When buying or selling real estate, there is much to consider. If you are not familiar with the process and what options you have, you could make the wrong choice. And with large sums of money involved and years to repay the loan, making the wrong choice is something you could regret for a long time.

In our round-up of the best real estate articles for October, we highlight great content that will help if you are about to enter the home-buying or selling process. There’s also expert opinion to help you decide on the type of loan you should choose and information to understand the size of one acre better.

Let’s take a look at the best real estate articles for October 2023:

Should You Use a Home Improvement Loan?

If you want to renovate your home, a home improvement loan can seem like the ideal solution. However, other options might be more suitable and save you money.

Joe Boylan takes you through the many financing options available if you want to improve your home.

You could find that a home equity line of credit (HELOC) is a better option. It could allow you to borrow against the equity you have in the home, only using the money you need to fund the renovations.

Perhaps a second mortgage better meets your requirements. This would provide a one-time lump sum and consistent repayments each month. Joe compares these options to home improvement loans to help you better understand your financing options.

Niche Mortgage Programs You Should Know About

Choosing the right mortgage is vital when buying a home. But for many buyers, the more popular home loans aren’t suitable. Getting a home loan could seem out of reach if you find yourself in this situation.

Luke Skar reveals four of the more unique mortgage programs that could make buying a home a more realistic option for many buyers.

If you want to apply for a loan for a home that you won’t live in, lenders can make it very difficult to qualify. Perhaps you want to buy a home for an elderly relative or a disabled adult child, and the terms offered aren’t attractive. A Family Opportunity Mortgage provides similar terms and interest rates to owner-occupied home loans, and Luke explains why this could be a better option.

If you are self-employed, you might find that a Bank Statement Loan makes qualifying for a higher loan amount easier than a lender would otherwise approve, which is also covered.

When buying an investment property, standard loan programs are often unsuitable. A Debt-service Coverage Ratio Mortgage could allow you to buy an investment property while using the rental income to qualify and cover the payments.

If your lending situation is out of the ordinary, a better mortgage program could fit your requirements.

How Big is an Acre?

If you plan to buy land, understanding what you are getting might not be as straightforward as you think. So, how big is an acre? You might have a general idea about an acre, but visualizing the exact size can be difficult.

Bill Gassett takes you through everything you need to know to help you understand what an acre is. From its origins in 13th-century England to comparing it to the size of a football field and how the measurement is used in real estate today, Bill covers all the bases.

Bill also explains the factors that will affect the cost of an acre of land, which you must consider when buying. The location will play a significant role in the value, but other less obvious factors can also have a significant effect. The topography, zoning, environmental factors, utilities, and development potential are some of the other things you need to consider when looking at a plot of land.

Your Roadmap to Selling a Home

Beginning the process of selling your home can be daunting, and there can be difficult decisions to make where mistakes can be costly. A better understanding of the process and what you need to know could prove vital to reduce the chances of things going wrong.

Chris Highland comprehensively details the steps you must follow throughout the selling process. He covers choosing a real estate agent, preparing your home for sale, setting the price, and many more steps you will face when selling your home.

If you are a first-time buyer, this information will clear up much of the possible confusion about the process involved. But even if you have sold homes in the past, this selling roadmap could have information you haven’t heard before and could benefit from.

Home Selling Tips

When you are ready to sell your home, getting the best price will be high on your list of priorities. When getting ready to sell, you have much to consider, and some things can get overlooked. However, if you don’t do certain things, you could sell the home for less than anticipated.

Paul Sian addresses this issue, providing sellers with tips that could mean a difference of tens of thousands of dollars when selling. While tidying your home before viewings is an obvious step to improve your chances of finding a buyer, there are other things you should also be doing. Paul recommends decluttering, removing personal items, and working to improve your home’s curb appeal.

He also suggests making sure you are up-to-date with maintenance and dealing with repairs. If there are repair issues in your home, they will be uncovered during the home inspection. Taking care of these issues ahead of time prevents them from becoming a reason for the buyer to walk away or ask for concessions.

If you are preparing to sell your home, you will want to make sure you are doing everything to maximize the price you will receive from the sale, and this article offers some great tips.

Selling Your Home for More

If you are getting ready to sell your home, we have another article you need to read to have a more profitable sale. Getting the best price for your property isn’t usually down to luck. There are things you can do and strategies to produce a better result.

Kevin Vitali offers more advice to sellers to help them ensure they get the price they want for their home. He provides strategies that help get your home in front of as many potential buyers as possible and then sell it for the best price.

Kevin also provides tips to help you navigate negotiations and helping you decide when to make compromises. Receiving an offer for your property might be exciting, but how should you handle offers to get the best outcome? The tips in Kevin’s article should give you a better understanding of the best approach.

Should You Include a Right of First Refusal in Your Contract?

There can be many clauses involved in real estate contracts; one of the less common is a right of first refusal. The right of first refusal allows a particular party to make an offer on a property before other potential buyers.

Michelle Gibson sheds some light on this sometimes misunderstood clause, breaking down the pros and cons of including the right of first refusal in your real estate contract.

While it gives the holder the right to the first chance to buy the home without competition, it can also lead to disputes and a delayed sale. It offers the seller more control over who buys the home, but it does restrict their options when other offers are on the table and could affect the market value.

Suppose there is the prospect of a right of first refusal clause inclusion in your real estate contract. Legal representation is recommended in that case, but reading this article will help you understand what it means.

Understanding the Mortgage Approval Process

Choosing the right mortgage and reviewing the lender’s approval process can be stressful. Selecting the lender and the home loan can significantly affect your monthly outgoings and the interest you pay.

When you have chosen a mortgage, you need to be clear on your financial limits so that you only pursue homes you can afford. The lender’s approval will require you to provide documents to show you meet their requirements. And if your mortgage isn’t approved, you could have to begin your home search again.

Karen Highland offers an in-depth guide to the mortgage approval process. If you are buying your first home or have been through this process previously, this information could prove very valuable.

Karen highlights the benefits of getting pre-approved for your mortgage and explains the pre-qualification and pre-application steps you might encounter. The application and underwriting stages are thoroughly explained, and terms are defined to remove much of the mystery that can surround this process. This article will be a good read if you are about to apply for a mortgage.

Final Thoughts

Whichever side of the real estate transaction you are on, buying and selling real estate can be daunting. The above real estate articles should better prepare you for the steps you must go through during the transaction.

This month has also shown that more options could be available than you imagined. If you are considering a home improvement loan or choosing a mortgage program, hopefully, this month’s round-up has revealed that better options might be available.

PREVIOUS REAL ESTATE ROUNDUPS

Look at some of the excellent advice from past real estate roundups.

• The best real estate roundup September 2023 – get additional tips and advice from professionals nationwide on vital buying and selling topics.
• The best real estate roundup for August 2023 – see more helpful guidance from real estate pros nationwide.

About the author: the above roundup of the best articles from October 2023 was written by Luke Skar. Luke is a 20+ year veteran of the mortgage industry. He strives to stay updated with the latest changes and trends in mortgage lending and real estate.

Through his mortgage blog, websites, and social media accounts, he aims to help the community with as much factual knowledge as possible that benefits all parties in real estate transactions.