President remind us of our pain daily. The peoples fears and perception have not become reality. Home foreclosures are at an all time high even in my neighborhood in Fairfax Virginia with many more foreclosures likely to come. The unemployment rate in Virginia is growing daily and is the highest it has been in many years. Housing resale values are at all time lows with no end in sight. Even the banks are going bankrupt (124 as of November 2009) as are many Americans who no longer qualify for credit.

Because of the recent credit crisis, many people don’t qualify for a new loan to buy a house right now, despite the incredibly low housing prices. Many home sellers can’t sell their uninvited houses because they owe more than their house is worth because of the falling house prices. Many sellers can’t rent their houses out for enough to cover their finance payments, taxes and insurance resulting in severe negative cash flow that bleeds then dry month after month. To make matters worse, many tenants end up losing their jobs and some even trashing the house when they go out making it even more hard and expensive to sell. If they list their house with a real estate agent, their house will likely sit on the market for a long, long time waiting to sell since the buyers seem to have magically disappeared. Even if the house does finally sell one day at a greatly reduced price to get it sold, the owner has to pay a 6% real estate fee plus the majority of the closing costs. This often consequences in the seller writing a huge, stout check at the closing table to finally get their house sold.

So what are my options to sell my house in Fairfax Virginia quick in this depressed econmy and housing market when many folks can’t get a loan? By trail and error, I exposed the subsequent 3 alternatives to try to sell my Fairfax VA home quickly!

1. I tried to sell my house in Fairfax “For Sale by Owner” aka “FSBO”.

At first, selling my house by for myself sounded simple enough, but it soon became my worst nightmare. At first I didn’t know how to attract buyers that might be interested in purchasing a home in Fairfax Virginia also called Northern VA. The sale by owner sign in the yard wasn’t working. I finished up spending a fortune placing classifieds in the local paper which resulted in a few potential buyers. Those that did respond wanted to see my house at all different hours of the day or night. I was worried to say no in dread of losing a potential buyer. I would have to keep my house clean and all picked up, only to have them not show up to see my house. Other times I had some pretty scary people show up with their 5 kids in tow, trampling through my home. I never did find my ideal buyer. Even if I did, I had no thought how to get them qualified, how to handle all the buy and sale paperwork or how to get the house closed. I said “There has to be a better way to sell my Home!” and I was determined to find it.

2. I listed my house for sale with a local Fairfax Real Estate Agent.

When I listed my house with a local real estate agent, I thought they were all the same and they would be able to sell my house in Fairfax Virginia quickly. I called an agent from a local, seemingly reputable, real estate agency and made an appointment to have an agent come out and see me. The agent sounded like she really knew what she was discussion about and got me really excited about the prospect of selling my home quickly. She said she would list my house in the MLS, on dozens of real estate sites throughout Virginia, advertise my house in the local paper and other print publications, do multiple open houses, place out signs, balloons, flyers in an information box and went on and on about how she could sell my home and still get top dollar. How could I refuse? I didn’t. I listed my house and waited. The agent place the house in the MLS place a sign in the yard along with a dozen flyers in the information box and disappeared never to be seen again. She not only refused to return my calls, but did no perceivable advertising, no open houses, no showings, no more flyers, no more nothing! Six months later I still had no buyers and apparently no agent. I finished up hiring 2 more agents with the same dismal consequences. Meanwhile my house in Fairfax Virginia had not only decreased in value because it would not sell for the list price, which had been reduced repeatedly, but also because of all the other listed houses and foreclosures on the market in my area of Fairfax. At this point, I was all out of thoughts and praying for a solution. About that time, someone at my church told me about a company that helps people in Nothern Virgina with buying and selling houses.

3. I contacted a local, professional home buyer from Fairfax Virginia.

My friend from church told me that she had similar problems selling her Northern Virginia house, but that she had contacted a local professional home buyer who bought her house in under a week! What? Is this possible? Could I sell my Fairfax VA house in 7 days or less too? She said their are professional home buyers out there, also known as “real estate investors”, who buy and sell real estate for investment purposes. You’ve probably seen their “We buy Houses” advertisements around town but never gave them much thought. These are people who buy houses professionally and are always actively looking for more houses to buy. She gave me their WEBSITE information. I filled out their simple online information and they had free reports about the real estate market in Northern Virginia. A local Fairfax home buyer called me and said that if my house qualified and if I was flexible on price and terms, that they may be able to buy my house in the next 7 days or less. They said depending on my situation that they may be able to pay all cash, pay some cash now and some cash later or take over your finance payments giving me immediate debt relief. At this point I was certainly flexible and had nothing to lose by scheduling an appointment for them to come see my home and possibly enable me to sell my Fairfax Virginia house quick!

So I scheduled the appointment with the Fairfax home buyer and he came out inspected my home.  he made me several offers to buy my house as promised. I chose the offer that best suited my needs and we scheduled a closing the subsequent week with a local real estate closing attorney. It was that quick and that simple to finally sell my house in Fairfax! I still can’t get over it. After waiting two years trying to sell my house on my own and through a licensed agent, I was able to sell my house in less than 7 days to a local professional home buying company!

If you have an uninvited Northern Virginia house you need to SELL FAST visit our website, you have nothing to lose by visiting our website and everything to gain. I was able to sell my Northern Virginia home quick and you can too!

One of the largest fears of first home buyers everywhere, is that they may never get on to the property ladder at all. This is a real social stigma in Australia where 70% of people own, or are buying their own homes.

The Centralized Regime’s ‘First Home Owner’ grant that was augmented in October 2008 has encouraged a flood of calls to finance brokers. Young hopefuls are looking to take advantage of the grant to make that first huge step toward a place of their own. Unfortunately the grant ends on June 30th 2009 although finance brokers are lobbying for a six-month extension of the grant. There was very small interest in first home buying through 2008 until the grant went up. So it was just the reassurance and encouragement that first home buyers needed to overcome their reticence.

A second equally large dread for first home buyers is the dread of failure. The dread of making a huge fiscal mistake that could end up in bankruptcy and foreclosure. Clare McGrath a 28-year-ancient laboratory manager place it this way. “Dave and me have wanted a place of our own for years now and have been saving towards it. But how safe were our jobs and what could we afford? How far should we stretch our budget to get a home we would like? The finance market can be very confusing and frightening to first home buyers who will probably only buy 2 or perhaps 3 houses in their lives.

Clare again clarifies. “We did well in finding a finance broker who understood our situation and took us through a very complete and fascinating fiscal health check. He helped us look at our incomes and expenses. He gave us excellent estimates of our finance repayments based on our ability to service a home loan. He took into account all of our assets and liabilities and our precious deposit. We had never realized before how much our finance depended on so many things”

35% is the magic figure that should reassure first home buyers and give them the best guide to what they can afford with minimal risk of getting into distress of the foreclosure kind. No first time buyer should take on repayments that are more than 35% of their weekly pre tax income. All responsible finance brokers will advise their clients in this way and will use sophisticated finance calculator software to judge first home buyer affordability.

To get a first home finance loan you must own more than you owe. Lenders will look carefully at your existing assets and liabilities. Assets including things such as furniture, vehicles, savings and funds you may have accumulated over the years. Lenders will look at your credit confirmation to establish whether you are likely to default on the repayments. Factors such as your occupation, work confirmation, where you live and your confirmation as a tenant, are used to build a credit profile. Your credit risk can influence how much you can borrow.

A third dread for first home buyers is getting the timing right for their entry into the market. Many first home buyers held back in the first three quarters of 2008 out of uncertainty and dread that house prices would take up again to fall. The First Home Owner grant is certainly reversing that trend. In contrast to this many first home buyers are worried not to jump in and buy as soon as they are in a position to do so because house price inflation is relentlessly moving affordable homes out of their fiscal reach. In reality there is some truth and a lot of rubbish talked about house prices commonly. The only way for first home buyers to overcome their fears is to get expert advice in the way Clare and Dave did.