The steps involved in the process of purchasing a home vary from state to state.  Regardless of where you are buying, for most, it the single biggest investment in one’s life – and often represents the largest debt you will ever incur.

In the state of California, particularly in today’s ever-changing real estate market, home buyers require many tools and resources to find their family’s dream home and close on it smoothly.  As a North San Diego County real estate agent, based in Del Mar CA, one of the steps that is often overlooked is researching and securing home owner’s insurance prior to releasing contingencies.  While it may seem like a trivial step, there are a number of pitfalls you may encounter – and you should be sure to have all your ducks in a row, well before the deadline hits, and you venture beyond the point of no return.

Here are a few of the things that can cause a problem in obtaining insurance:

• the home has a “black mark” against it because of a prior claim
• you yourself have been “red flagged” because of a prior claim you filed on a previous property
• in the purchase of a condo, the master policy may not have enough coverage to satisfy the lender you are using
• the neighborhood the home is in may have high premiums or may be uninsurable altogether because of a previous natural disaster like a fire or flood.

The list goes on, but the point is, it is critical to shop for and get a commitment for an insurance policy well before you need to release contingencies and commit to moving forward.  If you release contingencies without having done so, you may end up not being able to perform on the purchase and risk losing your deposit – potentially thousands of dollars!

For more information about the process of buying a home in North San Diego County, read our series here:

The home buying process – Overview

The home buying process – Step 1: Define, Research, Plan

The home buying process – Step 2: Contact a Realtor

For a more personal consultation, give us a call: 760-815-1318.

Pick Your Lender and Get Pre-Approved For A Loan!!

Pick a lender

Shopping for a lender and a loan is NOT something to start doing after your offer is accepted, when you’re on a tight timeline that contractually MUST be met.  Choose someone before you find the home you want to buy – someone not only with competitive rates, but with whom you have a rapport, who is creative and knowledgeable, who does not over promise and under deliver. Again, a recommendation from a trusted friend, colleague or family member is usually the best way to find a good lender or broker.  Ask the person recommending about their referral’s communication skills, their timeliness, and their knowledge. A good mortgage broker will help you analyze the particulars of your financial situation and goals and give you options that are specifically suited to you.

The broker will also advise and guide you throughout the process, making sure you know not only what you qualify for and what you need to do to secure the loan, but coordinate the various people involved – from appraisers to underwriters to insurance agents –and keep them on track. As soon as you start viewing homes with the serious intention of buying, interview and select a mortgage broker.

Get prequalified

It has become convention to submit a prequalification letter when presenting or submitting an offer.  The prequalification process involves a brief conversation regarding your financial situation including income and assets with your lender, and an assessment of the kind of loan product you would qualify for.  On the basis of this examination the lender will provide you with a letter detailing how much you can borrow to buy a home.  This prequalification is still subject to verification and credit check.

Prequalification vs preapproval

While having a prequalification letter to submit with your offer is good, a preapproval letter is even better.  The pre-approval process generally involves meeting with a lender, filling out an application and authorizing the detailed examination of your current financial situation and credit history.  You submit all necessary documentation and get in return a much more sold commitment letter regarding your ability to obtain a loan.

The benefits of pre-qualification and pre-approval include:

• You’ll have information about what you can afford and be able to plan accordingly

• As a pre-qualified, motivated buyer you’ll be taken more seriously when you make an offer on a home

• Lenders can tell you whether you qualify for any special programs that will enable you to afford a better home (particularly if you’re a first-time buyer)

• You will have a head start on the time lines once escrow starts which will give you some breathing room and make the process much less stressful.

Real estate financing is available from many sources, and an experienced REALTOR® will be able to suggest lenders with a history of offering excellent mortgage products and services. For more information about the benefits of pre-approval and the loan process in general, give us a call.

To read previous installments of the series, click below:

The home buying process – Overview

The home buying process – Step 1: Define, Research, Plan

The home buying process – Step 2: Find a Realtor

The home buying process – Step 3: Pick a Lender and Get PreApproved

The home buying process – Step 4: Find THE Home

Picking a good agent is perhaps the single most important step in listing your home for sale.  A quality professional means the difference between money in your pocket and a stagnant listing, between netting more versus netting less, a smooth escrow rather than one with lots of snafus, a stressFREE versus a stressFUL transaction.

Ideally, it is best to have not only a great agent, but a great agent working under the umbrella of a great company such as Coldwell Banker. My partner Maxine Geller and I have had the good fortune of being affiliated with Coldwell Banker for over 10 years. There are countless reasons why we why we chose to associate with this fine company, not the least of which is its number one market share position in Southern California.  Many of these reasons benefit not only us as agents but you as our clients.  Here are the top 12 reasons listing with Coldwell Banker benefits you.

1.    Name Recognition:     98% of the general public recognizes Coldwell Banker as a real estate company based on recent surveys.

• Benefit to client: a feeling of “being with the best” and knowing there is a natural sense of credibility lent to their listing.

2.    100 Years Experience:  Coldwell Banker has been in business for over 100 years and has national/international experience.

• Benefit to client: no matter what the real estate market is doing, Coldwell Banker has seen it all and has the knowledge and resources to market properties in the most effective manner.

3.    Internet Presence:  Coldwell Banker has a strong internet presence due in part to its partnership with Realtor.com which insures better shelf position due to requirement to have at least 18 photos of property for each listing.  Also, Coldwell Banker.com and CAMoves.com are recognized as leaders in the industry.

• Benefit to client: over 90% of buyers shop first for real estate on the internet  with a majority of their time spent on Realtor.com, giving listings great exposure.

4.    Cutting Edge Technology: Coldwell Banker is the first real estate company to develop its own YouTube channel for real estate searches, OnLocation.

• Benefit to client: web surfers can search for homes through viewing videos instead of static images, bringing properties to life, and giving listings much better exposure.

5.    Lead Router: Coldwell Banker invested in the development of a system that notifies listing agents, via their cell phone, that a potential buyer is interested in obtaining more information about their client’s property within seconds of the time the buyer submits the request.

• Benefit to client: internet users want a fast response to their inquiries and no one responds faster than Coldwell Banker.  Information about your property and an appointment to view it can be provided almost instantaneously.

6.    Risk Management:  Coldwell Banker maintains a strong risk management team on staff to support agents in the field.

• Benefit to client: this program assures that your agent is constantly updated regarding legal issues in real estate and will be diligent in his/her efforts to assure a risk free transaction.

7.    Training:  Coldwell Banker maintains an in-house education team that coordinates on-going training for agents and staff.

• Benefit to client: assurance that your agent is up to date with the latest information on all aspects of real estate

8.    Cutting edge Print Marketing:  Coldwell Banker conducts national promotions and provides agents easy access to cutting edge high quality print marketing through their affiliation with the Merrill Corporation and Impact Marketing.

• Benefit to client: assurance that your property will be presented in a professional manner befitting its value

9.    In-House Email Marketing Program:  All Coldwell Banker offices participate in an interoffice email marketing program to promote and exchange information about their client’s wants, needs and properties for sale.

• Benefit to client: provides a tremendous network for marketing their home immediately through participation in the in-house email program

10.    Concierge:  Coldwell Banker provides clients with access to referral services that have been investigated and prequalified.

• Benefit to client: clients can use our one stop shop to find reputable service providers that have already gone through a rigorous screening process, are high quality, ethical, and reliable.

11.    High Level of Professionalism:  Coldwell Banker prides itself in maintaining a high level of professionalism among its agents and staff that is well recognized in the industry.

• Benefit to client: clients can be assured that the sale of their property will be handled in a professional appropriate manner

12.    Affiliated Services:  Coldwell Banker has established relationships with their affiliated services including escrow, title, home insurance and mortgage services.

• Benefit to client: through the affiliated services clients can be assured there is a team in place all pulling in the same direction to achieve the goal of the sale of their home

To find out more about the advantages of listing with a superior team, the Geller-Meier Team, at a superior company, Coldwell Banker, give us a call.  We’d love an opportunity to earn your business.

http://bit.ly/mH2UCm

…mortgage rates at their lowest level for 2011 after declining for the fourth consecutive week. The 30-year fixed-rate averaged 4.63 percent, and the 15-year fixed averaged 3.82 percent.

Contact A REALTOR®

Buying real estate is a hugely complex business transaction.  It involves not only the purchase of one of the largest assets most will ever buy or own, but hundreds of details which are critical in terms of their cost and their liability.

With all the unique opportunities and potential pitfalls of the current market, it’s even more important for you to contact a professional in the field.  Because REALTORS®, i.e. real estate agents who are members of the largest trade organization, the National Association of REALTORS®, are held to a higher standard than your average agent, it is in your best interest to choose a REALTOR® once you’ve definitely decided to buy.

In choosing a REALTOR® to guide you through the property search, financing, negotiation and transaction processes, you should consider their local market knowledge, experience and track record.

A few tips on how to find a great real estate agent –

• A referral from a friend, family member or colleague is always best – but explore what it is the referrer liked about the person.  Make sure it isn’t simply because he or she is their brother or mother-in-law!
• Online through various searches or websites – but be sure to check references and not go with someone just because they have a fancy website.
• Local marketing – though beware, a self proclaimed “neighborhood expert” may be neither a neighborhood expert nor a quality professional.
• Optimally, find a great agent at a great company.  I work for the best company Coldwell Banker (read why Coldwell Banker is the best real estate company). That said, while the company is important, the quality of your agent is more important.  It is better to have a great agent at a not-so-great company than a lousy agent at a great company. The transaction from start to finish is predominantly in your agent’s hands, not in the hands of his or her company.

As your agent spends time with you, she will begin to get what’s truly important to you.   A perceptive agent will read between the lines, sometimes picking up on priorities you didn’t even know you had.  A good agent will save you money and protect your interests.  A good agent wants you to be thrilled with your home not just on the day you close and get the keys, but 2 months and 2 years down the road.  Buying a home is a major journey, sometimes through treacherous waters – make sure you are choose your co-captain carefully.

Read previous installments here:

The home buying process – Overview

The home buying process – Step 1: Define, Research, Plan

And subsequent installments here:

The home buying process – Step 3: Pick a Lender and Get PreApproved

The home buying process – Step 4: Find THE Home

Define, Research, Plan

Define Your Goals, Research Your Options, Make Your Plans

Given that buying and moving to a home is such a huge step, it’s all the more important for you to educate and prepare yourself as much as possible in advance. This means clearly determining why you’re buying and what kind of home you’re looking for. It means doing some careful soul searching into your priorities and discussing them with your spouse if you are married.  It is amazing to me how many times my partner and I sit down for an initial consultation with new clients and discover that the husband and wife are not really on the same page in terms of their home buying goals.  They often have different “must haves” lists, and the “wish lists” often have no overlap at all!

To summarize, explore these questions:

1.    What is important about buying a new home to you?
2.    What is important about buying a new home to your spouse?
3.    What are the essential, non-negotiable, “must have” features of the property for you?
4.    What are the essential, non-negotiable, “must have” features of the property for your spouse?
5.    What are additional wish list features that you would like, but are not critical?
6.    What are additional wish list features that your spouse would like, but are not critical?
7.    What is the order of importance of the items listed in 3 through 6 for you and your spouse?

If people would do this kind of preparation in advance – through private contemplation or thinking it through with family or friends if you are single, through frank and open conversation if you are married, it would significantly ease the stress of the home search process and make it much more efficient.

An anecdote from the real world…

We are currently working with buyers relocating from the east coast because of the husband’s job transfer.  After looking at many homes in their target areas, we found that the husband was gravitating towards tract homes in Scripps Ranch, while the wife was drawn to more custom, unique homes in Poway.  It turned out, after viewing many homes and finally distilling out the unspoken preferences, that the husband’s priority was to live close to work to minimize his commuting time and maximize family time, while the wife’s priority was to find a home with character and charm that suited her view of her family.  Once this became clear, they could focus on the overlapping priorities and hone in on a neighborhood close to his work, yet in a cluster of newer homes that were customized as a result of the recent Scripps Ranch fires.

We have recently opened escrow on the perfect property that both are thrilled with!  Just a few more hurdles to jump through till we’re home free!

The home buying process – Overview

The home buying process – Step 1: Define, Research, Plan

The home buying process – Step 2: Contact a Realtor

The home buying process – Step 3: Pick a Lender and Get PreApproved

The home buying process – Step 4: Find a Home

A Brief, Step-By-Step overview

Purchasing a Home

For most, purchasing a home is the single biggest investment in their life – and often represents the largest debt they will ever incur.  It can be very emotional – extremely exciting but also highly stressful.

Opportunities and Complexities of Buying a Home

While the current real estate market offers tremendous opportunities because of the recent decline in home prices and the low interest rates, it is also more fraught with risks than ever. There are many factors to consider, many decisions to make, and many potential pitfalls to avoid. That’s why, when buying, it’s crucial for you to have all the available resources necessary to make a well-informed decision, together with the time required to make complete use of them.

The advantages of working with a REALTOR® partner

That’s also why you should enlist the help of a REALTOR® with whom you have established a relationship, and whom you trust to be an integral part of your team.  He or she will be able to provide you with expert consultation at each step of the buying process and negotiate the sometimes treacherous waters along the way.

Over the next several days, in several installments, I’ll share a brief summary of the typical steps involved in finding and purchasing of a home.  I hope you find this helpful in your home search.

For more specific questions, please don’t hesitate to email (eva@evameier.com) or call (760-815-1318).  Or visit our website at www.DreamHomesByTheBeach.com.

Read subsequent installments here:

The home buying process – Overview

The home buying process – Step 1: Define, Research, Plan

The home buying process – Step 2: Find a Realtor

The home buying process – Step 3: Pick a Lender and Get PreApproved

The home buying process – Step 4: Find THE Home