You’ve reached that time in your life where you’re ready to buy Santa Cruz real estate.  Even though the mortgage approval process can be intimidating, you can get yourself ready to apply for a loan.  These are the first steps to buying your home:

Make a List

First, make a list of your finances.  Include all your income, and factor in your normal monthly debts.  Miscellaneous bills, like your daily coffee or weekly magazine, should be listed too.  Write down everything that you spend each month.

Calculate what 28% of your income is.  Most loan officers recommend not spending more than 28% on your housing costs.  You may not want to take on a mortgage loan for the maximum amount offered without consulting your list to see what money is actually…

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With the current Santa Cruz foreclosure woes, and the strains of the economy these days, many people are worried about what they’ll do when their ARM (adjustable rate mortgage) resets.  Here are a few suggestions to help you weather the current financial storm:

What is an ARM?

ARM refers to a mortgage loan that has a variable interest rate.  The amount of the monthly payments will change several times over the life of the loan.  ARMs usually have a lower introductory interest rate than a fixed-rate mortgage.  After a period of time, the interest rate is recalculated, resulting in a higher interest rate and monthly payment.

Get Out Your Loan Paperwork

Many homeowners are worried about what will happen to their monthly payments when the ARM resets. …

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Everybody wants to know how the housing market is doing, especially if they own Santa Cruz real estate. I try to keep the newsy pieces to a minimum and spend most of my Internet space on helpful pointers, but a lot of readers have asked about the market. In response to high demand, here’s a peak at the current national foreclosure trends:

Foreclosure Trends

It’s a wonderful thing to own any kind of real estate (although I’m partial to Santa Cruz real estate, of course). Unfortunately, many people have lost their homes due to foreclosure since the housing crisis started; there have been over 7.8 million since 2007. California, Florida, Arizona, Nevada, Illinois and Michigan have been topping the count for foreclosures, adding up to 62% of the nation’s…

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Owning a Santa Cruz home can be a sign of independence and success.  It allows you to build up equity and the mortgage interest and property taxes are tax-deductible.  Can you afford it, though? 

Reputable lenders look at a list of criteria to decide how much they’ll loan you.  This list includes:

• Credit score
• Existing assets including cash
• Car leases or loans
• Credit card balances
• Debt consolidation loans
• Home equity loans
• Installment loans
• Student loans
• Other monthly debts
• Size/source of your down payment

If you’d like to get an idea of what you can afford before talking to a lender, here are a few tools you can use to decide whether a Santa Cruz home is within your budget:

• As a rule of thumb, your house hunting budget shouldn’t be more…

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More festive candles are used in your Santa Cruz condo during the holidays than at any other time of year, so it’s important to review the safety rules.  Here are few tips to keep your condo safe:

Candle Placement Preparation

It may sound silly, but you need to prepare before you light that candle.  First figure out where you want to place the candle in your Santa Cruz condo. 

• Find a heat resistant surface. 
• Make sure there aren’t any books, papers, curtains, or bedding nearby. 
• Watch out for flammable holiday decorations. 
• Keep the candle away from windows and vents, and check for signs of a draft. 
• Place the candle where children and pets can’t reach and where it isn’t likely to be bumped into.
 
Getting Ready to Light the Candle

• Before…

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It’s that time of year again, when the temperatures fall and the costs of heating your Santa Cruz home go up.  Do you worry about the increasing cost of heating oil and the rise in energy prices?  Then you may want to try these suggestions for saving on your home’s heating costs:

• Check all your home’s air vents to see that they are clean and free from any blockages.  Replace your furnace filters to keep the system running efficiently.

• Weather Seal your home.  Look around all the door and window frames on your house for obvious gaps and spaces that could let cold air into your house.  Fill in the gaps with a silicone caulking, sold at all hardware stores.  For high traffic areas like the doorway, you may want to apply a vinyl or metal…

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Do you have a competitive nature? Do you always have to have the last say? Do you always feel you have to win? If you have a home for sale in Santa Cruz, you may have “competed” yourself right out of a buyer. Please, read on to find out how NOT to make this mistake.

Who Calls the Shots?

You’ve probably heard “it’s a buyer’s market” many, many times already. With the number of people who have a home for sale in Santa Cruz, this is something you can’t afford to ignore. This is especially true considering that the longer your house sits on the market the more it depreciates.

A competitive nature is all well and good, but, when dealing with potential buyers, you have to rein it in. Winning, in this case, is not getting the last word, but selling your…

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If your Santa Cruz home for sale isn’t selling, you’re probably wondering if you’re missing something. Well, here’s a list of things you might not know that could make all the difference:

1. If the location of your Santa Cruz home for sale isn’t great, the price and terms are the only thing that will sell it. Make them outstanding!

2. Attractive, competitive terms may help you get a higher price. For instance, if you’re allowing the option of owner financing, and also allow a smaller down payment (say, $20,000 - $30,000), you may be able to sell your house for a higher overall amount.

3. Because of the current high competition, your home has to be in the best condition at a competitive price. Check out the competition, accept that yours might need…

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When people think of environmental concerns, very seldom do they think of their home environment. Mold spores, carcinogens, allergens and more can fill up your Santa Cruz real estate and create a bad environment. Here are a few ways to make sure your indoor air quality is as good as it can be:

• Check for mold. Mold has a distinctive odor; somehow, it manages to smell both wet and dry, as well as musty. It can grow around windows, in the bathroom and in your air ducts. For windows, bathrooms and small areas within your home, you can clean the mold yourself wearing protective gear and using the right mold cleanup methods.

• Check the ductwork. Mold, dust, insect parts and other small to microscopic pollutants settle in ductwork and then, when the air is…

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If you’re looking at one of the many Santa Cruz homes for sale (and especially when reading about buying a home), you’ve probably already read articles that ask, “How much house can you afford?” and “Can you really afford the mortgage for a new home?” From beginning to end, to get a good estimate, you’ll need to figure monthly payments, loan qualification guidelines, closing costs and much more. Frankly, all those calculations can set your head to reeling.

To cut down on some of the frustration, save a few trees from the paper you’d use up and help give you a better guestimate, I’ve decided to go looking for the best real estate calculators I could find on the Net. Here are my top 3 picks I’ve come across:

#3. Real Estate Calculator Suite – This…

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