Ed Sarfo - Tips for First Time Home Buyers

Buying your first home can be one of the most exciting times in your life and is a big step. Ed Sarfo, a real estate broker and agent, offers his timers some tips of the trade to make the home buying process as easy as possible. Ed Sarfo has been in the business for over ten years. There are some important things to have decided before you can buy your first house.

1. Get finances in order. Talking with a bank and securing a mortgage rate is an important first step so you can know what price range to look in. It is essential not just to have the mortgage lined up but a budget too. Be realistic about your monthly payments and create a budget to factor in additional expenses like insurance, upgrades and a rainy day fund in case something big breaks or needs to be fixed.

2. Have a needs and wants list. There are so many homes out there for sale, finding the right one for you is a daunting tasks, even with the help of a real estate agent or broker. Providing them with a list of things you need to have and things you would like to have will help them narrow down the search. Be very honest with your list and keep budget in mind. For most people, their first house isn’t their dream house, so keep it realistic to what you can afford.

Ed Sarfo is always excited to meet a couple or family purchasing their first home. Although it can be scary because of the increased responsibility, it can provide you greater financial freedom and a solid investment that may increase in value.

Ed Sarfo - Ways to Stage Your Home for Cheap

Selling your home is a big decision and you want to get the most for it that you can. Ed Sarfo is a ten-year veteran real estate broker who offers clients tips on how they can get the biggest value for their home with some inexpensive tips. You can look into hiring a professional home stager but with an hourly cost of $50 to $150, you may want to roll up your sleeves and do the work yourself.

1. Depersonalize your house. This is the easiest and cheapest tip, and can have a big impact on how many buyers put in offers. By putting away all of the personal touches in your home like family photos, memorabilia, children’s drawings, etc. the buyer is able to picture their things in your house. Pictures are often a source of distraction and buyers will often stop and look at the people in them instead of focusing on the house’s features.
2. Neutralize rooms. Giving the rooms in your house a fresh coat of a neutral paint will help attract buyers. Although you may love your daughter’s pink bedroom, many buyers don’t want a room fit for Barbie. This is a fairly low cost option, with the paint and necessary supplies only costing around $100 and could help to up your chances of an offer.
3. Give it a purpose. Giving each room in your home a distinct purpose will help buyers understand all the possibilities the home has. If they don’t know what the space is “supposed” to be, they will see it as wasted space. Visit some model homes in your area to get ideas on how to rearrange furniture and make easy changes to do this.

Ed Sarfo has seen great results for clients that make easy and inexpensive changes in order to stage their homes. It often leads to more offers and can even result in a bidding war, driving the price of the house up.
​

Ed Sarfo: Tips on Choosing the Right Real Estate Broker/Realtor

Ed Sarfo is a real estate broker/realtor with over 10 years of experience helping clients in the Lexington area. He believes in honesty and integrity and will often counsel people on how to choose the right broker for their needs. It is important to find the right person to help you sell or buy your next home or property. Following a few pieces of advice will help you make the right decision. 

1. Talk to previous clients. You can ask a perspective agent what properties they have worked with in the past year and contact information for the clients. Ask their clients what they liked or disliked about the broker and if they would recommend hiring them. Don’t forget to consider things like the time it takes for the agent to contact the client back and how many options they offered them.
2. Check their license records. State have regulatory boards that look after all the certified real estate agents. They will issue disciplinary actions and deal with complaints from clients. This information can be found by contacting your state’s board and may be listed online.
3.  Look at how they work. With technology taking charge of the real estate seek, most people looking to buy a home turn to the internet to start their search. Make sure your perspective agent is actively utilizing all the resources possible in order to attract the most interest possible. Make note of any unique advertising or marketing techniques they may use and the variety of ways they drum up interest. You can do this by looking at their other listings and researching the methods they used to promote them.  

Ed Sarfo is a successful real estate broker and loves what he does. He understands the importance of building trust with perspective clients.