Kenn Renner's (kennrenner) Blog

The Neighborhood Neighborhoods vary from area to area. Even from street to street. It is a good idea to check out school districts, crime ratings, traffic patterns, as well as future potential impacts to a community. Your real estate professional will most likely know some of these “stats” but it...

It is very helpful to use a grading system when you tour homes. Use an A, B, C, D, or scale of 1-to-10 (with 10 being perfect) when touring homes. Grade the neighborhood, the location, the condition, the floor plan, the functionality and special features, but really the overall rating for the hom...

Another great thing about having your trusted real estate professional escorting you around is that they have electronic access to all of the homes listed. Real estate professionals have an electronic key that allows them access to almost any property listed by any other real estate broker. They ...

You will need to set aside two to four hours for a home tour. Real estate professionals are accustomed to scheduling tours around work schedules, or on evenings and weekends. Ideally, you may want to schedule a day off from work to tour homes. Days off are great for touring because you will be mo...

Up Front Monies Once you have found a home, you will be asked to provide funds for a number of “up front” expenses. The first is earnest money. Earnest money are funds that are paid into a title or escrow company that show the seller of the home you are “serious.” It usually amounts to ½ of 1% or...

I often get asked the question – “which is better, to buy a new home or a resale home?” and my answer is always “that depends.” There are advantages and disadvantages to both. First, new homes tend to be “further out.” As the city grows, the builders move further out to build on land at the fring...

Internet Searches Statistics show that 90% of homebuyers start their search on the Internet. Today, there is more information available to homebuyers than ever before. Homebuyers now have access to most of the homes on the market through IDX sites that tie into the databases real estate professio...

After your loan is processed it is submitted to underwriting for final approval. Loan underwriting is at first done by a computer which will produce a quick answer and produce a list of “conditions.” Conditions are clarifications or documentation required by the underwriter to help them make a de...

Dos: 1) Check with your loan officer before making financial moves 2) Keep your cash and reserve levels up 3) Provide your lender with updated financial info such as new pay stubs and bank statements as you get them 4) Carefully document bank balance increases 5) Provide your lender with what the...

Once all the preliminary documents are reviewed, you will be issued a letter of pre-approval. A letter of pre-approval is the lender’s reasonable assurance that with the information provided and the current credit scores, that you can get a loan. The loan is only “pre-approved” because for a loan...