Scottsdale Real Estate Blog - Home Buying

Using Your IRA or 401(k) for a Down Payment

Sometimes it seems like there is just no way you'll ever be able to afford to purchase your first property in  Scottsdale, Carefree, Cave Creek, Fountain Hills, Paradise Valley, or another Phoenix area. As prices increase, the dream of homeownership drifts farther away.

There are many different rules and ways of obtaining financing and/or funds. Here are two you might want to consider.  Please consider the date of this post and double-check with your IRA or 401K provider to make sure what the current rules are.

1. If you are a first-time home buyer you are allowed to withdraw up to $10,000 from your IRA without penalty. You will be taxed on the withdrawal, unless you have a Roth IRA, as you were already taxed on those contributions.

2. You'll…

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More Scottsdale Home Buyers Search the Internet First

UPDATE: Please note this post date - check out that computer in the picture. The figure stated below keeps rising, it is now way above 90%. Print advertising has all but died out. Many brokerages have completely cut out all print advertising.

According to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), Internet usage has risen among Scottsdale home buyers. In 1995, only about 2 percent of home buyers surfed the Internet. Today that figure has risen to 77%, up 3% from 2004 (see UPDATE above).

This is the reason I use multiple social media sites and invest time and money into my Scottsdale area website. These attract buyers to my site so they can see all of the Scottsdale real estate and surrounding towns (Cave Creek, Carefree, North Phoenix, Fountain…

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Don't Make These Scottsdale Home Buyer Mistakes

This is an older post that I've updated.  I received a real estate association e-mail newsletter with an interesting list from an Illinois real estate agent, Mark Nash. I'd like to quote his Top Buyer Mistakes and give my opinion after each one:

1. Bought properties to flip at top-of-market prices

I still can't figure out why buyers do this. Maybe if a buyer timed the purchase around the flipping of a Scottsdale home for sale at the beginning of a seller's market, they might have seen a substantial profit. In our local market, things are slowing and I've already seen homes purchased and quickly put back on the market at a higher price (after some renovating) sitting and not selling.

UPDATE: We are still seeing flips but I do see a lot of…

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