As your San Diego County real estate agent Andrea Manroe, I want to be your resource for all things real estate. Whether you are buying, selling, or investing in real estate, I am here to guide you through the process. Subscribe to this blog to learn all of the latest news from our local market and receive expert tips for buying or selling a home.
Showing posts with label Real Estate Tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Real Estate Tips. Show all posts
What four demands should you make to your agent when buying a house?
First, talk to them about price. Make sure they help you understand how they’ll get both the seller and the bank to agree to the offer you’re making on the property you want. It’s important that you go in ahead of time understanding the negotiation phase of the seller’s counteroffer and you understand that the bank has to perform their appraisal and agree that the purchase price of the property is what they’re willing to lend on it.
Make sure they help you find the right house.
Second, make sure they understand your timetable and how soon you need to be out of your current property and into a new one. It can be time-consuming to both sell an old property and buy a new one. Buying a new property means dealing with escrow periods and needing time to both look for a new home and then move into it. Discuss with your agent your plan for how you’re going to work out the logistics of your time in order to move into your new property.
Third, make sure they have good negotiating skills and do a good job explaining the different phases of the negotiation process with both the buyer and the seller.
Finally, make sure they help you find the right house, even if that means you give them permission to tell you the truth—even if it’s something you don’t want to hear. Make sure they listen to what you’re asking for in your “needs” list for your new house and they’re in tune to whatever else you want.
If you have any questions about what demands to make of your agent or you’re thinking of buying or selling a home in San Diego, don’t hesitate to message me or give me a call. I’d love to work with you!
There are a few steps you should take to properly vet a contractor for your remodel project.
First of all, it’s always a good idea to choose a contractor who has been referred to you by a friend or a professional. Looking at that contractor’s prior work can give you a good idea of what the finished results in your own home will look like.
The Internet can also be a great resource for getting to know a contractor and their ability. Do your homework on them by checking out reviews such as the ones on Yelp! or Angie’s List. While you’re checking out their reviews, also look to see if the contractor is part of any contractor associations.
Additionally, make sure you get more than one bid for the project. In fact, you’ll probably want three, or even four, bids before you choose the contractor.
Choose a contractor who has been referred to you by a friend or a professional.
When you do get these bids, make sure the items within them are consistent. Comparing bids that are “apples to apples” will make it easier to choose. Looking at similar bids is the only way to truly see if they are comparable.
Also, when you sign the bid, make sure there is an agreed-upon payment schedule. It also may be worth it to use the same contractor for multiple jobs, since you will already know what to expect from their work.
If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Have you ever considered seeking PACE or Hero Program financing for your home? It's a great government incentive, but it's important to know the finer details before taking on this loan.
Today I wanted to take a moment to talk about PACE loans—also known as Hero loans.
PACE financing stands for 'property assessed clean energy' and provides local governments the opportunity to provide financing for homeowners that want to do projects that are either energy efficient, water efficient, or integrate renewable energy products into their home.
In California, the Hero Program is the most well-known opportunity for homeowners to receive this type of financing. It's considered a tax lien in first position on the property, meaning upon the sale of the home, it will be paid prior to any other creditors involved in the property being paid. This even includes the lender on the home mortgage.
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PACE financing lets local government loan money for energy-efficient home projects and features.
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This first position is important because the Federal Housing Financing Agency won't allow Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to lend on houses that have Hero liens in the first position on the mortgage. This is very important because it can make it difficult for homeowners to refinance on the property or new owners to get financing when the home is sold.
Additionally, it's important for people who get Hero financing to contact their mortgage lender right away so they can start taking money to pay that lien into an impound account. If not, you could get behind in your payment and end up having to pay double each month in order to catch up.
I hope this helped you understand PACE financing better. If you have any other questions about this financing or you're thinking about buying or selling a home, don't hesitate to give me a call or send me an email today. I look forward to helping you!
Mello Roos taxes are a topic that every home buyer should be aware of when looking for a property. Mello Roos taxes are a result of the after effects of Proposition 13 being passed in 1978. Because of this proposition, local governments were restricted in the funds they received for property tax increases.
Therefore, in 1982, in order to find another source of funding, California passed the Community Facilities Act, which enabled local governments to impose Mello Roos taxes, typically on new developments.
Mello Roos taxes are “parcel taxes.” Each parcel of property (or lot) is required to pay their portion annually, and the Mello Roos taxes are determined by the original purchase price of the property.
The original agreement was between property developers and the local government, but the developers passed that tax on to the home buyer and each successive buyer after that until it has been paid in full. Typically, Mello Roos taxes take 20 to 30 years to pay off and because they are a parcel tax, it’s important to know that they are paid in addition to your regular property taxes; they are not part of them.
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Mello Roos taxes are parcel taxes.
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When you’re looking for a property, if you are trying to find out whether you do in fact have to pay Mello Roos taxes, listen to this. Mello Roos taxes can be referred to as “CDFs,” “other fees,” or “total fees.” Sometimes they are part of your HOA fees too, so it’s important to know how much your HOA fees are and how much the Mello Roos taxes are.
Your Mello Roos taxes will ultimately affect how much you can afford to pay for a property. Calculate any potential Mello Roos taxes to make sure you can afford them. Don’t make an offer on a property without considering what potential Mello Roos taxes could do to your payment.
If you have any questions for us, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.
When buying a home, your credit score can have a major impact on your ability to get the financing you want. Unfortunately, bad credit scores are all too common for some. There are ways to make your score better, however, and today I’m speaking with Ashton D. Safaie of Credit Repair Heroes about what his company does to help clients repair their credit.
Ashton’s job at Credit Repair Heroes involves working with credit bureaus on the client’s behalf, removing any derogatory factors that affect the client’s credit score, and correcting any inconsistencies on their credit report.
Ashton tends to work with clients who are having trouble getting home and car loans or even having trouble qualifying for credit cards or apartments. Bad credit or inconsistencies on their credit reports are usually the cause of these problems, and Ashton helps these clients remedy them.
In order to help his clients, Ashton communicates with credit bureaus and mails letters directly to them, disputing all of the negative or incorrect information on their credit history. From there, he’ll work with the bureaus to have that information corrected or just flat-out deleted.
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Repairing credit is like going to court—would you represent yourself?
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Ashton admits that his clients can do all of this themselves; however, many times he finds that many simply don’t have time between juggling full-time jobs and family life. Keeping in constant communication with credit bureaus and sending new information is the key to success, but it’s also very time consuming. Ashton likens the process to going to court—anybody has the right to represent themselves in court, but it’s more effective and less risky to hire a professional to argue on your behalf.
What makes the Credit Repair Heroes different from other companies like them is that they are very cautious in enrolling clients and are 100% referral-based, but they only end up working with about 45% of the clients that are referred to them. This is because even though a lot of people would like to repair their credit, they’re not always in the correct position for it. Sometimes, potential clients need to take steps to be able to enroll so that they can get the results that they’re looking for. This is why the Credit Repair Heroes offer a free credit consultation to make sure that these clients understand what they can expect from the program.
The time it takes for Ashton and his team to repair a client’s credit varies on a case-to-case basis, but their program runs month-to-month. This means that there are no lengthy agreements or long-term contracts, and clients can opt out of the program whenever they feel satisfied with their results. On average, Ashton estimates that a client will stay in the program for about six months.
If you have any other questions for Ashton about repairing your credit or the Credit Repair Heroes team, give him a call at 619-948-5985 or send him an email at ashton@creditrepairheroes.com.
As always, if you have any questions about buying or selling real estate in our area, give me a call or send me an email. I’d be happy to help you!
I have a great new product I want to tell you about. It’s called the HomeSnap app, and it’s the most accurate mobile application to use for your real estate search in San Diego.
The HomeSnap app is important to us in San Diego because, previously, third-party apps did not necessarily syndicate with our local MLS, which is called the “Sandicor MLS.” The Sandicor MLS has now partnered with HomeSnap to give current real-time data to both buyers and sellers so that when you’re doing your Internet search on your mobile app, you’re able to get real, up-to-date data.
Many of the third-party apps that buyers are currently using in San Diego aren’t updated frequently enough. As an example, I just had a buyer send me five properties yesterday for our home tour this weekend, and all five of those properties were either already sold, pending under contract, or off the market.
According to the third-party app that they were using to search for properties, though, all of them were still being presented as available for purchase. You won’t have that problem with the HomeSnap app.
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With the Homesnap app, you’re able to get real, up-to-date data.
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What else can the HomeSnap app do for you?
You can use its messaging feature to send information of a property you might be purchasing to your loved ones so they can check it out too.
You can also use it to communicate in a messaging thread with your agent.
You can use it to take a picture of any property, even if it’s not on the market, and it will give you data on that particular property. If it’s on the market, it will pull data from the MLS. If it’s not on the market, it will pull data from the county records.
You can send a property to your Realtor if you’re interested in having them look for more information on that particular home.
To download this wonderful new app, click on this link and just follow the instructions.
If you have any questions or are looking to buy or sell real estate, please don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to helping you in any way I can.
Renovation loans are a great financing option for homeowners who want to upgrade their home without moving or putting remodeling costs on their the credit cards. I talked to a lender expert to break down this type of financing.
To help me discuss renovation loans, I've brought in Peter Lama from Prime Lending.
Renovation financing is for homeowners who are looking to upgrade their house rather than move. They can include all the costs into the refinance without taking out a second mortgage or putting the costs on a credit card. It also works for someone wanting to buy a home that's not up to Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac standards; they can repair the property and include the repair costs into the loan.
VA loan buyers can use this financing too. Prime Lending actually has 13 different programs for renovation, including portfolio products that they specialize in like jumbo products, FHA, VA, and escrow hold-backs for properties needing small repairs.
For refinancing, you can apply for a loan and pull out the cash that you need to factor in on top of the balance. The appraised value will be the future value after the repairs; the appraiser evaluates the cost of the property before the repairs, then factors in the bids for those repairs. You gain equity in the property as you improve it.
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You can get renovation financing for your current home or a new home.
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The qualification process is the same in that you'll still be qualified off of your credit and income, but the process is slightly different. For a renovation loan more people are involved, like the contractor who will provide bids to the lender to help figure out what the loan amount will be.
The process of a typical renovation loan can usually be closed in the normal 30- to 45-day period if contractors are efficient with their bids. Since the contractor is such a critical piece, it could be advantageous for the buyer to have a contractor ready to place bids on a property if they're looking to use this type of financing.
If you have any questions for Peter about renovation financing, he can be reached at 949.254.9356 or you can email him at PLama@PrimeLending.com.
As always, if you have questions about real estate or the California real estate market, give me a call or send me an email. I'd love to help you out.
