Realty World – Your Property Source

The time to buy is much more than just statistics and trends

By Kala Bell

In the world of real estate, agents are sometimes perceived to be rather vague with the public on the topic of a good buying time.   Truth be told, there isn’t one stretch of time that will be perfect for every potential home buyer, even if the prices are good and sales are up. A time of year when sales are thriving and prices are down may work for some, while other prospective home owners may take a liking to another time of year.

Buyers should be taking a number of factors into consideration during the time of looking for a new house. The factors could include things like financing, location, market trends, and income. Plenty of other factors will often come into play during the buying process, but making a decision can usually come off of a few different things that are important to the buyers.

Often times, trends and statistics play a huge part in the decision process, as prices often fluctuate. When it comes to Sacramento area real estate, median prices took a steep fall in 2007-2008 and have stayed steady from 2009-2011 for the most part. Sacramento’s median sale price has sat around $190,000. The average sale prices have also showed good stability by staying put. The Sacramento area rent has slowly climbed throughout the year, possibly influencing those on the fence between a lease and buying.  Sacramento apartments are sitting around $975 a month, going up over $100 in the last year alone.

For the past three years, the median prices have stayed mostly steady, even experiencing a few small falls and rises. Some experts feel that resurgence could take place in the real estate market next year, even though a good prediction is tough to come by. Even with the skepticism from some, the Sacramento market could experience a small resurgence and rise from the steady numbers that have come in through the past few years.

A good signal for buyers is the overall rise in inventory and listings over the past few years in Sacramento. Even though the availability of medium priced homes has gone down, the Sacramento area does still have a plenty of listings for prospective buyers.

Potential home buyers should continue to list off a main set of factors and considerations during the buying process.  The statistics are certain to fluctuate over time, as figures such as sales and inventory can often change from month to month. In real estate, determining when a good time to buy is is more so about the situation of the individual rather than the recent prices and availability. If a family or potential buyer goes into the process by staking out the needs and factors which best apply to them, they will more than likely make a good choice on a home in the long run.

Kala Bell is a free lance columnist.   She can be reached at kalabell86@gmail.com

In the mean time…?

Make it a Great Day…!!!!!

Related articles

• Rising Home Prices Sign of Houma and Thibodaux Real Estate Market Stability (prweb.com)
• October 2011 Real Estate Market Analysis for Austin, TX (prweb.com)
• Housing market has started to turn corner, analyst says (windsorstar.com)
• http://kellyferraz.com/

Remember… “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”

I hate it when I hear stories like this so that’s why I am posting this on my website here.

If you or someone you know is having a problem making their Mortgage Loan payments…?   What ever you do, please stay in touch with your Lender.   The banks don’t really want your house back and will work with you up to a point.

Read this story to get the gist of it and remember what I said above.   Get it here

In the mean time…?

Make it a Great Day…!!

Ed Favinger, Broker CRS, GRI, SFR       916-203-1260      favinger@rwnetwork.com

Related articles

• Are you obligated for the mortgage if your name is on the title (wiki.answers.com)
• Navigating the Mortgage Maze: 4 Loan Tips (pinkbananaworld.com)
• Rescue scheme called a fraud (philly.com)

What are Prior to Documents and  Prior to Funding Conditions…?    Some “inside baseball” talk from a Real Estate Broker’s point of view

Let’s talk about “prior to doc” conditions first.

What I’m describing here are conditions that the Lender has required that need to be met “prior to the issuance”  of loan documents” to the escrow holder for the Buyer to sign.

Generally these will be and have been issues primarily regarding the Buyer’s credit worthiness such as, verifications of employment,  verification of and source of down payment, verification of income and income sources, etc.  Basically qualifying the Buyer based upon the Lender’s loan criteria to be able to make the payments on time consistently.

If some of these criteria have not been totally satisfied,  what Lenders  do most of the time is to issue a statement that the Buyer has qualified for a loan “subject” to conditions that must be met before they will even type up the loan papers to be delivered to the escrow company for Buyer’s signature.   In other words, these conditions are serious enough the Lender won’t even draw up the documents until they have been met.

When those conditions are finally  met, loan documents are issued to the title company with a list of  conditions that must be met “prior to funding” the loan.

Prior to Loan Funding Conditions.

These are the conditions that must be met before the lender will issue their funding check/wire to the Escrow/Title Company and allow the sale to close.

Generally these are conditions that provide for,  not only that all of the documents must be properly signed and notarized, they will also include items  such as  providing proof of adequate Hazard/Fire insurance, obtaining Pest Control and/or Roof Clearances/Certifications along with a commitment from the Title Company that they will issue a policy of title insurance in their favor at close of escrow.

So why does Bank of America now have a Pest Control Clearance as a “prior to document” condition..?

We’ve got a single family home listed for sale at 125 Rambling Drive in Folsom that has been in a “pending sale” status for about 6 weeks now.

I’ve been in the real estate business for a while going back to 1981 and this is the first time I’ve ever seen a transaction that required the Seller to provide a Section 1 Pest Control Clearance prior to the bank issuing their loan documents.

Since this transaction is a short sale and this condition was not provided for in the short sale approval letter, it absolutely amazed me this was required by the Buyer’s lender.

The only way this condition was satisfied was because the Buyer’s agent decided to pay  approximately $1,000 to the  Pest Control Company so they could complete the work &  get the clearance which she then delivered to Bank of America’s processing center here in Folsom.

So with all that said, as of today, we still don’t have documents delivered to the escrow company from the Bank.

Looks to me like the Lender Criteria and Approval Process is really becoming a monster of a paper mill.   When you have a well qualified buyer with great credit and an appraisal that didn’t call for any pest work to be completed, why is Bank of America making it more difficult to close an easy transaction..?

Just another day in Real Estate..!

Make it a Great Day…!!!

Ed Favinger, Broker CRS, GRI, SFR    favinger@rwnetwork.com    916-203-1260

Related articles

• BofA Drags Balance Sheet Confidence Backward: Jonathan Weil (businessweek.com)
• How Important Is The Title Company? (zillow.com)
• Buying a house – Closing without funding? (ask.metafilter.com)

Why… Because it’s near everything.

• Nature Trails
• Community Pool
• Neighborhood Shopping & Restaurants are just up the street
• Briggs Ranch Neighborhood Park with pick-nick tables & Volley Ball sand lot & Play Ground
• Farmers Market right there at the corner of Blue Ravine and East Natoma every Friday morning
• Folsom Point entrance to Folsom Lake about a mile away if that

The current tenant in this home will not be out for another couple of weeks, but is willing to show it with an appointment.

I’ve got lots of  pictures as you will see so for more information about this great condo go to the link below.

4903 Esplanade, Folsom, Ca – 2 bedrooms 2 bath, 2 car garage and it’s available at $1,370,00.   Call me at anytime to set up an appointment to view.

In The Mean Time…?

Make it a great day…!!!!!

Ed Favinger, Broker, CRS, GRI, SFR         916-203-1260 favinger@rwnetwork.com

Related articles by Zemanta

• ESPN went to Folsom, California to Televise a High School Football Game and Pissed Everyone Off (thebiglead.com)
• Victoria Chocolatier Announces “Divine Chocolate Buffet” for a good cause in Historic Folsom, CA (prweb.com)