[Reprinted] What do you need to know to buy a house and a new house in the United States?

Like buying a second-hand house, the buyer had better find a real estate agent who represents himself. You must go with the agent when you go to the new house sales center for the first time, otherwise your agent will not get any reward. The so-called reward, that is, the introduction fee or commission paid by the seller, allows the buyer to obtain various services and detailed guidance in the process of buying a house without paying any fees to the broker. Especially for those new immigrants who have just arrived in the United States, there are many unexpected things, including some things other than buying a house, which can be consulted and helped in detail. Of course, the buyer can also go directly to the new house sales center without a broker, but that will not do him any good. Some people in China think that sellers can give themselves a good price by skipping brokers, just like in China; But that's a completely wrong idea, especially buying a new house. In Irvine, 90% of sellers (developers) encourage real estate agents to take their guests to buy houses and pay them a certain fee, which belongs to the cost of selling houses and can be used to offset taxes, regardless of the house price. So it is exactly the same whether the buyer has an agent or not. Sometimes, a well-informed agent can even help you get some extra rewards from the seller to decorate your house. In the new house sales center, the agent representing the developer will warmly receive you and give you a price list, so that you can have a look at the completed model house first. It should be noted that most of the model houses you see are decorated with the best furniture design and excellent materials, while the prices on the price list only include general materials. Of course, you can choose better materials and pay the builder to do it for you before handing over the house. But if you do that, house prices will rise and the annual local tax will also increase. Do nothing, don't add money, the house can live, but the decoration is simpler. It will be much cheaper to hire people themselves in the future, and more importantly, there is no need to increase local taxes. Generally speaking, developers build houses by stages, and each stage only sells a dozen houses. When it is almost sold, it will be sold to the next stage. If you take a fancy to the model house, choose the location, sometimes there are existing houses, otherwise choose the location, and decide to sign the contract and hundreds of pages of various documents. At this time, you'd better have a broker who is familiar with English contracts to help you translate and explain the main contents, otherwise it is not enough to fully understand what you signed one day and one night. At the same time, the seller pays a deposit of about 3%, and then the seller gives all the documents and contracts to the transfer notarization company and enters the transfer process (escrow). The existing house will be delivered in about one month; Cash is relatively fast, the auction will be uncertain for several months, and the payment will be paid only a few days before the delivery.