While those who own Santa Cruz homes for sale are worried about the real estate market, some buyers are getting good deals. However, there are plenty of people on both sides of the market with a case of cold feet.

For instance, some with Santa Cruz homes for sale took them off the market. Others, who’ve thought of selling, haven’t.

The same can be said for buyers. Many potential homebuyers change their minds or still worry over that age-old question of, “Should I or shouldn’t I?”

Two Cases of Cold Feet
A 26-year old with a steady job, good paycheck and good credit, sums it up for many potential buyers. “My job’s steady and my credit is good.  I keep watching the houses that go up for sale, thinking I could go ahead and buy, but then the ‘what if’s’…

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Selling a home is sometimes a long process. You can sit around worrying and wondering when you’ll have a buyer, or you can get busy to help the time fly.  Here are 10 things to do while waiting for your Santa Cruz home to sell:

1. Clean. I’m sure you’ve already cleaned every part of your Santa Cruz home to prepare it for sale. Make a game of it this time.  Time yourself to see how fast you can clean one room or one drawer.  Or, take out every type of cleaner you have and use it in each room.

2. Plant a container garden. The best part of a container garden is that you can take it with you. Plant some herbs or easy to grow vegetable plants, like tomatoes or cucumbers.

3. Sort through your magazines. Now you have the time to read all those magazine…

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Are you moving to a new Santa Cruz home or thinking about it? When you have young children, it can be a dramatic – or even traumatic – event. Here are a few tips to help your children adjust to a new home:

Tip # 1: Share exciting points about your new Santa Cruz home.
Does the house have a big back yard? Is there a park or bike path close by? Talk about the things you might be able to do together at the new place. Build up excitement, so your kids can’t wait to see where they’re going to live.

Tip #2: Let your kids be part of the packing process, if they’re old enough.
Children like to help when there’s a lot of hustle and bustle going on. You’ve probably noticed this yourself; every time you’re busy, they become your shadow. One way to let them help is…

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Going it alone and listing your home as for sale by owner can be exciting at first, but there is a turning point where the prospect of losing money makes it necessary to bring in help. Here are four reasons to change your plan and list your home with a Santa Cruz real estate agent in order to facilitate a sale.

1. Speed:  If your property has been languishing on the market for more than three months, it is no longer fresh. People will avoid it simply because it hasn't sold. A Santa Cruz real estate agent can give your home wider exposure and get traffic moving through it again.

2. Knowledge:  Fresh eyes on a project are helpful in any business endeavor. You can be too close to your home. You love it and see it in a positive light that can often overlook…

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When you look for a mortgage, you want to find one that allows you to buy the biggest house possible for a monthly payment you can afford. This seems simple enough. All you need to do is a little division to determine your monthly payment.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the entire picture of your monthly mortgage payment, and lenders don’t always explain this to you. Here are three things you need to know about your monthly mortgage payment for your new Santa Cruz home:

1. Interest and Principal. Only part of your monthly mortgage payment actually pays down your loan. A portion of your mortgage payment goes toward your loan principal and part of it pays the interest. The longer you have your loan, the more money goes toward your principal. Be aware that at…

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Rejection is a hard thing to face in life, whether it’s from a potential client, a potential boss or a potential home seller.  As a Santa Cruz home buyer, your stress level might be reduced if you’re aware of some of the reasons a seller may reject your offer. 

Before I give you the list of reasons, I’d like to mention that even if you and your buyer’s agent do everything right, the seller may still reject your offer.  It frequently has nothing to do with you.

With that said, here are 5 common reasons sellers reject offers on their homes:

1. The offer wasn’t enough for them to pay off their mortgage. For most sellers, the bottom line is paying off their mortgage. If your offer won’t cover the mortgage, they cannot accept it.

2. They may have just been…

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