What Every Atlanta home Buyer Should Know
Atlanta Home Buyer
Are you ready to buy an Atlanta Georgia home? There are a few things you need to know before you sign on the dotted line at the closing attorney’s office.
Are you a potential Atlanta home buyer? Check out your morning and evening commute to work or school during rush hour. Atlanta traffic can be deceiving. Even a commute of just a few miles can taker “forever” in Atlanta traffic hotspots. Perhaps there is a “back” route you can consider but it is best to know before you buy what the commute situation will be.
Are you purchasing a home next door to a sex predator. Georgia’s real estate laws are pretty much “Buyer Beware” and it is up to you to check and see if your new neighbors have been convicted of sex crimes. Listing agents are not allowed to discuss this issue with prospective buyers. You have to do your own home work on this issue. GO HERE to check out the sex offender registry. GO HERE to for the Georgia Pardons and Parolee Lookup.
Is your new home in a flood plain? Again – it is up to the buyer to investigate the physical characteristics of their new home. Hopefully you will check this out before you buy the home. If your home is in a flood plain, you will want to purchase Federal Flood Insurance. Just because a back yard looks dry does not mean it will not quickly fill up with a raging torrent of water during a flood.
If you are paying cash for a home, I strongly recommend having an independent appraisal done by a licensed or certified Georgia Appraiser. They have access to databases that contain detailed information about the homes in a neighborhood that have recently sold. Even as a real estate agent I often hire an appraiser to confirm my purchase price when buying property. You will need to include wording in the purchase and sale agreement that allows you to walk away if the appraisal is to low. I rarely do that and recommend that you negotiate with the seller to lower the purchase price.
Survey – you don’t have to get a survey to buy a house in Atlanta Georgia. However, I think a survey is a must for newer construction and also recommend a survey be obtained (or acquired from the seller) for older properties. It is too easy to have a driveway or fence stray over a property line. I would rather let the seller deal with the neighbors BEFORE I move in to a home. Make sure the surveyor is licensed in Georgia.
Every dourt documents filed in every Georgia Court
It may be difficult to remember that, prior to 1999, there was no statewide index of real estate records. When the system was activated on January 1, 1999, records began to flow in daily by the thousands. We now have over 123 million real estate images accessible on line. Early on, staff and clerks realized that for the system to have maximum value, it needed to quickly encompass multiple years. To complement our “Good Through” date, we created the “Good From” date, so that you may see the entire range of records on file for each county.
To accelerate the value of the Real Estate Deed Index, the Authority launched a backward-focused project to acquire pre-1999 records. The old records were re-indexed using the new Indexing Standards to assure that all records in the system were consistent. Our program of historical indexing continues to this day. We have completed back through 1993 and indexers are currently working on 1992. Some counties like Gwinnett have voluntarily re-indexed their entire archive and there you may view deed records back to 1871.” David Williams Executive Director”
Termite letter – you don’t need no stinking termite letter to buy a house in Atlanta Georgia. I don’t know why lenders stopped requiring termite clearance letters. It was an incredibly bad idea in my opinion. I recommend every buyer get their own termite clearance letter. Have a pest control company come out and do an inspection. Might cost a couple of bucks but termites are prolific in Atlanta. Even if the lender says you don’t need one – I say “yes you do”.
READY TO GET STARTED: call Sally English now at 404-229-2995 to get ou Atlanta home buying search started. We can help you answer these questions and a lot more.