How Much House Can I Afford?
Well that depends…. how are you planning on purchasing your home? Do you have cash? Are you planning on getting a loan; if so, have you received a pre-qualification letter from your lender yet? Once you establish the way you will be funding the purchase of your home then we can figure out which steps you will need to complete to accomplish this.
Cash is pretty self explanatory. Lets talk about financing a bit. A serious buyer, in need of a loan to purchase a home will need to contact their lender for a pre-qualification letter. This is most often wanted, to be included in your offer package, when submitting to the banks in a short sale, reo and even Sellers in a regular sale. If you are in need of a lender remember, to make things easier on you, Prudential San Bruno, has a really good Mortage Company relationship that works in house , Guarantee Mortgage 650.589.1000. What else can I say but they are nothing less than awesome!
Actually getting a pre-approval often times can speed the home buying process up. Your lender will need to evaluate your debt to income ratio in order to establish how much house you can actually afford. Read more
Ethics in Real Estate
Being a nice guy has its perks and its flaws…for my clients, it means working with someone they can trust and depend on. I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but I can say I am one of THE BEST when it comes to communication. People don’t like surprises. People don’t like to be left in the dark. People need peace of mind. I know this and cater to it fully and with great compassion.
Of course, there is always the downside in being a nice, dependable realtor. And that is dealing with realtors who, well, just aren’t. Their turnaround time to call you back is 1 to 2 days. They won’t always answer your calls. They might be so busy, they might not even remember who the heck you are when all you are doing is getting confirmation they received the buyer’s offer.
But I digress. Working in whatever industry that focuses on customer service, it is always all about the client and the quality of salesmanship they endure. A good realtor will always be ready to bat for the client and should do so with ethics, integrity and RELIABILITY. It is most likely because of my own bad experiences I place such emphasis on this subject. So for now, it is only fitting that I forward from the National Association of Realtors, the 2010 Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice, Duties to Clients and Customers: Read more
Up, Up, But Not Quite Away
We were expecting a little more, but at least it’s trending in the right direction. We are speaking of the employment report, which showed payrolls rose by 431,000 last month.
That would be very good news, if not for the fact that 411,000 of the new hires were related to the census. Nevertheless, that still leaves a net positive for the private sector. The increase was enough to push the unemployment rate down to 9.7 percent (though some pundits argue the drop was really due to a lower participation rate).
You never want to read too much into a single month of data, but we remain encouraged: job growth and wages picked up from April to May, while the average workweek lengthened. And although moderate compared to past post-recessions, the recovery is looking more sustainable after consumer spending and business investment rose at a healthy pace in the first quarter.
Overall, we think this latest employment report provides another reason to act now in both the mortgage and housing markets.
Mondays… We all Love Them
Mondays…we all love them. For us Realtors, it is the day after holding an Open House. For myself, Mondays are the day my lockbox key is to be updated. On this particular Monday, I was in Berkeley showing single family homes to my client. I’m usually consistent in making sure my key is updated every Monday morning before doing anything else. That afternoon was the rare exception. As soon as I parked my car to walk over to the clients in front of the property, it dawned that we were not immediately going to be able to enter the home. I sincerely explained to them what happened and managed to make another appointment to meet with them in another hour and half. Driving back to the San Bruno office and then back to Berkeley was not exactly an appealing idea.
Quickly, I thought there must be another way where I could at least stay in Berkeley to update my key and prevent wasting precious gas. Several Prudential California Realty office locations came up on my Blackberry. After a few calls, I finally spoke to a helpful sounding agent who invited me to stop by and use their key updating station at her office. Although it was located on the other side of where I was in Berkeley, I certainly didn’t mind driving there considering how much time and money I was saving. Read more
Don’t Expect Too Much From Tax Credits
We are speaking of the federal homebuyer tax credits, in particular, which seem to be invoked as the blanket explanation for anything that does or doesn’t happen in the housing market. We were more circumspect than most of their ability to sustain any market rally after being extended and embellished in November. That appears the case today. Credits are good at pushing demand forward, but not so good at sustaining demand over time.
We’ve also been circumspect over the ability of low interest rates to keep things moving forward in perpetuity. To be sure, low rates matter and low mortgage rates make more homes more affordable to more people, but it’s still a matter of taking on new debt with a home purchase or lower-cost debt with a refinance. The only way debt can be serviced is with income, usually a job.
It’s really all about employment at this point. Fortunately, the news is improving on that front based on the past three months of employment data. Things might be moving slower than we’d like, but for potential borrowers, that’s actually good news. When employment shifts into gear, interest rates are likely to follow.
So, we’ve said it before, but we’ll say it again: improving employment, low mortgage rates, and stabilizing home prices (which, by the way, we think will remain stable, even with the REO and foreclosure overhang) coupled with soon-to-expire tax credits suggest to us that now is not the time to procrastinate
From the weekly newsletter of Dean Rizzi
Visit my website at www.deanrizzi.com
Slow & Steady wins the race!
What do you do when you have close personal friends who are in the market to buy, but can’t hire you as their agent out of obligation to a family member? I recently had a situation occur where my friends decided it was time to jump off the rental train and become home owners. I thought it was a great idea and a wonderful way to secure their financial future. The wife would call me and ask me questions and of course I would answer any and all that came my way. I even set them up with a loan agent to get them pre-approved and started sending them automated email alerts for new active properties. Read more
How much under the list price can I offer?
This is a question I am asked quite often. Many people get their real estate news from what they hear on the radio, watch on tv, or read in newspapers. What many do not do is actually speak to the people who are in the business and have up to date information on the current market. Although I encourage my clients to ask any questions that comes to mind, it is my job and responsibility to explain to them what I have experienced in the market and where I think it will go from here. Of course, I can not predict the future, but if the facts are studied, trends can be found. I feel it is very important that I educate my clients on the current market, so that we can work together to accomplish the common goal. Read more
One Buyer’s Loss is another Buyer’s Second Chance
30% of Real Estate Deals Don’t Go Thru. Maybe it is more, maybe it is less, but that is a pretty good estimate. So what does that mean to buyers and their agents? It means the property you lost out to in multiple offers or just because someone was faster than you does not mean it is gone forever. Read more
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Recent Posts
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