Why Foregoing a Home Inspection Could Cost You Thousands Down the Road

There are many great Lafayette area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (337) 267-4099 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

If you plan on purchasing a home, or if you're interested in learning more about the process, you need to be familiar with how home inspections work. 

Once you and the seller agree on the price and terms of the transaction, we go through what's called an inspection period. This is typically a 10-14 day period after an agreement is reached. During that time frame, it's your duty as a buyer to do your due diligence to ensure the home is exactly as you expect it to be. 

We usually commission a general home inspection as well as a termite inspection. The job of the inspector is to look for symptoms - leaks, breaks, and other defects - that affect a home's value. If any problems are found, we call a specialist to give further detail about the extent of the damage. Once that's done, it's time to negotiate the repairs. The cost of defects could be subtracted from the sales price, the closing costs, or there could be an exchange of cash at the closing table. 

People often wonder whether it's necessary to have a home inspection for a new home. New homes Even new homes can have water penetration issues, or a faulty foundation. Sometimes, buyers just want to walk through the home with the builder and correct any small errors they find. It's great to find and correct cosmetic issues, but the big, costly defects are often the ones you can't see.  are built by humans, and humans make mistakes. 

An inspection will help you identify those defects before it's too late. Home inspections are important, and more than worth it, because of the money they save you down the road. Taking care of big defects is a lot cheaper if they are addressed early. 

If you have any questions about this process, or about buying or selling real estate in general, give us a call or shoot us an email. We would love to hear from you! 

Where's the Lafayette Market Heading?

There are many great Lafayette area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (337) 267-4099 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.
Hello, and welcome back to the blog! Today, we want to give you a quick Lafayette real estate market update.

Last year was a banner year for Lafayette Parish! We managed to top the record-setting year we had in 2013, and we are looking forward to another successful year in Louisiana real estate!

• We saw around a 4% increase in units sold over 2013 - in December alone, we saw an increase of over 14% in both home sales and dollar volume! Our wonderful end-of-year sales helped boost our dollar volume to an increase of 8% over 2013!

• The average sales price rose steadily as well - we saw an increase of 4.5%, from $211,000 in 2013 to $221,000 last year. The total number of pending sales, which is an indicator of what the coming months will bring, is up 8% year-over-year. 
• Market activity has remained strong through the winter months, which is a great sign for a time of year when sales typically slow down. 
• Overall, Lafayette has a very strong market, with about a four month supply of inventory and a lot of great homes to choose from in new construction. 

If you have any questions about conditions in your specific area, or would like help making your move, don't hesitate to give us a call or shoot us an email. We would love to be your go-to Lafayette real estate resource! 

Lafayette is a seller's market - List your home to get top dollar and a short waiting time

Today I wanted to answer one of the most popular topics and that is the state of the current market. Before I get started, I wanted to let you know about a free service that is available to everyone. For buyers, we offer a free home search that has every available home on the market for viewing at www.searchhomesinlafayette.com. If you’re a seller, we provide a free home valuation tool at www.mylafayettelahomevalue.com.

For the state of the market, we are currently in a seller’s market with a 3.9 month’s supply of inventory. The market sweet spot appears to be in the $150,000-299,000 range where 60% of home sales have been. That price range is experiencing a 3.5 month supply of homes with properties selling very quickly. If you’re a buyer and are looking at a home, there are multiple people looking at the same property so keep that in mind when you’re out looking. We are also advising sellers to be competitive with other properties on the market. This means you won’t be able to get away with an exorbitant increase in price as you have experienced a few years back.

In other news, Lafayette has been ranked best mid-size city and best city in the South by Area Development. You can view this article here. Congratulations Lafayette! If you or anyone else you know is interest in buying a home, please give us a call or send us an email. Thanks and have a great day!