When purchasing a home or condominium throughout California’s Tri-Valley area, many buyers wonder who actually pays for the home appraisal. There are a lot of closing costs and different fees built-in for buyers and sellers in a purchase and sale agreement. Sellers pay for excise tax when selling the property and several courier fees all culminating into their own closing costs. Buyers also have several closing costs and one of those includes the appraisal. [Read more…]
What If I Hate Every Home We Look At? There are some homebuyers the know exactly what they want and when they see it they’ll know. Other buyers may have no idea what to look for and even though they are open-minded, nothing seems to stand out as a home they’d really want to buy. [Read more…]
Buying a home is a big step and an exciting one too so you want to make sure that you don’t make any mistakes during the home buying process. Now, this is not to say that is very easy to make these mistakes but sometimes, unknowingly, homebuyers can make a lot of mistakes during the mortgage process of the just don’t realize can harm their chances of actually getting a loan. When buying a home in the Tri-Valley area I urge all of my buyers to get pre-approved first. This is usually the first mistake many buyers make.
This is where you actually sit down with a lender and figure out how much money you can spend on a house. The lender will determine how much income you’re receiving each month and how much is going out in debts, loans and basic utilities. From there, the lender will determine how much in a monthly mortgage payment you can handle which will relate to the total cost of a home. This also is a way to determine what your interest rate will be based on your credit history, report and score. Many homebuyers feel that they can simply enter some information on a mortgage calculator to determine their price range but unfortunately, if they’ve not gone through lender, their financing is not secured. Sellers look for secure financing and low risk offers. By being prepared with a preapproval letter ahead of time, you can ensure the seller that you’ve already done your financial homework.
5 Signs You’re Ready to Upgrade Your Home
This might sound like a crazy task but you might be surprised as to how often this happens. For instance: if a couple is planning on getting married and they’re buying a house at the same time, between the time the couple was approved for a loan versus when it closes, the wife’s last name could’ve changed. This is changing your identity and it could really negatively affect your chances of getting a home loan. Yes, you are the same person but don’t make any of these major identity or name changes until the property closes.
Once the lender has determined how much you can afford you don’t want to change that in any way. This means it is not the time to finance a vehicle, spend large amounts on new furniture or other major appliances or take out loans of any kind. Consider freezing all of your assets, liabilities, loans and big spending until the closing is completed.
Everyone is working towards the closing date. There are numerous parties involved in the buying and selling of real estate and anything can hold up that process. Make sure you respond to phone calls and requests in a timely manner and don’t get frustrated if escrow or title officers ask for more identification or specific documents. They need to make sure that you are the correct person buying the home and that your identity is protected. Also consider all costs involved and ask about the costs including taxes, HOA dues, insurance and appraisals.
By keeping all of these things in mind you can ensure that your deal will close on time without a lot of hiccups. Of course, every single transaction is different so even if you’ve done everything possible those rare instances can happen or things simply fall through. By avoiding all of these mistakes you have a better chance at setting yourself up for successful homebuying purchase. Tri-Valley Mortgage Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
How to Stage a High-End Home Great information for those with luxury homes and are looking to do a little staging on their own.
Want your home to sell faster? Here’s why Deeply Cleaned Homes sell for more money and faster.
When buying a home, do you need your own agent or can you just use the listing agent of the home you want to buy? Does it benefit the buyer to use their own agent?
Closing costs can be all over the board but they are something all new buyers should understand. Here’s how to understand closing costs and what buyers should know.
The word recession might scare some people but this is definitely not the 2008 housing market. Still, anyone looking to buy a house may want to do so before the recession, of course. The last thing you want is for the tides to turn the minute you buy only to now owe more than your home is worth. And since nobody knows for sure and we can only go on economic predictions, conventional indicators such as unemployment rates, mortgage rates, and construction levels are currently very healthy. [Read more…]
2019 is literally right around the corner, I mean, literally in less than 12 hours it will be 2019 and here I am blogging on the last day of 2018. 2019 is going to be a great real estate year and even though home prices are going up, they’re not going up so fast that buyers are not buying. However, one good thing for homebuyers is that you probably won’t have as much competition as buyers had over the last two years. Because home prices are going up, there just won’t be that many buyers, and many of those buyers have already purchased a home. So, what do you need to buy a house in 2019? Here’s my list. [Read more…]
Here we are, headed straight into Fall! Are you ready? Well ready or not, we’re here but that doesn’t mean we should stop all real estate purchases. Actually now is a great time to buy since most of the competition is off the table. Kids are back at school and people are now focusing for the Fall and Winter so it’s a great time to be looking at homes. You can do it a little leisurely right now, as well. The frantic buying season is over but that doesn’t mean there is less inventory either. People have to buy and sell all year and it may be a perfect time. So with that being said, here is my top buying advice for this year so far. [Read more…]
If you are considering purchasing a home in San Ramon or surrounding communities most likely you will need a home loan. The very first step in looking at properties is to get preapproved for financing. This puts you steps ahead of others that have not done their financial homework, and it shows sellers that you’re a serious buyer with your financing in place. [Read more…]
Considering purchasing a home in San Ramon or around the Tri-Valley area? Are you a senior citizen looking to buy, rent or potentially lease a new property? Here are some of the top home buying mistakes that seniors can make when considering purchasing a new property, home or condominium. [Read more…]
A buyer’s agent is that unknown entity that most first time buyers don’t even know about. Most people head out into the real estate world, scared and uninformed. A buyer’s agent is exactly that; an agent for the buyer.
When a homeowner lists their home they call on the knowledge of a listing agent. This agent draws up a contract to sell the property. The listing agent markets the property and can even bring the buyer. BUT a buyer’s agent is only for the buyer and represents the buyer’s side throughout the process, not the seller. [Read more…]
A lot of my clientele are over 50 years old and many of them are moving to the Bay area to retire, enjoy the waterfront and a more laid-back, peaceful way of life. However, some homebuyers are still reluctant about purchasing a home later in life. Is it scary? Are there negative connotations? How easy is it to buy a home after 50? [Read more…]