Santa Cruz County Trends At a Glance

Now is a fabulous time to take advantage of today's real estate market and boost your investment portfolio with Santa Cruz short sales. Here are the top ten reasons why investing in short sales might be beneficial for you:

1. Short sales benefit buyers, sellers and investors. You get to help a lender and homeowner out of a tough financial situation.
2. You can make a nice profit because Santa Cruz short sales are priced at or below market.
3. Banks are closing them faster than ever before and, from start to finish, it’s not as painful as it used to be.
4. There is a huge inventory of short sales from which to choose.
5. The competition is low because there aren’t enough investors to gobble them all up.
6. It doesn’t take a ton of time. You’ll spend even less…

Do you think you have a good handle on what a reasonable price would be for your Santa Cruz home for sale? In today’s rollercoaster real estate market, the right price could be the difference between a quick sale and your house sitting for months without a single bite.

REALTORS® are experts when it comes to housing market values. However, if you’re planning on selling your house yourself, do you even know where to begin? Below are four tips the pros use to set a price that gets potential buyers in the door and still allows you to get the most money from the sale of your property.

Four tips to price your Santa Cruz home for sale like a pro:

1. Study your history – Take a look at what properties in your neighborhood sold for when you bought your house…

As houses continue to sit on the market without the slightest sign of interested buyers, sellers are lowering prices and pouring more money into upgrades and remodels. While these updates might help increase sales, you could achieve the same results with your Santa Cruz home by spending less cash and adding more green.

With the growing demand for green features, buyers like the idea of purchasing a house that already contains a few eco-conscious elements. From environmentally sound materials to energy efficient windows and doors, just adding one green upgrade could be the ticket to spark interest and sell your Santa Cruz home.

6 eco-features buyers love:

1. Water-saving appliances – Install low-flow toilets and aerators on showers to reduce your water…

Do you know how closing costs actually work? Or, how you’d use CMAs (comparative market analysis) to evaluate Santa Cruz real estate? And, can you decipher all of the abbreviations and acronyms, such as FDR, lo dues and MLS.

Purchasing a home is frustrating enough without having to go through the frustration of decoding all the complicated speak and legalese. If you brush up with a real estate dictionary before your home-buying search, you’ll gain valuable knowledge and save yourself a lot of time and headaches in the long run.

Basic lingo every Santa Cruz real estate buyer or seller should know …

• ARM – This stands for Adjustable-Rate Mortgage, which is a type of mortgage where the interest rate periodically adjusts.

• Closing costs – These are…

The fact is that not all Santa Cruz real estate agents are created equal.   There are important differences you need to consider before choosing an agent to help you buy a home.

Here are some fictional beliefs people have about Santa Cruz real estate agents and the facts behind them.

1. Fiction:  Any agent you contact about a property is now your buyer’s agent and is looking out for your best interests. 

Fact:  When you call the agent whose name is on the For Sale sign in the front yard of the home, you’re calling the seller’s agent.  That agent is looking out for the home seller’s best interest, not yours.   Hire a buyer’s agent and ask him or her to show you homes you’re interested in seeing.

2. Fiction:  When you hire a buyer's agent, you have to…

If your Santa Cruz home for sale has a big kitchen and you haven’t marketed this feature, you may be in luck, thanks to a recently noted trend.

With the staggering economy, the national unemployment rate is still sitting above 9%. Many young adults just out of college are having trouble find jobs. In fact, the age group hardest hit seems to be between 16 and 24. As well, there are a number of people without homes due to foreclosure. How are Americans weathering the economic fallout? Many are doing so by consolidating multiple generations into one home.

2 Things That May Change How You Market Your Santa Cruz Home for Sale
A Pew Research Center study on living conditions and an Associated Press - iVillage poll on dinner habits may change how you market…

The news is everywhere – and it’s good! Those who own or want to own Santa Cruz homes can take a deep breath.  Home equity is on the rise, according to a recent study by Zillow.com, an online real estate valuation researcher.  And, Federal Reserve economists agree. Although home equity isn’t what it was three years ago, it’s on the rise.

The Fed’s most recent “flow of funds” survey indicates that the net equity of national homeowners grew by almost $1 trillion over the first three quarters of 2009, and rose further by $418 billion between June and September of last year. Compared to before the bubble popped, that’s really not that impressive. However, after three straight years of steadily dropping equities, it could signify the long awaited end of the…

Few things sound better than paying off a thirty-year Santa Cruz real estate mortgage early.  Not only will you be free of mortgage payments, you could also save thousands of dollars in interest payments over the life of the loan.  Here are four ideas to help you pay off your mortgage early:

1. Apply any windfall monies you receive to your mortgage balance.  Be sure to indicate that this is an extra payment and should be applied exclusively to your principle. 

2. Make bi-weekly mortgage payments.  Making exactly one-half payment every two weeks will add up to a total of twenty-six half payments per year.  Or, thirteen whole payments each year instead of twelve.  That’s the secret to paying off a Santa Cruz real estate mortgage early with bi-weekly…

As many Santa Cruz real estate agents will tell you, curb appeal shouldn’t end when the sun goes down. Exterior lighting can be both utilitarian and create a welcoming atmosphere even at night. The huge variety in lighting types will also lend uniqueness to your property and make it stand out to potential buyers.

Benefits of Popular Lighting Types

• Reduces crime:  Motion-activated flood lights on the front and back porch are essential in high-crime areas and always a good idea for any area. It’s been proven that criminals don’t like Santa Cruz real estate with bright exterior lighting.  The bright lights will draw attention to visitors before they’ve ever reached your door.  Additionally, you should never discount the value of being able to see clearly…

Housing affordability inched downward throughout the state during the second quarter of 2009 as a result of incremental price increases and increased demand sparked by the state new-homebuyer tax credit, the California Building Industry Association said today.

The quarterly National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index found that homes were less affordable in 16 of the state’s 28 metro areas included in the report.

On a statewide basis, the HOI found that a median-income family could have afforded 62.7% of the new and existing homes that were sold during the second quarter, down from 64.4% in the first quarter.

Robert Rivinius, CBIA’s President and CEO, said the decrease in affordability could signal the bottom of the…