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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Have you ever seen a child right after a huge chewing gum bubble pops on his face? A mess everywhere, eyes wide, mouth in an “O” – rather reminiscent of the real estate industry when its own bubble popped. Homeowners panicked and began trying to sell their Santa Cruz homes.

As more pushed to unload the instantly unwanted “step child” of homeownership, the real estate market became glutted, resulting in lower sales prices. Two years later, some owners are still trying to sell their Santa Cruz homes, still panicking, and still worried about what the future will bring. However, you might be like some homeowners, who are indecisive about selling their homes or who realize they don’t really want to sell.

Stop.

Take a deep breath.

Quit worrying for a…

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For homeowners getting ready to put their Santa Cruz homes on the market, here are a few stunningly-easy tips to help get your home sold faster and maybe even for more money.

Keep in mind that your prospective buyers will most likely be viewing several Santa Cruz homes on the same day as your showing. The emotional elements you include will have a profound impact on their memory, and will make your home standout when they review what they’ve seen with their agents at day’s end.

Preparing your home for the perfect showing is essential and comprises three basic elements that will make your home sparkle.

Atmosphere

  • Soft classical music
  • Simmering potpourri
  • Bake an apple pie in the oven.  Or, if you have a bread machine, bake bread.
  • Well-lit rooms and…

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As I’m sure you know, the real estate industry is in a down market, and the last thing you want to do is pay commission to a Santa Cruz real estate agent. Not to mention that you’re almost positive you can sell your home just fine on your own. Before sticking a “For Sale by Owner” sign up, however, make sure you’re ready for the work and headaches.

  • Time. Yes, can sell your Santa Cruz real estate on your own without the help of an agent, but it takes a lot of preparation and time. How much is your time worth and how much time do you have? Before you step out on your own, make sure you can afford the time and energy investment.
  • Extra services for better value. You’ll lose out on a wide variety of services offered by real estate agents.  For example, many…

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There are many Santa Cruz homes currently for sale.  An obvious question you must ask yourself in today’s market is how to make your home stand out.   

Whether you’re a real estate investor wanting to flip several Santa Cruz homes or a homeowner selling your current home, one of the top ways to increase your home’s value is remodeling the kitchen.  The kitchen is the central meeting place of the American family and people want it to be modern and up to date.

Do a Price Comparison among Santa Cruz Homes

Your renovation budget is one of the primary concerns to take into account before you begin.  The current value of your home, as compared to other homes in your neighborhood, is one way to determine how much you should spend on your kitchen renovation.

…

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A past filing of bankruptcy does not mean you can’t buy Santa Cruz real estate.  Your real estate agent may be able to help you get a mortgage or find other ways to buy a home, if you do get turned down for a traditional mortgage. 

Before you meet with your Santa Cruz real estate agent, here are a few ways to prepare:

  • Have a copy of your current bank statement
  • Have written proof of your monthly income
  • Make a list of all your current monthly bills
  • Collect all your recent credit card statements
  • Have a copy of your bankruptcy agreement

Put all this info in a file folder and take it to your meeting.  Your Santa Cruz real estate agent will appreciate you doing your homework!

If you have straightened out your credit since the bankruptcy, you are in…

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