It’s here: ‘THE BIG OPEN’ for your benefit

Today, and continuing next weekend (Aug.16-17), members of the Spokane Association of REALTORS® are hosting hundreds of county-wide open houses for summer home buyers!

This is the height of the summer buying season, and as of the end of July, nearly 3,000 homes have sold this year across Spokane County.

According to Spokane REALTORS®, there are an unparalleled variety of homes available to home buyers across the many great communities of Spokane County.

Yesterday kicked off The BIG OPEN for its first day of open house tours. Details can be found on SpokaneOpen.com, a newly launched site brought to you by your Spokane REALTOR®.

On an ongoing basis, SpokaneOpen.com will feature homes in all areas and all prices, allowing online visitors to search for current open houses and print by price or by open house date, with maps, details, and directions, and more. During each of the two BIG OPEN weekends, visitors to REALTOR®-sponsored open houses are also eligible to enter a $100-gift card grand prize drawing.

Are you thinking about buying a home? Here are seven tips to guide your home search:

•1. Research before you look. Decide what features you most want to have in a home, what neighborhoods you prefer, and how much you’d be willing to spend each month for housing. A great way to do this is visit several neighborhoods and tour open houses.

•2. Be realistic. It’s OK to be picky, but don’t be unrealistic with your expectations. There’s no such thing as a perfect home. Use your list of priorities as a guide to evaluate each property you visit.

•3. Get your finances in order. Review your credit report and be sure you have enough money to cover your down payment and closing costs. Then, talk to a lender and get pre-qualified for a mortgage. This will save you the heartache later of falling in love with a house you can’t afford.

•4. Decide your moving timeline. When is your lease up? Are you allowed to sublet? How tight is the rental market in your area? All of these factors will help you determine when you should move.

•5. Think longterm. Are you looking for a starter house with plans to move up in a few years, or do you hope to stay in this home for a longer period? This decision may dictate what type of home you’ll buy as well as the type of mortgage terms that will best suit you.

•6. Insist on a home inspection. If possible, get a seller-provided home warranty contract to cover the home’s major systems for the first year.

•7. Get help from a REALTOR®. Hire a real estate professional who specializes in buyer representation. Unlike a listing agent (whose first duty is to the seller), a buyer’s representative is working only for you. Buyer’s reps are usually paid out of the seller’s commission payment.

Now that you’re ready to view open houses, be sure to visit SpokaneOpen.com, and bookmark the site for weekly updates. SpokaneOpen.com is the new, official “open house Web site of the Spokane Association of REALTORS®.”

Come out and enjoy THE BIG OPEN today and next weekend, Aug. 16-17, courtesy of your Spokane REALTOR®. Remember, today it’s an open house — tomorrow, it can be YOUR house.