Orange County Home Buyer Tips
Here are some tips for home buyers who are
seeking an Orange County, CA home this spring.
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1. Sell Your Current Home
At least put your home on the market at a reasonable price. It is taking longer to sell a home, now, so unless you can afford paying for two mortgages simultaneously, it’s best to either sell your old home first, or at least have it in escrow before looking for a new orange county home to buy.
2. Check Comparable Area Home Prices
Before you make an offer on a home, have your buyers agent research and get for you what is called a “Comparative Market Analysis.” This study of homes currently for sale and those that have sold within the past six months. Pay special attention to whether the homes in the CMA are actually comparable to the one that you are considering.
For example, there could be two homes of the same square footage and the same floor plan. But Orange County home one may be in a gated, guarded golf club community and the other home might be in a deteriorating part of town, or border a noisy freeway. Be sure it is apples and apples that are being compared. Beware of sites like Zillow.com which can be several months behind in their figures.
3. Make Sense With Your Offer
Nobody is going to GIVE you a home, so quit dreaming. Never make an offer that’s more than 10% below the asking price unless there are major extenuating circumstances. Low ball offers are usually perceived as an insult by sellers and when you make one, you are just cutting your own throat for further negotiations/counter offers on your Orange County Real Estate purchase.
If the home seems radically overpriced, have your buyer’s agent collect evidence in the form of a CMA and ask the seller’s Realtor to show it to the seller, or at least explain why the asking price of the home is quite different than what YOUR Realtor’s CMA showed.
You can always pay the seemingly high price, but offset that with concessions, such as asking the seller to pay the closing costs, etc.
4. “SOLD” on a Sign May Not Mean “SOLD”
Plenty of south orange county homes fall out of escrow so have your agent follow the progress of the escrows on homes that may have “gotten away from you.” Often, after a home falls out of escrow, sellers may become more realistic about a lower price or at least may eager accept another offer so soon after the old one went kaput. This applies to new home sales, too.
5. Get Your Credit and Finances All Ready.
Get yourself a letter of credit from a financial institution showing that you are approved for a loan sufficient to cover the purchase price of whatever the home costs that you are shopping for. Get copies of your credit history report or have the loan institution do it before they issue your letter of credit.
Call me with any questions.
Debbie Ferrari, Licensed Broker/Realtor:
Serving all of South Orange County, CA
Providing Realtor® and real estate services for: San Clemente, Dana
Point, San Juan Capistrano, Laguna Niguel, Aliso Viejo, Monarch Beach,
Capistrano Beach, Laguna Hills, Beach Cities, and South and Central
Orange County, California
Prudential California Realty
San Clemente Location: 2924 Camino Capistrano, San Clemente, CA 92672
23811 Aliso Creek Road, Suite 181 | Laguna Niguel, CA 92677
(Inside The Laguna Niguel Design Center | Corner of Aliso Creek and Alisa)
Call Me Toll Free: 888-547-2942
Voice (949) 496-4159 | Fax (949) 625-8622
Cell Phone: 949-463-4111
E-mail: deb4re@cox.net
http://www.debbieferrari.com
