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<< Previous   of   Next >> (click to enlarge) Joe Tountas of Lake Forest Park (click to enlarge) Ron Fischer (click to enlarge) Herald file photo Local real estate experts say the cyclical market currently favors buyers, as prices have remained relatively stable and there are plenty of houses on the market. (click to enlarge) Danny Forbes   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Mike Benbow, Business Editor benbow@heraldnet.com   Published: Sunday, October 14, 2007 Tips for first-time home buyers By Christina Harper Special to The Herald It recently occurred to Joe Tountas, 27, that during the time he had been thinking about buying real estate he could already have been building up equity in a home. "I didn't want to wait any longer," Tountas said. So he signed up for a seminar that would teach him everything that first-time buyers need to know about the real estate journey. Tountas, who lives in Lake Forest Park, went along to a first-time home buyer seminar that laid out for him things such as the difference between being pre-approved and pre-qualified and knowing what good faith estimates and closing costs entail. He left feeling good about his upcoming quest to find a condominium. "It was very helpful," Tountas said. "There were lots of things I didn't know about, like different kinds of loans and the process." Danny Forbes, mortgage banker and broker at Golf Savings Bank in Mountlake Terrace, holds two to three first-time home buyer classes a month. On average he gets 10 attendees in each class. Sometimes there is only one or two who come. Numbers have been down since summer but not necessarily because of the recent downturn in mortgage lending. "It's been pretty steady," Forbes said. Forbes prepares first-time buyers for the questions they will encounter. He covers selecting a mortgage professional, understanding how real estate agents get paid and knowing what to expect at closing. Forbes believes this is a better time to purchase a home than last year or the beginning of this year. The real estate market is cyclical, and there are always ups and downs. But buying property is a long-term investment, and there are bargains out there. "From the buyers' perspective, there is twice as much inventory now," Forbes said. Sellers know that home prices are not increasing the way they had during the past five years. "They need to be aggressive with their pricing or the home is just not going to sell," Forbes added. Ron Fischer, associate broker with Windermere Real Estate in Alderwood, has been in the business for 30 years. He's seen this all before. "I've seen things that are a lot worse than this," Fischer said. He recalls the mid-1980s when interest rates soared. The real estate market was hit much harder at the time. Fischer advises house hunters to keep a positive attitude and remember that real estate is still selling in the region. "Right now it's not nearly as bad as people think it is," Fischer said. "That's my mantra." Throughout his career Fischer has worked with many first-time home buyers, many of whom can afford only a modest place. The first purchase might be a condo. Buyers can then work their way up to larger houses and better locations. Those thinking about buying real estate for the first time might be worried about bad credit. There are ways of cleaning some of it up. Bad credit might not be the hurdle buyers think it is. Fischer adds that there is financing out there. A first-time home buyer might qualify for the Washington State Housing Finance Commission's state bond program, which helps secure low-interest mortgages. "Has the lending market tightened? Yes," Fischer said. But he adds "There's still plenty of money out there to be lent." Fischer tells first-time home buyers to get as much information as they can about purchasing a home, what's involved and who they need to talk to. "Find a good agent and mortgage person," Fischer said. "Build good relationships. We all work together as a team." Fischer said that while traffic is down a little, his outlook is positive. "It's an absolutely great time to buy," he said. Any later could be too late for Tountas, who said he would have fallen behind the curve if he had waited. He is almost ready to be pre-approved for a loan. His mother told him about the seminar. The complexities of buying a home didn't put him off looking for a property. Even though he didn't know what to expect, he believes he is more prepared now to make a deal. "It's nice to know what it's like out there," Tountas said. "I now know how certain things work." Tountas is glad that he will soon be putting money into something that is his, and although he is single he thinks about security for a family in the future, the pride of owning property and his money not going to waste. He'd like to have the process completed and be a homeowner by December. "I'm very excited," Tountas said, "thinking that it's gonna be mine." Christina Harper is a Snohomish County freelance writer. She can be reached at harper@heraldnet.com. @1. Body Copy: Lower-cost mortgage The Washington State Housing Finance Commission offers lower-than-market interest rates to those who qualify. One of the stipulations is that prospective buyers attend a first-time home buyer seminar presented by certified loan officers and real estate agents. For information on upcoming seminars in Snohomish County, go to www.wshfc.org and scroll down and click on "Homeownership Program." Then click on "Seminar Schedule by City."

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