Scottsdale Real Estate Blog

What is the Difference Between Mortgage Pre-qualification and Pre-approval?

A guest author just wrote an article on benefits of getting pre-approved before purchasing a home getting pre-approved before buying a home. It really isn't just an idea or suggestion, most sellers will not accept an offer without at least a pre-qualification letter. If a seller doesn't understand the importance of this, the listing agent will educate them.

How it used to be done

When I first started selling real estate in 1983 there were no pre-qualification expectations. We would go through an entire loan process, waiting on pins and needles to see if the buyers would get approved for the mortgage. In many cases, they didn't.

In fact, we did our own pre-qualification process. We would just ask the buyers questions about their job history,…

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Benefits of Getting Pre-Approved Before Purchasing a Home

When buying a home, the typical sequence of events should be to first find the right property and then deal with the loan, right? Well, there are some significant benefits of getting pre-approved before purchasing a home. They can make a very important difference in many ways. Read on and discover how putting this step ahead of others gives you a head start.

Uncertainty will not torture you as much

Getting pre-approved before purchasing a home can take the uncertainty out of the process

Unless you have cash prepared, you will probably need a loan to buy yourself a house or an apartment. You may even be sure a bank will provide you with a certain amount. But nothing is certain until the loan provider says it is. Even if you are an expert in…

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What Expenses to Expect When Buying a Home in Scottsdale

Buying a home can be an expensive and challenging endeavor that will require a lot of effort and patience from your side. When we talk about buying a property, expenses usually come to your mind first. It is ok to dream of owning a specific home, but it's the expenses that keep you from owning that piece of property. There are the "usual" ones, but some can slip below the radar and cause complications later. This article is dedicated to uncovering what expenses to expect when buying a home in Scottsdale.

Types of expenses when buying a home

Before we discuss specific expenses and what to expect, let's take a minute to analyze the types of costs. Generally speaking, you divide expenses into two groups:

Upfront expenses:

• downpayment
• …

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Reasons You Should Move to Scottsdale After Retiring

Choosing which city or state to retire in can be pretty tricky today. There are many things to consider before choosing a location related to the city and the home. Quite a few factors go into this decision, and you must keep them all in mind. However, while there are plenty of great spots to retire in the US, some are better than others. This can be seen in the fact that many retirees choose the same locations to retire in. Arizona’s Scottsdale, for example, has 14% of its population as retirees. So, today we’ll be going over why so many retirees choose this city and the reasons you should move to Scottsdale after retiring.

The weather is warm year-round

A typical winter in Scottsdale will not have snow or freezing temps

Scottsdale is an…

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6 Reasons Cave Creek is the Perfect Place to Raise a Family

Are you considering moving to Cave Creek, Arizona?

If the answer is Yes, keep reading because we've prepared a list of 6 reasons Cave Creek is the perfect place to raise a family. Relocating to a new city is a significant decision. Hopefully, this blog post can help you make the final decision easier. Let's get going!

1. Cost of Living

When selecting a new home, the cost of living is an essential factor. Cave Creek has a cheaper cost of living compared to most other cities in the state and the nation.

On a state and federal level, certain places may have greater expenses than others. Still, on average, housing, utilities, groceries, transportation, health care, and other products and services are less expensive in Cave Creek.

The…

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How to Choose the Right Art When Staging Your Scottsdale Home

A well-staged property can entice a buyer to view a listing, and even something as simple as the artwork you select can make or break the sale of your Scottsdale home. Your experienced Scottsdale real estate agent will probably tell you the same. Although everyone's taste in design differs, picking the correct artwork for your home when staging can help buyers imagine themselves living there. Thus, choosing the right art when staging your Scottsdale home is very important. We've prepared simple tips to help you select art pieces that will help buyers fall in love with your home.

Tips for choosing the right art when staging your Scottsdale home

If you want to position your home well for sale, ensuring you have the appropriate artwork is critical.…

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Things to Avoid When Putting Your Scottsdale House on the Market

Scottsdale's market stands for one of the hottest markets in the Greater Phoenix area. Although the market has been cooling with higher interest rates, we still have buyers competing for a properly priced property that is clean, up-to-date, and shows well. Bidding wars here are exactly that - wars. However, the explosive atmosphere we saw in the beginning of the year seems to lull today's sellers into thinking that selling is a piece of cake and that they don't need to put in much effort. In reality, even in the hottest market, it's not enough to exist and have a property to sell. Besides, the competitive kind of sale will make the potential buyers offer less. So, let's go over some things to avoid when putting your Scottsdale house on the market with…

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A Must-Have Checklist for First-Time Home Buyers

Out of all milestones in life, buying a home for the first time is a significant one. We are talking about a substantial investment that will change every aspect of your life. But you must remember that the mistakes you make throughout this process may cost you considerably. Therefore, you must be thorough, take care of every detail, and even consult a Scottsdale real estate agent. Here's a must-have checklist for first-time home buyers to ensure that you find a property that is perfect for you and your lifestyle.

The first item on the checklist for first-time home buyers is – the budget

Under no circumstances should you start looking for a property before you decide on your budget. Firstly, you may end up very disappointed if you realize all…

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Living in Cave Creek - a Small Town with Big Town Amenities

Cave Creek has a small-town charm, as well as access to the larger cities of Phoenix and Scottsdale. With over 170 miles of hiking trails, the preserve, and nature trails, this small community is an ideal place for anyone to live. It is only about 30 minutes from Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix depending on traffic.

The population of Cave Creek is just shy of 5,000 and has a high concentration of residents who own their homes. Cave Creek real estate offers many different subdivisions and areas with different home styles and lot sizes, including horse properties.

Living in Cave Creek offers numerous advantages. Here are some of the benefits of small-town living:

1 Town, 1 Zip Code

What's the big deal about that? Unlike it's much larger neighbor…

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The Scottsdale Real Estate Market and the State of Inflation: What You Need to Know

It's no secret that the real estate market has had ups and downs since the Great Recession of 2008. Prices fell precipitously during the crisis after reaching an all-time high in 2006 and have risen at a high pace in the past couple of years. The Federal Reserve has maintained interest rates at historically low levels in the meantime in an effort to promote economic expansion.

What will happen to the Scottsdale real estate market is the issue on everyone's mind right now as the economy keeps growing and inflation begins to increase. To help you better understand what to anticipate in the months and years ahead, we'll look more closely at the housing market and inflation in this article.

What is inflation?

Inflation is when prices for…

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