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party sites such as Trulia, Zillow, Redfin, etc are good sources to search properties, BUT the information can be VERY outdated.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

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

What can happen with an overpriced listing?

• The seller begins chasing the market
• This positions the seller “behind the 8-ball”
• The listing becomes “stale” on the market
• Buyers won’t offer on these properties as they believe the seller is difficult, or they feel the may offend the seller.
• The agent can earn a bad reputation in the industry
• The seller usually ends up mad at the agent and after the listing period decides on a more professional approach
• Time and money are wasted

Seller beware…when interviewing agents to sell your home, be weary of agents that would rather tell you what you want to hear price-wise than trust in their own knowledge of the market.  If your chosen agent can’t negotiate with you, they can’t negotiate for you. Choose a professional with market knowledge!

Residential Real Estate in Pleasanton is the topic of the upcoming Town Hall Meeting to be held Wednesday, May 27 from 7:00 – 9:00. A Panel of experts will provide insight as to the state of the market. This event will be held at the Veterans Hall in Pleasanton and is hosted by The City of Pleasanton, Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce, Pleasanton Weekly and the Bay East Association of REALTORS®. The event is open to the public at no cost to attend.

The following evening, Thursday May 28,  Kurt Kessler of Pleasanton Mortgage and Rhonda Fee of Realty World Town & Country are holding a FREE Home Buyer Seminar at 6:30 PM at The Rose Hotel in Pleasanton

The seminar is designed to answer many of your questions including:

• The difference between REO, Bank Owned and Short Sale Properties.
• The new role the FHA plays in both the mortgage and real estate markets.
• Seller concessions…What are they, how can they help YOU buy a home?
• Pre-approval vs. Pre-qualified…What’s the difference?
• Credit Scores and How to Improve them!
• Understanding the Stimulus Plan’s $8,000 Tax Credit for qualifying income (ends Dec. 1, 2009)
• Why we have “artificially” low interest rates and what might be next?
• The home/loan buying process and strategies

There is NO COST to attend, but space is limited. To make your reservation, please contact Rhonda Fee at 925.200.0827 or email rhonda. mailto:rhonda@rhondafee.com.