Thanks to the current stimulus plan, it's a great time to buy a Santa Cruz home.  Buying a home is an exciting time, but it can be a little scary too.  Here are some smart ways to protect yourself from potentially falling prices while you wait for the market to rebound.

• Know how much you can afford to spend ahead of time and then look for homes in areas that reflect those prices. Choose homes on the lower end of the average home values in that area so that even if the housing market slumps a little bit before it recovers your Santa Cruz home is unlikely to sink below its current value.

• Look for homes that aren't on busy streets or highways.

• Don't buy a home directly across from a school or park. While that can be great if you have young kids, it…

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The thought of losing your home due to foreclosure can be a devastating experience. If you've been late on payments or missed them altogether, foreclosure could be in your future. However, it doesn't have to be. There are varieties of steps you can take to prevent Santa Cruz foreclosures.

1. Contact your lender

In order to sort out the situation, you need to involve your lender as soon as possible so you can figure out the next plan of action and keep your home.

2. Set up a repayment plan

Usually, repaying your missed payments is the start of fixing the problem; that's why contacting the lender is so important. Depending on what you work out, your repayment costs may only be a little bit more than the cost of your current mortgage.

3. Try to get…

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When looking for property that will be a good investment either as a rental, resale, flip, or even a home that will eventually be worth a great deal more than you originally paid, location is a paramount concern.

For the very best in Santa Cruz real estate investments, location means more than just being situated in a good neighborhood—it means a location with perks.

1. Beach Property - There is something about a home that sits on the beach that makes it an amazingly popular property. Perhaps it's the ability to wake up in the morning and have coffee looking out over soothing waves. If you're looking for one of the very best selling homes, consider beachfront properties. 

2. Gated Communities - Privacy and security are worth their weight in gold—or at…

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