Home buyers need some guidelines to help them determine what to offer when searching for jacksonville florida real estate and questions to ask themselves before they make that offer. I recently discovered the following helpful guidelines to follow when shopping for a home and making an offer on one.

The Pre-qualification process for buyers is the first step in the process of buying Jacksonville property and Jacksonville real estate. The buyers through this process will determine how much per month they can afford to spend on their new home including taxes and insurance. Jacksonville Florida real estate agents can assist in this process using analytical tools they have access to. This will help determine the price range of homes to look at. 

Prospective buyers research the different areas (Southside Jacksonville, St Augustine, Jacksonville Beaches, Northside Jacksonville, Mandarin, Ponte Vedra and Downtown Jacksonville) and focus their search on the areas they want to live in. They know whether they want to live in a single family, townhouse, or condo and the features that they consider essential.

You have finally found the house you want to make an offer on. It has the features you have been searching for. Your north florida real estate agent will assist you in determining what comparable properties in the area have recently sold for. This is known as a CMA (comparative market analyses). This will help you determine if the owner’s asking price is high or low and can help you figure out what to offer. Your Jacksonville Florida real estate agent will play an essential role in the negotiation process.

Before making an offer, determine if there are any assessments, covenants and restrictions that will apply to you if you are the owner. Your Realtor will help you with this process. There may be homeowners’ association fee, community development district fees as well as future assessments. For example, you will want to know if there are any restrictions to renting the home, or limits to the number of cars that can be parked on the property.

Have your agent ask the owners what they like about and dislike about the area and house. It may provide information that is helpful. They might state a factor that makes the area desirable to them but is a turn off to you.

Review the seller’s disclosure statement which is designed to identify any issues about the property that the seller is aware of. However, it is still a good idea to ask the seller if they ever had any problems with the house. While they may have had a problem and fixed it, there may be residual damage that is hidden. The leaky roof and ceilings were fixed. However, was there damage to the walls or floors that is hidden? You might want to check this before making an offer or specify that an inspection will check these areas very closely.

You drove to the home on Saturday or Sunday afternoon and then estimated how long it would take to get to work from this location, get the children to school and go to the store. To get a realistic estimate you should consider driving past the home during different times of day and on different days. On Monday morning, rush hour traffic may increase the commute time and you should verify that it is still acceptable. Drive around the area taking different routes. You should learn about the surrounding neighborhoods.

These are a few of the essential items to consider before presenting a bid on the home that you want to love tomorrow as much as you love today. Using a qualified Jacksonville Florida real estate professional to help you is critical, this will provide the assistance you need to make the process go smoothly and help you determine when to make an offer and how much to offer.