I want to buy a house – where do I start? When thinking of purchasing a house, there are logical steps to take. It may seem at first thought to begin searching homes on the internet. While this is a great source of information for the potential buyer, it is not the most important and crucial place to start.

First and foremost the buyer needs to find a lender they can trust. How can that be accomplished? Below are a few common ways to find a lender & Realtor when asking yourself, I want to buy a house, where do I start?Ask for referrals from your friends or family for both a Realtor and lender. Referrals are a fantastic way to find a professional.Search on Trulia.com & Activerain.com. Active agents that are engaged both in their physical communities as well as online communities can be found here. Once a few interesting prospects have been found, read their blog. A buyer can learn the style of the professional by the way they communicate with their audience via the internet. Finding a personality style to meet one’s needs is important as finding a professional with the most knowledge about their market.

Once you narrow down your persons of interest, send them a communication via YOUR favorite way to communicate. Some prefer text, email or social media, while others prefer to just pick up the phone. This will give the buyer a better understanding of how timely this professional responds to an inquiry. With all the difference means of communication these days, this step is important.

Whether you find the Realtor first or the lender first doesn’t truly matter. In many cases, a Realtor will surround themselves with very competent professionals that are an integral part of the transaction. Vice versa, the lender will have their finger on the pulse of the most effective agents in their area (in many cases).

Now that you’ve found your professionals, take the time to contact them and set an appointment. In the lender’s case the initial information can be gathered over the phone and necessary documents can be emailed or faxed. This process can take less than an hour. This is your ROAD-MAP. Now you know exactly where you are financially headed.

Putting the “cart before the horse’ so to speak in searching properties before the financial road-map can lead to disappointment. It’s never fun to get excited about a property only to find it is out of the buyer’s price range. Save yourself that frustration by following these steps above when thinking, I want to buy a house, where do I start?

Originally posted via Activerain.com 10/2/2011

1. You need a lender you can trust. You may not know one, so you may also start looking for a Realtor if you do not already have one. Whether you find your lender first or your Realtor first doesn’t make a difference. What does make a difference is that you have a good connection with the lender and he/she comes highly recommended OR you have found good reviews on the web. You need to be pre-approved by a lender before you engage a Realtor to start shopping.Once you’ve found the lender, make a call to them! It is quite simple to get the pre-approval process going. The conversation might take 30 minutes, but this is time well spent and is a necessary ‘piece of the puzzle”.  You do not need to get a pre-approval letter before finding a home. Simply give your Realtor the name and contact information for the lender.

2. Find a Realtor you can trust. Again, maybe you’ve already done this prior to finding the lender, but now that you are officially pre-approved, let your Realtor know your criteria. Here’s what I mean by that. Give your Realtor a list of your MINIMUM Criteria. See the example below:Maximum purchase price (you already know this because you’ve been pre-approved. NO MORE guessing)!

   #Bedrooms & Baths

   Desired Square Footage

   Desired Lot Size

   Desired Location

   Pool, No Pool or Doesn’t Matter (Important)

   Any Other Important Desires You Have For Your Home

   Ask your chosen Realtor to set you up on an automatic email notification system. It is best to use the system the Realtor uses. Many times 3rd party sites such as Trulia, Zillow, Redfin, etc are good sources to search properties, BUT the information can be VERY outdated.

3. Its time to go shopping. Let your Realtor know your top favorite properties. Ask them to get more information such as are they a short sale, are they a bank owned or is this a regular sale. This is important because it will affect your time-line to move in.. You may need a lesson on the differences between short sales and bank owned properties. This is VERY important information in today’s market.

Be sure to have fun along the way and remember….You will NEVER find the perfect house including ALL of your desires, but you will find something very close. You will find a house you will love and cherish so remember, you will need to bend on some of your wants. Following these 3 Easy Steps to Buying a House – Pleasanton CA Home Buying Tips applies to any market or location!

Originally Posted on Active Rain

This 4-Bedroom East Livermore Home For Sale Near Lawrence Livermore Lab is a beauty. It’s wonderful to take a listing of any property and these days, it’s a rare occasion to have an equity sale as opposed to a short sale or REO sale. Well I have the pleasure of selling this 4-bedroom east Livermore home for sale near Lawrence Livermore Lab.

It was built in 2000 by Warmington Homes in a neighborhood called The Bluffs. There are many wonderful features of the home, but one of my very favorites is the view toward the Altamont Pass hillside. Who wouldn’t mind looking out their bedroom window, office or backyard to see a beautiful pasture of grazing cows? It gives me a sense of peacefulness. 

The home is stunning with 3-bedrooms upstairs and an office downstairs which could be converted to a bedroom if needed. There is a bonus room upstairs as well. This home shows care and pride of ownership. The pickiest of buyers could enter through the front door and have difficulty finding something to pick on!

The lot is oversized at over 12,000 square feet. There is not only room for RV parking on the side yard, but the fence and concrete slab and ready to accommodate an RV or boat right now (check CCR’s for details). Both sides of the yard are over-sized and have shed storage units on either side.

The salt water pool is beautiful with a lovely waterfall and colorful landscaping. It creates a quiet private feeling for relaxing, reading, playing or eating.

If you’ve been looking for a home to accommodate 3-4 bedrooms in east Livermore near Lawrence Livermore Lab, you may need to look no further! This one is a beauty!

The gourmet-style kitchen features a 6-burner gas range, double oven, trash compactor, center island, granite counter tops, bar top dining and room for a table for in-kitchen-dining. Additionally there is a separate formal dining room for special meals and events.

The house is light and bright and inviting! If you have an agent, call them today to set up a showing. If you do not have an agent, feel free to contact me direclty. You won’t want to miss the opportunity to see this 4-bedroom east Livermore Home Near Lawrence Livermore Lab. Your VA benefits may qualify you for this purchase!

Originally posted at Active Rain 8/3/2011

Active Members Must Provide these copied documents to their lender:

• Last 2-Years W2’s
• Your Orders to Respective California Base
• Your Service Statement

If your status is NON-ACTIVE, be prepared to provide the information listed below:

• Your DD214
• Your Last 30-Days Pay stub
• Proof of VA rated Disability (if applicable)

If you have a home chosen and have a purchase contract, that information is needed as well as the purchase price of the home. If you have not yet found the right home, this information will be provided to your lender at a later point.

Interesting VA Facts You May Not Know:

• The home you intend to purchase must be owner occupied. The VA loan is not intended to purchase homes for investment purposes.

• If you’ve previously had to short sell a property, your benefits allow you to re-purchase after waiting only 12-months~!

Having heard the question, ‘how can I use my military benefits to buy a home” so many times leaves me believing the information is not being provided or understood by recipients of the benefits. Imagine being able to purchase a California home with no down payment for a purchase price of up to $417,000? If you chose a home over the available loan amount of $417,000 you are able to do so, but must come up with a percentage of down payment.

With your military VA benefits, the rates are generally better that that of a conventional loan. If you were discharged with a disability, this too may affect your interest rate in a positive way. Your Realtor can even negotiate the closing costs to be paid by the seller!

You don’t have to wonder ‘how can I use my military benefits to buy a home‘ any longer. The answers are here. You just need to ask!

Originally posted: http://activerain.com/action/blogs_admin/write/2412297

SunTiles from PowerLight – These tiles are created to blend with almost any roof line.

Solar electric was a standard feature at the time of building and was not charged as a premium to the buyer.

Attic insulation of R-49 material & above garage insulation of R-30 material.

Anderson 400 Series HP Windows, and so much more.

At completion, the homes were inspected by either CalCerts or The California Home Energy Efficiency Rating System (CHEERS), both of which are certified and qualified by California Energy Commission.  All of these features and benefits to both the homeowner and the environment enable this development to be labeled “Zero Net Energy Homes”.

View Larger Map

These homes are situated off East Vineyard Avenue, just outside the West Ruby Hill gate as shown in the map above. Since the time the builder sold the new homes, below is a chart of the activity in the 32-home development.

For more information about Avignon Luxury Homes Pleasanton – A “Zero Net Energy Homes” Community built by Centex Homes, feel free to email me at rhonda@rhondafee.com

www.Trivalleyhomes.listingbook.comis your answer. The MLS has provided each Realtor, as a part of their membership fees, a free Listingbook account. The thing is; many Realtors have not yet caught onto the idea or taken the time to learn about this great feature! I attended the first class offered by our MLS association. I immediately realized how helpful and beneficial this could be to my clients  searching the MLS for current East Bay, Tri Valley real estate information.  That’s when I created my www.Trivalleyhomes.listingbook.com  account.  I still have to tell some clients from time to time that other sites are outdated, and they still will send me a property and say ‘hey, what about this one?” only to hear me say, ‘It’s sold and not updated on that site!’  Its okay, everyone will catch on soon enough.
If you’d like your own TriValleyHomes.ListingBook.com account to search the MLS for current east bay Tri Valley Real Estate information, all you have to do is either go to the website and sign up, or let me know and I can send you an invitation. Then just log in and you will get a user name and password. You can view all the same information I do with the exception of the confidential remarks that clients are not privy to receive without the assistance of a Realtor. Check it out, you’ll probably love it. Oh, and I forgot to mention, you can even get accurate SOLD information! Yes, that’s right.
Searching the MLS for Current East Bay, Tri Valley Real Estate Information has never been more accurate! You can be assured that what you see is what I see, just not all the other details. Thanks Bay East Association of Realtors! What a great tool you’ve provided to us!

 Shadow Cliff Homes Pleasanton CA Update, January 2010 – March 11, 2011. As a resident of Shadow Cliff Homes and a full-time Pleasanton Realtor, I like to keep track of the neighborhood market. Shadow Cliff Homes Pleasanton CA is a great place to live. Having lived here more than 20-years and raising 2 kids, I speak from personal knowledge.

We are blessed in Pleasanton CA to have Award Winning schools in a safe community with a very low crime rate. As of this writing, there are 141 detached, single family homes for sale ranging from $383,400 – $7,850,000; something for every taste! Additionally, there are 22 Condo/Townhomes ranging from $101,250 – $595,000 currently for sale on the market.

In the nearby shopping center located at the corner of Bernal Ave. and Vineyard Ave, businesses are continuing to move in. We now have a hair salon, cleaners, nail salon/spa, yogurt shop, sushi restaurant, jeweler, dance studio and more! Things are looking up with this center!

The chart shows the difference in the Shadow Cliff Homes Pleasanton CA Update market from 2010 to present. Last year at this time, we had quite a bit of activity; this year…not so much!

 

There are currently 8 homes for sale in Pleasanton priced under $500k of which 4 are walking distance to downtown. Two of the 8 are bank owned and 432 Amador Ct. is one of three ‘regular’ sale properties within this price range.

Open House this Sunday, October 24, 2010 from 1:00 – 4:00 pm.

According to an article recently posted by Andrew Taylor (AP), there is good news about the extension of the First Time Home Buyers Federal Tax Credit. I’m looking forward to more clarity regarding the exact qualifications. I interpret this to refer to clients already in contract by the cut-off date of April 30, 2010, having an extended period of time (September 30, 2010) to close escrow. That is great news for those who have been in contract for months purchasing a short sale property! Comments are welcomed; more news to come.

Pleasanton Real Estate is my specialty and I particularly pay close attention to Shadow Cliff Homes as I am an original owner and resident of the neighborhood. We have seen some very difficult times and are by no means on our way to smooth sailing, but there is some bright news. The chart below shows history from 2008 through today.

This chart is evidence of one neighborhood in Pleasanton, CA but I can surely tell you, activity and multiple offers are the norm in many parts of Pleasanton. In working with my buyers recently we made an offer on a home priced around $675,000. There were 9 offers on the property after only a few days on the market and shortly thereafter, we offered on a property that came on the market on a Thursday and by Saturday afternoon was already pending and also had multiple offers. Rates are low, inventory is low and sellers are seeing good prices for their homes.

If you’d like this kind of detail on another neighborhood, I’d be happy to provide it.