Sacramento Home Buying—Listen in

If you missed the radio show today (Sacramento Smiles, of course!) then I hope you will go back and listen to the podcast. Ed “The Money Man” Wacaster and I did a pretty good job, had a lot of laughs, and covered the basics of home buying in Sacramento (anywhere, really). www.InLoveWith.Sacto.com

Please check out the recording at your convenience, but in the meantime, here are some points we covered and tips to keep in mind:

WHY now is the best time to buy a home: two tax credits, housing prices are still low, and money is cheap (i.e. interest rates are still low).

WHY you should own a home: prices WILL go up and you WILL earn equity over time, you get a heck of a tax break on your loan interest each year (don’t line your landlord’s pockets). Hey, owning a home is cool

WHAT you need to know about pre-approval. Ed covered this well, so tune in. Basically, however, it’s ESSENTIAL that you get yourself pre-APPROVED before you even start looking at houses. You seriously can’t write an offer without that little love letter from a lender as no one will take your offer seriously.

WHAT’S on the market. While we focused on Sacramento real estate, I’m guessing and hearing it’s pretty much the same nationwide. Basically, you got your short sales, your REO’s (foreclosures) and your “regulars” (listings that are not bank-owned). While the process for REO’s and regulars are somewhat similar, we pointed out that REO/foreclosure purposes are not always or necessarily the best buy on the market. With so much inventory, home prices are pretty much priced on what the market bears, meaning, banks and homeowners are all (for the most part) pricing competitively. If you’re looking for some mega-amazing deal, you’ll want to investigate auctions, and good luck with that! Oh, and we talked about the fact that short-sales are getting or are supposed to be getting a bit easier to buy…

WHAT to expect when you write that offer…we talked about the importance of a good faith deposit and where it goes and how much it should be. We talked about the difference in writing offers for REO’s versus regular listings, going over asking price, and other offer writing tips. We also chatted briefly about the three results your offer can have (acceptance, rejection, or counter) and what each one means.

WHAT happens during the loan process…..Ed gave the skinny and the low-down on loans. We talked about appraisals and recent changes, the inspection period (gotta get that home inspection right away incase there’s a problem and you want to cancel the deal!) and what happens in escrow.

WE  started and ended the show with the same advice: The most important part of any real estate transaction is working with a real estate agent and lender who know what in the heck they are doing. Competency and ethics rein supreme. Since about 90 percent of buyers start looking for houses on line, you may have your first communication with an real estate agent, so have the agent suggest a lender. These two key people will greatly determine the success of your home-buying adventure.

GOOOD LUCK!