How do you know when it is time to buy rather than rent?

Well, my thoughts are that when rents increase so much that it is cheaper to make a monthly mortgage than to pay rent, especially when the rents increase annually.

Please pardon the numbers. A single family home in Mission Viejo goes for about $550,000. Down payment as low as $20,000 Monthly mortgage as low as $2250 a month. Single family homes for rent in Mission Viejo are as low as $2700 a month and as high as $3500 a month.

Basically, it can be time to buy now, as the rents continue to rise, the number of homes available to rent continue to decline and the number of homes available to purchase go up.

The first thing you should do is contact a lender and get an idea of how much home you can afford to purchase. They can check your credit and income and expenses and make a determination based on the max monthly payment you can afford per month, or the max that you want to pay per month.
With that monthly payment determined and how much you plan to put down, they can tell you how much house you can buy.

Then you contact a realtor and we can show you all the homes in your preferred area with your preferences and in your price range.

Once we find that perfect home, we will walk you through the rest of the process.

If you have any questions about this process, or anything, just call Julz.
www.justcalljulz.net

Am I ready to buy a home?

There are a few things that you should do to prepare yourself to purchase a home.
The first, and likely one of the most important, is making sure your credit is good. The better your credit, the higher the FICO score. The higher your score the lower the interest rate that you will qualify for.

Another thing to consider is the cost for the down payment. You can get an FHA loan with as little as 3.5% of the purchase price as your down payment. This helps a lot when you have to save up that down payment.

Closing costs? Well, closing costs vary depending on a number of factors. How much your lender charges, the price of the home effects the cost of title, escrow and other fees that are calculated against the purchase price. Then there is the first few weeks of interest payments on the loan, until your first monthly payment is due, as well as the first few months of property taxes.

However, there are programs that can help with your down payment, if you qualify.
There are also ways to write an offer that will assist with the closing cost expense.

I recently got a buyer of mine to move in for nothing but the down payment.
Prior to that I was able to get someone into a home with nothing down and no closing costs.

If you are curious about these programs or any others just call Julz.

www.justcalljulz.net
949-633-6788
Lic 01754588

Advocating for your clients is what Realtors should do in every situation.

Advocating for your clients is what Realtors should do in every situation.

I had a situation not long ago where I represented the seller. When we received an offer, the same day the fully executed purchase contract was signed the disclosures were sent along with them to the buyer’s agent. The disclosures include many things, but some of the most important are the ones that the seller fills out that ask specific questions about the home.

A couple of questions would be, has anyone died in the home in the last 3 years, have you had a leak in the home, stuff like that, just to give you an idea. Well one of the questions that my buyers answered was regarding the roof. They noted on the disclosure that there had been a roof leak, but that they had the roof repaired.

Now the buyers have 17 days to do a home inspection. They can do just a regular home inspection, a termite inspection, a roof inspection, a structural foundation inspection; whatever inspections they want to do they have the ability to do. The buyers waived their right to a home inspection in this situation.  Now, had I been the realtor that represented the buyers I would have urged them to at least get a roof inspection because of the disclosure about the prior roof leak noted in the paperwork that was provided by the seller.

But needless to say that didn’t happen. Long after the close of escrow I get an e-mail from the buyer’s agent telling me that my client has to pay for her clients to get a new roof. I said no they don’t. So that agent, after the fact, was trying to help her clients, when the best help would have been during the course of the sale and within the time periods allowed for the buyers to make important decisions about continuing with the process of the purchase.

At any rate, I made a quick inquiry to my clients and they reminded me that they had disclosed the prior roof leak and that it had been repaired.

So, being an advocate for my client I went back to the buyer’s agent, provided a copy of the disclosure that clearly stated that information, I provided the date at which this information had been provided and then reminded the agent that her clients had a responsibility to do their due diligence and get a home inspection and I pointed to her that she should have encouraged them to do that. I also reminded the other agent that she had a responsibility to her clients to make sure they fully understood the information that was provided. She could have also asked for a home warranty that would include roof coverage, but the agent didn’t make sure her clients were protected.

I am sure there are many stories out there of people who have been left feeling like they lost something in the course of the sale or purchase of their home. This is why it is so very important to choose your realtor, not just based on their years of experience, but based on the kind of person they are and what they will do to make sure you have a smooth transaction and that you are protected the entire way through.

If you have any questions about this story or anything else, please just call Julz. 949-633-6788

www.justcalljulz.net