Author: Joe Hunley
There are many methods used today to increase traffic to your Website or Blog. As an Author of a Website, I am constantly trying to get a larger number of viewers to my Site. The sucess of any Website or Blog is directly related to the amount of quality traffic that crosses it's doorstep. The sales of products depends on a large number of visiters, and what good is a Site that offers opinions on anything, if their is no one to read them!
I have used several methods in my pursuit of Traffic, the most effective being Article Writing. Why-Because articles are Quick and Easy Traffic to your Website or Blog!! If well-written, and on a topic people will be searching for, an Article can draw an amazing amount of traffic.
First, you should determine what interest's you, and what you wish to write about. What knowledge do you have that will help the reader, and on a subject that They, the readers will be interested in? Are you willing to research a subject, you are not that familiar with? Remember, the content of your article will determine the sucess of your article. A simple search of keywords on any search engine will inform you of the "HOT" search terms.
Write Your article, give accurate information to your reader, and it will have the potential to increase the traffic to your Website or Blog. Remember, the reader found you, by searching a topic of interest to him. Now your article has to gain his trust that you know what you are talking about, and send the reader to the Author Bio. The Author Bio is where you will mention a little about yourself and suggest to the reader that they visit your Website.
I have found that even if I get a small percentage of my readers to move on to my Site after reading my article, they are interest traffic, not passers-by, or they wouldn't bother clicking my Link or reading my Bio.
So, if you are looking for a Free method of increasing your Targeted traffic, a quick and easy method--Submit Articles to the numerous Article Directories avaliable, give it some time, but you will see results.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/blogging-articles/articles-quick-and-easy-traffic-411371.html
About the Author:
Friday, May 23, 2008
Articles, Quick and Easy Traffic
Writers - Make Money With a Blog
Writers - Make Money With a Blog
Author: Paul Jesse
Writing is a career where one can become an overnight success or keep struggling for years without making any money and possibly end up changing to another career. There are problems trying to find an publisher to accept and publish your book or novel or a magazine editor to print your article or column. Hopefully this situation may not arrise often in this day and time, thanks to the internet.
Years ago, people in the writing profession had to depend on others to earn; today’s writers may now produce an income from their writing by switching their passion to write into a business. Difficult as it might sound, this effort may indeed constitute an easy-to-achieve possibility with the use of the internet and blogs. Amazing, as it might appear, you will be able to make money with a blog by just whipping up your hidden writing talent.
If you are new to the internet and don't know what a blog is, or you've been working on or surfing the internet for years, making money with a blog is a possibility that you'll be able to accomplish with a little planning. Here are a few tips that should be able to help you:
1. Earn working with Google - What once constituted merely a search engine Google now comprises one of the the worlds most powerful enterprises, not only in terms of its reach, but also in terms of its income generating possibilities. You will be able to earn from Google by utilizing their free service called AdSense. All that's required of you is to have a blog and sell space on your page for advertisements to be posted by AdSense. The service would then permit you to show ad units – ad boxes – that would show ads associated with the subjects you write on in your blog.
For example, you wrote about the piano you just brought, then the ad unit probably would show ads about pianos. When your visitors click on any of these ads, you'd get paid a certain amount. Once your income reaches one hundred dollars, You would then receive a check.
2. Advertise additional Profitable Web Sites- numerous online businesses offer affiliate programs. These programs work by you having their advertisements placed on your blog. When a visitor clicks the ad and makes a purchase from that company the ad represents, you would earn a commission or a referral fee. Many gurus in internet marketing run such programs including large corporations like Amazon.com, eBay and many others. The income you are able to earn varies depending on each company’s payment policies.
3. Sell Ads – The downside of Google advertisements and affiliate programs is you don't actually have much control over your income and the ads that are showed on your blog. If you would like to play more seriously in the ad marketing game, then you could apply BlogAds’ free databases where you will be able to set your own price for advertisers to place ads on your blog. Several companies search for blogs that match their products and services and rent ad space the same as they do when using those traditional billboards you see along the freeways. Your ad space could then be leased for a certain time period. You would have to pay twenty percent of your income to BlogAd.
4. Donations - several blogs have donation buttons on them. And admittedly, numerous enthusiastic fans and visitors might be willing to make a contribution as a sign of appreciation for your well-written, compelling, and informative blog. Donation buttons are available from PayPal, the renowned online internet service, who would receive a fee for this service when people decide to make a donation. Like options are extended by Amazon and BitPass.
5. Open an Online shopping mall – if your blog becomes so popular that thousands of visitors from all over the world visit it daily. Then you might benefit from that traffic by marketing gifts and souvenirs. And the good news is you would not have to place your logo on those gifts, T-shirts or baseball caps. CafePress would do it for you. CafePress extends to sell for you anything from those precious buttons to defying outerware. The asking price is up to you; you only have to pay the base price of the merchandise.
Making money with a blog is not as difficult as it appears. But naturally like any adventure to make money, you have be be good at doing your job. Keep learning and never give up and You will have the potential to make big earnings utilizing your blog .
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/blogging-articles/writers-make-money-with-a-blog-420909.html
About the Author:
Want to earn a 6 figure income but don't know how or where to start? Please visit ==> http://www.sheamarketing.com/special-report.html and read my review of the greatest product ever to come out online in the 6 years I've been doing this.
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Making More Money Online With Affiliate Programs
Author: Jerry Leung
If you are now working as an affiliate marketer, you may probably want to increase the sales and make more money. In fact, the main key here is to work hard and spend the time to explore. Yet there are some tips for if you would like to earn more commission.
As mentioned, you need to take the time to explore. You have to spend the time to update your website. You also need to explore various methods to promote your affiliate sites, as well as the affiliate products. Remember, there is no way to become rich overnight when you work as an marketer. If you would like to become rich overnight, you should try to win the jackpots of a lottery. Yet in the field of affiliate marketing you will be able to build your wealth step by step if you are willing to work hard.
As a matter of fact, a lot of people will just join some affiliate programs and they never work! Of course they will never get the check in this case. You may have read a lot of articles or tips on improving sales. You have to put these tips and ideas at work. There is no way to make money if you do not actually work. You should try to learn while you are working. You may think that you should read all the tips first so that you can be well prepared when you start. However, this is not the way to work in this field of business. You should read some tips and articles before you start so that you can have some basic knowledge. However, you will need to start working because you may learn something that you have never read before by actually working.
Besides, you should also work hard everyday. And you have to continuously work if you want to make more money. You can not work for a few days and stop. Discipline is very important in the field of affiliate marketing. If you do not have the discipline to work everyday, it is better for you to quit the business. You will only be disappointed if you are unable to work consistently.
Remember, the key to succeed in affiliate marketing is to get it work. You should think out of the box and try various ideas so that you will become more experienced. And you will be just one step from success if you can do so.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/affiliate-programs-articles/making-more-money-online-with-affiliate-programs-421874.html
About the Author:
Jerry Leung is an author. You can learn more about Make Money Online from his website. He also runs a site about Niche Affiliate Marketing Program . Be sure to check Website Statistics Analysis Tools .
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Affiliate Marketing-insights and Achievements
Author: Lalita Negi
The new age economy is running by the marketing and advertising. Every product needs advertising and for that Internet is a big medium these days. Now, affiliate marketing is that system of advertising and promotion in which a website A agrees to feature some links from another website B and in return the website A gets a percentage from the sales generated. Here A is affiliate and B is the merchant.
Although, the process of affiliate marketing seems very simple and profitable but it is not that easy. It needs expertise and knowledge to practice it. The implementation of the process requires effort and skill and this kind of advertisement is free from risks. Nowadays it is popular among the website startups. The merchant can do various kind of advertisements like banners, images, text links, audio-video presentations and many more. Of late it has been very successful for online consumer product retailers and financial service providers.
This system of promotion has been very successful and there is a reason behind it. As you know that among the Internet users (1.15 Billion worldwide till 2007. Source: The eMarketer), a huge population is doing online shopping and other activities. A lot of activities, apart from Email checking, are happening over the Internet like people are buying and selling products, paying the bills, searching property and matrimony etc. These people are the causes of the success of affiliate marketing.
In fact, the total sales generated through UK affiliate networks in 2006 was £2.16 billion in the UK alone (Source: e-Consultancy Affiliate Networks Buyers Guide 2006) and the UK market for affiliate marketing grew by an estimated 45% last year, taking the total value of online sales generated by this channel in 2007 to more than £3 billion. (Source: e-Consultancy Affiliate Networks Buyers Guide 2008).
This stature of growth of affiliate marketing is mind-blowing and it is growing day by day. Various online marketing companies are striving to become a big affiliate network. As competition is fierce so only the strong would survive.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/affiliate-programs-articles/affiliate-marketinginsights-and-achievements-422425.html
About the Author:
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Author is a dedicated writer for ePurple Media, with expert knowledge in diverse online marketing subjects includes affiliate marketing , seo services etc.
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Promoting Your Business Using Affiliate Marketing
Author: revenue27
You started your own online business, everything’s there; your website’s running, every link in it is functioning as it should be, the products or services you’re selling are there, but your sales are at an all time low.
Why? You probably thought that starting an online business just requires you to put up a functioning website; this is where you are wrong.
Starting an online business is not as easy as it seems. As with other businesses, you have to advertise your products in order to lure people in and start buying your products.
So just how do you advertise in the internet?
Simple
There are a number of ways to promote your online business in the internet. One of them is through affiliate programs.
Affiliate programs works by posting your banners and links to other websites. Most of these are free; you only pay affiliates for every customer referrals from their website who buys your product.
For example, Customer “A” visits your affiliate’s website, then customer “A” gets interested in the product you are selling, and then customer “A” clicks on your link or banner in your affiliate’s website. Customer “A” is then redirected to your website so that he/she can buy the product you are selling.
You then pay your affiliate with a specified amount of commission for that product.
How would you find affiliates who would want to post your links and banners free?
There are so many people in the internet willing to post your links and banners free. People like to use affiliate programs because they practically do not have to do anything hard through this form of advertising.
All they do is promote their website in order to generate targeted internet traffic to their website, therefore, generating targeted traffic to your website and produce more sales.
All they do is hope and pray that a visitor from their website will buy your product in order to get a commission.
To find a good number of affiliates who are willing to promote your products free, you first have to sign up with an affiliate-tracking program.
After signing up, you now have to make a decision on how much you are going to pay your affiliate for each sold product.
You then design some banners or text link that your affiliates can use to post in their website.
Now you are set. All you have to do is wait for affiliates to sign up in the affiliate tracking program and start promoting your products.
Although affiliates can promote your products or services free, you still have to take care of your affiliates in order to promote your product more diligently and with loyalty.
To get affiliate’s loyalty and get them to work harder in promoting your products, pay them well. Give your affiliates a high commission rate for every products sold with their referrals. Not only that it will keep your affiliates from leaving you but it will also attract more affiliates to sign up for you.
You also have to track the sales generated by each and every affiliates referred to you. If you have lots of affiliate, you can easily track their referrals and sales through the affiliate tracking company you signed up for.
You also have to pay your affiliates as early as possible for their sales. Letting them wait for months will discourage them to promote your products and leave you. For this, you have to set up a minimum payment requirement in order to track which affiliate you have to pay.
Be professional, answer questions from emails from your affiliates regarding your affiliate program as soon as you can. Do this in a friendly and professional manner.
Create an affiliate’s newsletter. This is a great way to show your support your affiliate and a great way to give them tips on how to market your products more effectively.
Give your top affiliates bonuses for the sales they bring you and include them in your newsletter for your affiliates. This will get your other affiliates to work harder in promoting your products, and a little competition is good for your affiliates.
Create an affiliate’s only chat room. This will enable your affiliates to speak with each other and discuss about how to make your products to sell more. Providing them with chat rooms or discussion boards will show how much you support them. It is also a good way to give tips and advice on how to market your products.
Affiliate programs are a great and cheap way to advertise your products. Your affiliates will work hard if you give them enough benefits and bonuses for promoting your products or services.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/affiliate-programs-articles/promoting-your-business-using-affiliate-marketing-422880.html
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i am a freelance article writer i am interested at how to make a fortune online visit my website
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101 Tips for a Smoother Home-Buying Process
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Brandon_Cornett]Brandon Cornett
I created this list for two reasons. First, I want to give you a good understanding of the home buying process from start to finish. Secondly, I want to help you identify those areas where your knowledge-level is lacking, so you can conduct further research on your own.
Preliminary Considerations
1. Learn the home buying process in advance. You'll make much better decisions with a better understanding of the process.
2. Learn the lingo while you're at it (especially all the mortgage terms). You'll have a smoother home buying experience if you "speak the language."
3. Obtain your credit report. To get copies from all three credit bureaus at once, visit www.AnnualCreditReport.com.
4. Review your credit report. Make sure there are no errors. Check everything from the administrative information to the credit history.
5. Fix errors quickly. If you find an error on your credit report, go to the company's website where the report came from (TransUnion, Equifax or Experian) to contest it. Don't delay.
6. Run the numbers. Use an online mortgage calculator to get an idea how various mortgage amounts translate into monthly payments.
7. Check your debt-to-income ratio. Mortgage lenders prefer your overall debt to be no more than 20% of your net monthly income. If your debt is more, pay it down as quickly as possible.
8. Start saving your cash. Mortgage lenders like to see that you have some cash reserves on hand, and you'll need them for any unexpected fees or costs that might arise.
9. Get pre-qualified. Pre-qualification is an informal review of your finances by a mortgage lender to see what amount you might qualify for.
10. Avoid new lines of credit. Don't sign up for new credit cards or make any large credit purchases while you're "under review" by a mortgage lender.
11. Add HomeBuyingInstitute.com to your Internet favorites or bookmarks. Few websites contain as much helpful home buying information for first-time buyers.
Finding a Real Estate Agent
12. Ask friends or family. People who know you well are in the best position to recommend an agent who is right for you.
13. Talk to multiple agents. Don't think you have to sign on with the first agent you meet.
14. Ask how they search. Make sure your agents is going to use every means possible to find the right home for you. That means using the MLS in addition to their preferred listings.
15. Ask how they network. An experienced agent will often be part of a vast network of real estate professionals. This can sometimes help you find a home before it's even listed.
16. Ask about mortgage connections. It will save you time and headache if your agent can point you toward a good mortgage company.
17. Read paperwork carefully. At some point, your chosen agent will ask you to sign an agency agreement. It's usually a boilerplate document, but be sure to read it carefully all the same.
18. Consider the "vibe" factor. You might be working with this person anywhere from 2 to 12 months, so it certainly helps if you like them on a personal level.
19. Exchange cell phone numbers. You should have your agents cell number in your wallet, and vice versa. You don't want to miss an opportunity simply because you couldn't be reached.
House Hunting
20. Create a "need vs. want" list. Make a spreadsheet or checklist of the things you need in a home, versus the things you want. Print a copy for each house you visit and check items off.
21. Practice self-reliance. Don't over-rely on your agent when it comes to finding a home. Get out there and do some hunting yourself. It's a necessity, but it's also exciting!
22. Use multiple channels. The more channels you use to search for a home, the better. Read the newspaper, cruise the neighborhoods, and surf the web.
23. Use the Internet to your full advantage. Bookmark the real estate listing sites you find most helpful. Visit them once a day and write down new homes that meet your criteria.
24. Create a Google Alert. Visit Google's home page, click on "More" and find the Google Alerts. Enter real estate phrases for your area, and you'll get daily updates with news and info.
25. Feel free to snoop (sort of). When house hunting, it's okay to peek into dark corners, basements, storage sheds and the like. Respect the owner's privacy, but see the whole house.
26. Ask plenty of questions. Don't be shy about asking the sellers questions, if they're home.
27. Validate the asking price. It's called an "asking price" for a reason. Compare it to recent sales in the area. Your agent should be expert at this.
28. Consider shopping, dining and the like. Is the home near the places you frequent, or will it be a long drive?
29. Consider the commute. If you're a daily commuter, distance is a big consideration.
30. Visit during rush hour. Is the home hard to access or exit during rush hour? Is there a lot of traffic noise?
31. Check out the zoning. Are you surrounded by residential areas, or is there a soon-to-be-used commercial zone right across the street?
32. Research the neighborhood, not just the house. Neighborhoods impact property value as well as your own happiness.
33. Research taxes. Sometimes, two neighborhoods right across the street from one another will have different tax situations. Don't make assumptions.
34. Research future development. Will that nice meadow down the street be a highway extension or shopping mall in two years?
35. Bring a "disinterested witness." A level-headed friend or family member will help you judge the pros and cons of each home.
36. Avoid "The One" syndrome. Don't pull up to a home and say, "This is the one!" It might be, but you need to be cool-headed and open-minded during your first visit.
37. Bring a digital camera. It's a great way to record the details of each home for later review.
38. Bring a notepad. Jot down some notes about each home, and label each page by address.
39. Ask about ghosts, poltergeists or other forms of haunting. Just kidding.
40. Think five years ahead. Will the home still suit your needs if your family grows?
41. Play home inspector, casually. The full inspection will come later, but you should at least give the "big ticket" items (roof, heating system, etc.) a glance when visiting.
42. Keep an eye out for mold, standing water and other symptoms of disrepair.
43. Research schools. This is important whether or not you have school-aged children. Schools affect property values.
Making an Offer
44. Base your offer on evidence, not emotion. Remember, the lender will appraise the home later on. If it appraises for less than you've agreed to pay, you'll have problems.
45. Use your agent's experience. It might be your first offer, but your agent has probably seen dozens.
46. Discuss contingencies. Will your offer be contingent upon something, like the sale of your current home?
47. Prepare for all possible responses. What will you do if the seller makes a counteroffer or rejects your offer outright? Conduct "rehearsals" for each scenario.
48. Move quickly (but cautiously) in seller's market. Delays can cause a home to slip through your fingers.
49. Plan the closing date. This will normally be agreed upon during the offer process.
Choosing a Mortgage
50. Study the different types of mortgages, especially the pros and cons of each.
51. Consider your staying time. How long you plan to stay in a home will often determine which type of home loan is best for you.
52. Learn about new mortgage packages. A variety of "creative financing" loans have emerged in recent years. Learn about them.
53. Shop for the best interest rate. Mortgage lenders will offer different rates based on how comfortable they are lending to you. So shop around.
54. Read up on RESPA. The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act protects you from unethical lenders. Familiarize yourself with it.
55. Consider paying points. A point is one percent of the loan amount. Paying points can lower your interest rate. Look into whether or not it's a good idea for your situation.
56. Don't go it alone. Ask your agent for advice. Talk to friends and family who've been through the home buying / mortgage process before.
57. Factor in PMI. If your down payment is less than 20% of the loan amount, you'll probably have to pay private mortgage insurance (PMI).
58. Visit the mortgage section of HomeBuyingInstitute.com. You can learn about everything mentioned above, in much greater detail.
59. Watch out for unethical lenders. Talk to your agent or real estate attorney is something seems strange or too good to be true.
The Mortgage Application
60. Be honest. Don't let anyone talk you into falsifying information on your mortgage application. You'll be the only one held accountable.
61. Ask questions. And ask them again, until you're comfortable that you understand each part of the application.
62. Read the fine print. Often, the most important parts of an application are in the fine print. Don't let these details go unnoticed.
63. Don't sign blank areas. If a section of the mortgage application is blank, either 'X' it out or leave it unsigned.
64. Keep a copy for yourself. This applies to all documents during the home buying process. Start a folder with copies of everything.
65. Get a truth-in-lending statement. After you apply for the loan, the lender is required to give you an estimate of the total costs associated with the loan.
66. Plan for more than truth-in-lending statement. Unfortunately, it's common for the actual costs of a loan to be more than the lender's estimate. So plan for more.
The Home Inspection
67. Get a home inspection! At around $500, it's a small price to pay for peace of mind.
68. Hire a certified inspector. Anyone can claim to be an inspector. So make sure yours is certified by a professional organization.
69. Tag along if possible. You'll learn a lot about the inner workings of the home.
70. Categorize discrepancies, based on whether or not you want the seller to fix them.
71. Be realistic with repair requests. In a seller's market, you may not get all the repairs you want. So be realistic with what you're asking.
72. Get a termite inspection. Make the offer contingent upon a termite-free inspection.
The Home Appraisal
73. Understand the appraisal process. It's for the lender's protection, but it will also tell you if you're overpaying for the home.
74. Have a plan for under-appraisal. You can pay the difference, the seller can lower the price, or you can walk.
Pre-Closing / Pre-Settlement
75. Read up on closing procedures. Start with a refresher on RESPA.
76
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Affiliate Programs: Why You Should Join
Author: Kevin Sinclair
Affiliate programs are remaining steady in their popularity. Every day, more and more webmasters, just like yourself are choosing to join one affiliate program or another. There are many different reasons for this, but the biggest reasons remains that it can be a great source of extra money. Then you add on to the fact that there is not a great deal of work involved with this extra money and you have yourself a jackpot of an opportunity. Even so, many people are still trying to determine if affiliate programs are right for them.
In this article, we will discuss the many different benefits that can be had by joining programs and each one of these will likely surprise you. First, what is an affiliate program? These programs surround many different areas of businesses offering services or products. An affiliate program, a method of marketing their company is a way for the business and the affiliate to make money. They offer different avenues of advertising for their affiliate such as text links, banners, email templates and so much more. Each time an affiliate makes a sale via their method of advertisement, they get a percentage of that sale from the company.
All you need to do as an affiliate is sign up. In some cases, there is an approval process, but this is generally just to ensure that you have a legitimate, professional website that you are going to be placing their information. Generally, as long as the website is professional and lacks any type of content that may be deemed inappropriate, you are approved. After approval, you will get access to their marketing materials, such as banners that have already been created for the business. At the same time, you will be given the necessary coding that you need to place it on your website. You put the banner on your website and you are ready to start earning your money.
Of course, earning money is the most attractive part of any affiliate program. In general, all programs are different and offer different avenues of making money. For instance, you may receive a percentage of every sale made from your specific identification code, this percentage can be as little as 5% or even as much as 50% in some cases, depending on the pricing, the product, the service, and other elements. Your goal should be to locate affiliate programs that offer a percentage rate that looks appealing to you.
The good news is that you have literally hundreds of choices when it comes to finding an affiliate program. There are so many businesses that offer these types of programs that they are almost literally yours for the choosing. In fact, many webmasters such as yourself, are turning to using several different programs at the same time, increasing their earning power. In most cases, there are no conflicts with the other programs.
However, joining several affiliate programs at once can leave you overwhelmed. It can make it difficult to keep track of your earnings. It is important to be sure that you are aware of your earnings and keeping your own run down of sales for each affiliate program. This will make sure that you are getting what you deserve in the way of payment.
However, there is some help with software programs that are dedicated to affiliate traffic, they may be free or you may have to pay a small amount of money to get this program, but it can save you a lot of time, hassles, and money. These are just a few of the many benefits in taking part in affiliate programs. If you have your own website and are looking to make money, you should start with an affiliate program today. Boost your income and start reaping the rewards.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/affiliate-programs-articles/affiliate-programs-why-you-should-join-424002.html
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Discover Kevin Sinclair's system for making profits regardless of whether anyone joins your network marketing business.
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Home Buying Process - 5 Most Common Questions Among Home Buyers
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Brandon_Cornett]Brandon Cornett
Since launching the Home Buying Institute website back in 2005, I've received quite a few home-buying questions by email. As you might imagine, many of these questions came from first-time home buyers who are new to the process of buying a home.
I thought it would be beneficial to home buyers everywhere if I selected five of the most common home-buying questions I receive, and explored them in an article such as this. I've also listed the corresponding areas of HomeBuyingInstitute.com that cover these topics in more detail.
So here we go with five common questions when buying a home:
1. How do I find out my price range?
Determining a price range should be one of your first steps when buying a home. When you know how much you can comfortably afford each month, you'll save time during the house hunting process by only visiting properties within your price range.
To determine your price range, sit down and compare your monthly income to your monthly expenses (savings, credit card payments, car payment, quality of life, etc.). How much is left? Your monthly mortgage should be less than this amount. Now you can use an online mortgage calculator to break each sale price down to a monthly amount, and determine if that amount is inside or outside your comfort zone.
Section of Home Buying Institute: "Self Assessment"
2. Do I need a real estate agent?
Here's the short answer ... yes! If you are buying a first home, you should have a real estate agent. Buying a home is one of the biggest financial transactions you will ever make, so it's always wise to have professional help.
Your agent will help you find homes that match your price range and desired features. He or she will also help you validate the asking process (next item), write up the purchase offer, help you negotiate with the seller, and guide you through the rest of the home buying process.
Section of Home Buying Institute: "Finding an Agent"
3. How do I research the asking price?
The first thing to realize here is that it's called an "asking price" for a reason. The price set by the seller is never set in stone. It's what they are asking for, and you are free to make a counter-offer is you see fit. Your real estate agent will help you validate the asking price by looking at comparable, recent sales in the area. This will tell you if the asking price is reasonable or over-priced, based on current marketing conditions.
Section of Home Buying Institute: "Process Overview" and "What to Avoid"
4. Which type of mortgage loan should I choose?
This question always presents a catch-22 for me. On one hand, I enjoy helping people by answering their home buying questions. On the other hand, I don't dare make a decision like this on behalf of a stranger. It's too important a decision for me to make for somebody else.
With that disclaimer out of the way, here's how you can choose the best type of mortgage loan for your situation. First, do some research on the basic types of home loans -- fixed rate, adjustable rate (ARM), balloon loan, etc. When researching the different mortgage types, pay attention to paragraphs that begin with: "This type of mortgage might be best for you if..." Generally, this type of statement is followed by a series of pros and cons that will explain the type of home buyer who might choose that option.
As a rule of thumb, if you're going to be in the home for quite a while (five years or more), it's probably a good idea to choose a fixed-rate mortgage. On the other hand, if you think you'll only be in the home for two or three years, you might want to choose an adjustable-rate mortgage to save money during your short time of ownership.
Section of Home Buying Institute: "Types of Mortgages"
5. What happens at the real estate closing?
Basically, the real estate closing (also known as a "settlement") is when property ownership transfers from seller to buyer. All remaining fees will be paid as well, and these are known as closing costs. The seller gets their portion of the payment (minus what they still owe on the mortgage), and the deed is transferred to reflect the new owner.
As a home buyer, the best you can do is save more money than you think you'll need at closing, just to be safe. You should also make sure you receive a HUD-1 statement (or "settlement statement") at least one day prior to the closing date. This document gives you an itemized list of the costs you'll be expected to pay at closing. The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) requires that the closing / escrow agent provide this document at least one day before the [http://www.homebuyinginstitute.com/closing_article7.php]real estate closing.
Section of Home Buying Institute: "Closing / Settlement"
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Brandon Cornett is the publisher of Home Buying Institute, a library of home buying advice and articles. If you have additional questions about [http://www.homebuyinginstitute.com/homebuyingprocess_article13.php]buying a home, be sure to visit http://www.homebuyinginstitute.com
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