How to speed the house-hunting process

There's no rule of thumb to suggest how many homes a buyer should preview before making an offer, but there are several steps to take in order to expedite the selection process.

Q. My wife and I are looking for our first home. Our agent has shown us about a dozen houses, but we still haven't found one that we like. How many homes do you recommend buyers look at before choosing a property to buy?

A. There's no rule of thumb that says how many homes you should view before making an offer, just as there are no guidelines to determine how many people you should date before making a marriage proposal.

I know some folks who fell in love with the first house they looked at. I know others who toured 50 or even 75 houses and never made an offer.

To speed your search, I assume that your agent has already encouraged you to get “pre-approved” for a loan by a mortgage broker or other loan representative. Knowing exactly how much you can borrow will help speed the house-hunting trek by weeding out the properties that you simply cannot afford.

Obtaining loan pre-approval also will put you in a stronger bargaining position when you finally find a home that you want to purchase, because the seller will know that a bank has already agreed to lend the money needed to finance the transaction. In today's tough lending environment, savvy sellers usually are willing to accept a lower offering price from a buyer who can show that a lender has already agreed to grant a new mortgage rather than a higher offer from a potential buyer who will need several weeks to find out whether their loan will be approved.

Most buyers don't find their dream house right away, but the house-hunting process should give you a good idea of what each neighborhood in the area is like, and which properties are worth a second visit.

It's important to ask your agent for a list of recent “comparable sales” in the neighborhood to help you decide whether the offering price of the properties that you view are in line with the prices that recent buyers have agreed to pay for similar homes in the same community.

After you have viewed each home that's in your price range, tell your agent exactly what you liked and did not like about the property. This will give the agent an even better idea of the type of house that you are seeking.

It also would be wise to take along a camera and snap some pictures of the homes that you and your spouse think are interesting: The photos will help to jog your memory about each home and make the selection process easier.

Q. I live in a large condominium project, and I already know that the monthly dues I pay to our development's homeowners association are not tax-deductible. However, I spend almost 20 hours per month as a director on the HOA's board. Can I take a deduction for the time that I spend?

A. Sorry, but the answer is “no.”

You voluntarily ran for a spot on the HOA, so you cannot take a tax deduction for the time that you spend to help direct it much like someone who volunteers to work at a nonprofit homeless shelter can't deduct the cost of the time they donate, either.

Q. My wife and I are interested in putting our home and some of our other assets into the type of revocable living trust that you have written about before so our children can get the property quickly after we die instead of going through long and expensive probate court hearings. But if we create a living trust today and put our home into it, would it prevent us from selling or refinancing before we pass away?

A. No. Living trusts are very flexible. A house or other assets you place inside the trust can be mortgaged, refinanced, sold or given away while you are alive just as they could if you didn't have a trust at all. When you die, though, your home and all the other assets you placed into the trust will pass quickly to your heirs instead of making them suffer through the long and costly probate process that a simple will typically requires.

• For the booklet “Straight Talk About Living Trusts,” send $4 and a self-addressed, stamped envelope to David Myers/Trust, P.O. Box 2960, Culver City, CA 90231-2960

© 2010, Cowles Syndicate Inc.