How to get ready for a real estate purchase before viewing homes in person

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Getting ready to purchase a home takes some discipline and research, here are some things you can do to improve your chances of being successful in being real estate:

Check your credit score: Your credit score will impact your ability to get a mortgage and the interest rate you’ll qualify for. Check your credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus and make sure there are no errors. If your credit score needs improvement, take steps to improve it before applying for a mortgage.

Determine your budget: Use a mortgage calculator to estimate how much house you can afford based on your income, expenses, and debt. Keep in mind that in California, home prices can be higher than the national average, so you may need to adjust your expectations accordingly.

Get pre-approved for a mortgage: This will give you an idea of how much you can borrow and what your interest rate will be. To get pre-approved, you’ll need to provide documentation such as income verification, employment history, and credit score.

Hire a real estate agent: A local agent can help you navigate the California housing market, find properties that meet your needs and budget, and negotiate with sellers on your behalf.

Downpayment assistant programs in Alameda County, CA

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There’s no surprise that buyers seek down payment assistance. The immediate reaction is to seek it from friends and family, but there are other programs available that could help buyers obtain down payment funds. The reason why this is so important is because an escrow typically needs the buyer’s down payment plus closing costs in order to complete the sale. Here are some avenues:

Alameda County Mortgage Credit Certificate (MCC) Program: This program provides a federal income tax credit of up to 15% of the annual mortgage interest paid on a home loan. The credit can be used to reduce the borrower’s federal income tax liability, which can make homeownership more affordable. To qualify, borrowers must meet income and purchase price limits and complete a homebuyer education course.

California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) MyHome Assistance Program: This program provides a deferred-payment junior loan of up to 3.5% of the purchase price or appraised value (whichever is less) to help with down payment and/or closing costs. The loan does not accrue interest and must be repaid when the home is sold, refinanced, or no longer used as the borrower’s primary residence. To qualify, borrowers must meet income and purchase price limits and complete a homebuyer education course.

City of Oakland First-Time Homebuyer Program: This program provides up to $75,000 in down payment and/or closing cost assistance in the form of a deferred-payment loan with no interest or monthly payments. The loan must be repaid when the home is sold, refinanced, or no longer used as the borrower’s primary residence. To qualify, borrowers must meet income and purchase price limits and complete a homebuyer education course.

City of Fremont First-Time Homebuyer Program: This program provides up to $75,000 in down payment and/or closing cost assistance in the form of a deferred-payment loan with no interest or monthly payments. The loan must be repaid when the home is sold, refinanced, or no longer used as the borrower’s primary residence. To qualify, borrowers must meet income and purchase price limits and complete a homebuyer education course.

New home construction options in Alameda County, CA

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Single-family homes: These are detached homes built on their own lot, typically ranging from 1,500 to 4,000 square feet in size. There are many builders in Alameda County that specialize in single-family homes.

Townhomes: These are attached homes that share walls with neighboring homes, usually two or three stories tall. Townhomes offer a lower-maintenance lifestyle and are often more affordable than single-family homes.

Condominiums: These are multi-unit buildings where individual units are sold to buyers. Condos offer an even lower-maintenance lifestyle than townhomes, with shared amenities and services such as landscaping, security, and maintenance.

Apartments: In addition to rental apartments, there are also new construction apartment complexes that offer units for sale. These buildings can have a range of amenities, such as gyms, pools, and rooftop decks.

Custom homes: For those who want a completely unique home, there are custom home builders in Alameda County who can build a home tailored to your specific needs and preferences.

What is good about New Construction Homes direct from the Builder?

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Builders release houses in phases. They do this to ensure they can fund the entire project. Buyers can leverage this by buying in early phases to see instant appreciation over time.

Builders are risk averse entities. They want solid buyers who can commit to spaces even before it is built.

How do builders convince buyers they will not run away with their money and build an incomplete house? They do so with their track record and reputation.

In the bay area, there are many household builder names to look out for.

Sometimes you can tell there is a smaller builder if you have never heard of them before, but other companies dominate the bay area.

Builder first scoop up vacant land that has the potential to be rezoned. Properties on large lots next to major streets tend to do well.

Once they finish this, they market their spaces to the public.

Realtors are an important factor in this as they regularly tour new home sites in order to share them with their clients.

Why is it important to bring your Realtor on your first visit? The reason is to get the representation. Realtors are different entities from the builder’s sales office. Because of this, they look out for the buyers’ needs better than the builder can.

Anza at Agrihood New Construction

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Models Now Open – new construction homes at Anza at Agrihood. Click or call 510-304-6060 to learn more.

Starting at $1,224,990

2-3
Bedrooms

2-3.5
Bathrooms

2
Car Garage

What’s great about new construction? The ability to customize it the way you want it, the new house smell, the builder warranties, the phase appreciation, the list goes on. Not sure how to proceed? Call 510-304-6060 and plan your first visit.

How do Realtors go about promoting themselves and managing their online reputation?

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Whether it’s word of mouth, community service, or online leads, Realtors seek reliable and
diversified ways of converting clients. Realtors want to present themselves online as trustworthy and
competent and will find clients for free or through paid services.

Realtors self-educate by learning how to find clients for free. One example is managing a local
online group to discuss local restaurants. By creating value for a community, they have access to
members who may hire them later on.

There are also paid leads. Realtors can pay companies to receive leads from nearby zip codes.
Results can be mixed but Realtors will renew subscriptions with the most lucrative ones. Realtors hope
to run into qualified leads and not Looky-loos who make online property viewing a hobby.

Why working with a local real estate agent is beneficial for you

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Clients want to served by an agent who knows their service areas well. Let’s talk about why hiring a local real estate agent is useful in the home buying or selling process.

Local agents tend to have a firmer grip on prices than out of town agent counterparts. When presented with the sales data, they can look beyond data to see microtrends within the service area that could aid the client in the offer. Sometimes this insight can be called a qualitative analysis of pricing where local agents see property data but can intuit where pricing is headed in a few months. Communicating this information to clients in a timely manner could save them more money or get more money.

What does ‘local’ even mean? Agents could live in your service area, have an office in your service area, or have a track record in your service area. They don’t need all of them, but imagine finding an agent who was born and raised in your service area. They could provide huge neighborhood insights that other agents might not know.

If they were born and raised in your service area, that condition alone won’t guarantee you’ll have a good experience, but it’s a helpful consideration to take among many factors about whether your local real estate agent will do an exceptional job for you.

When I happen to assist clients who are looking in my service area, I make it to point to tell them I was born and raised in that area and that my knowledge of the area and neighborhoods could help them win offers or sell their house. Knowing the amenities, foot traffic, walking scores, schools, parks, and other details allows them to have a more informed picture of what they are doing.

Sometimes agents serve areas where they do not live. Sometimes their service area is too expensive for them to live in and they have to come from out of town to service it. They could still be experts for the service area, but they should disclose they are coming from out of town to meet you there. In fact, in the listing agreement, there is a place that tells the client whether or not the agent is in the service area for the MLS or not. This industry transparency helps clients get connected to agents who they feel are right for the job.

Is paying two mortgages stressful?

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Many people have considered renting out one house and living in another. But is managing two mortgage payments stressful? Let’s look at the scenario.

When people make wages, they want cushions. The thought of paying two mortgages equal to their paycheck is terrifying. They rely heavily on a financially solvant tenant to continue maintaining their investment and occupied home.

What they don’t recall is that both assets could be appreciating and they could be capturing unrealized gain. This unrealized gain makes holding these assets worth it, despite the two mortgage payments feeling intimidating to cover.

So the next time you think about paying two mortgage payments, think about how long you will hold your properties and how much they are valued at. Make your assessment about the economy and listen to what the federal reserve has to say. Contact your Realtor and see what their opinion is of the economy. With these ideas in mind, you could be on your way to become a landlord and live in your own place and have appreciating assets in your portfolio.

What do property directions say about a property?

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Sometimes we see ads about a house for sale. Remarks about the house could include directions to the house. Do we take those directions at face value or is the agent trying to tell us something else?

Details are always very important and it’s worth thinking about it a little bit. There’s sometimes multiple ways to get at a property by driving and some routes are more scenic than others.

Agents want to naturally showcase a property’s strengths and maybe play down its weaknesses within the bounds of the law.

Map directions could tell us that the route to the house is the best route to take to show off the house.

What’s the solution to this marketing where you want to be the most informed consumer possible? I recommend taking a different route after seeing the property. You get to see more of the neighborhood this way.

Save this strategy for properties that you have fallen in love with to determine if the initial infatuation is fleeting or real. Scoping out the nearby surroundings is something you will naturally find yourself doing, regardless of what the map directions say.