If you have never purchased a home before, you may not yet recognize how crucial it is to acquire the services of a professional Santa Cruz real estate agent. 

Buying a home will probably be the most expensive purchase you ever make.  Therefore, you undoubtedly should consider enlisting the help of a REALTOR® who has experience, extensive knowledge of the area and integrity.

Benefits of using a professional Santa Cruz real estate agent

Having your own buyer’s agent to walk you through the entire home buying process saves you a lot of time and stress, as well as money. 

You decide:

     • Size of home desired
     • Style preferred
     • Location
     • Price range

That’s easy!  With this basic information, your agent begins the hard part: searching…

1334 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

We, meaning the real estate industry, say, “It’s a buyer’s market!”  Buyers think that means that deals are available out in the big wide world of Santa Cruz homes for sale. Although that’s true, it’s not the whole truth. The whole truth is that money pits, bad deals and half-hearted sellers still exist. Without careful consideration, you may not get the deal you expected.

If you’re in the market for one of the Santa Cruz homes for sale, follow these tips to help you get a great deal:

1. Go back to school. In other words, do your homework. Yes, due to the buyer’s market, you have an advantage, but you still need to do your research.  Talk with a real estate agent who specializes in the area and look at the prices of homes sold within the past year. The…

1455 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

You’ve finally decided that, yes, you can afford to buy a Santa Cruz home. After years of frugal saving, hard work and patient waiting, the timing is great. You don’t want to wait anymore, so you rush out and start looking for homes. It is, after all, a buyer’s market, and you’re a buyer.

Now, if you read about real estate, you’ve probably considered your credit. Is my credit strong enough? Is my score high enough? Some go to lenders and request preapproval. A few request prequalification. Many, however, go to the “free” credit score searches.

Of those who use the credit score searches, some find a Santa Cruz home they want to buy. They then confidently take their credit reports to the lenders and find out the lenders don’t care about the reports.…

1799 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

The government’s first-time and repeat-buyer tax credits gave homeowners with Santa Cruz homes for sale a lot of hope. The potential for getting their homes sold seemed infinitely higher. The credit expires at the end of this month though, and many homes are still on the market. If yours is one of them, what should you do?

Don’t Panic!
The first inclination for many homeowners with Santa Cruz homes for sale is to panic.  Often, it’s during the hard periods of life that something miraculous happens. You find the job of your dreams after searching for two years for any kind of job at all. Your life has been plagued by bad relationships so often that you’ve quit looking and then – out of nowhere – your soul mate walks up. You need to sell your house, money…

1938 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

You've gotten your financing, your offer has been accepted and you just have to wait the few weeks until your closing date and your new Santa Cruz real estate is all yours. Nothing can go wrong, right? Wrong!

Technically nothing is likely to go wrong in that period of time, when it comes to the actual process of the property transfer. However, people often make critical mistakes that cripple their deals in that tense time right before closing.

Things You Shouldn't Do Before Closing

Buy a new car: Don't buy a new car or any big ticket item that might flag your loan company. Your credit will be continuously under review and your Santa Cruz real estate loan can be turned down at any time up until closing, even after it was accepted. Keep that in mind…

1619 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Surprising numbers of potential homebuyers are holding off on buying Santa Cruz homes. They see the housing prices drop and are waiting for them to go lower. They see the mortgage rates and are waiting for them to drop further. If this is you, you might want to rethink your strategy and take a real look at potential Santa Cruz homes.  

Here are two crucial reasons why you might not want to wait any longer:

1. Interest Rates on the Rise - Thanks to the Federal Reserve buying $1.23 trillion worth of mortgages, interest rates have been kept somewhere between 4.93% and 5.09% for a 30-year fixed-rate loan.  That’s about 0.4 % lower than it might be without the Fed’s help. However, by the end of 2009, the Federal Reserve had already started implementing a…

1690 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Good credit is more important than ever, if you want to get a Santa Cruz real estate loan.   Knowing what’s on your credit report and how lenders view various aspects of your report is crucial.

First Things First
Get a copy of your credit report from all three of the credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. You are entitled to one free report every year from each of the three credit reporting companies.  Whether you’re considering getting a loan or not, you should always take advantage of that opportunity to make sure your credit reports are accurate.

Range
FICO® scores range from 365 to 840. While the standards for what lenders consider a “good” FICO® score changes constantly and varies by lender, here’s a general breakdown of…

1461 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Government support in the national and Santa Cruz real estate sectors is slowly being pulled back. For instance, the federal homebuyer’s tax credit expires this month and the Fed stopped purchasing mortgage-backed securities in March. These two changes in financial backing for the housing market are causing worry because people fear the expiring tax credit will cause a dramatic drop in sales.

An important question right now is how much did the government support really help the national and Santa Cruz real estate markets and the economy?

The Economy
Dean Maki, chief U.S. economist for Barclays Capital (New York) and one of the most accurate economic forecasters for the past 20 years, says the U.S. economy is on the rise. Many economists share Maki’s…

1569 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Many potential homeowners are starting to look towards Santa Cruz foreclosures as a way to get the home of their dreams without spending their life savings. What they may not realize is that the sheer amount of foreclosed properties can be daunting. Some are so completely overwhelmed by the choices that they give up and walk away.

Santa Cruz foreclosures can be great deals, but you’ll have a few decisions to make before you even go looking. Because there are so many options, here and throughout the nation, it’s important to figure out what type of foreclosed home is best for you.

Government Foreclosures
Homes with federally sponsored loans, such as HUD homes, are repossessed by government housing agencies. Because these homes offer a lot of…

1465 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

A short sale happens when a lender agrees to accept less than the balance remaining on a home. It is a way for sellers to avoid foreclosure and sell their Santa Cruz homes.

It seems like a good idea for people who owe more on their home than it’s worth, but that doesn’t mean it is right for everyone. Should you consider a short sale on your Santa Cruz home?

Pros to doing a short sale:

• You will be able to sell your property, get out from under a mortgage you cannot afford and lower your debt.

• You can still sell your property in a declining real estate market, even if you owe more than the home is worth.

• Buyers sometimes get good deals on the property or may be able to buy a home at market value in a popular area they couldn't previously…

1529 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post