7 Home Buyer Tips for Humboldt County Home Buyers

5 Tips for Home Buyers in Humboldt County

Maybe you’ve been considering buying a home because prices are low and interest rates are too.  You may have never thought that you could afford a home (considering where prices were just a couple of years ago) or it just made more sense to rent.  It seems that the word is out now and buyers are placing offers and buying homes.  Well if you do want to jump in and buy a home here are 5 tips you should consider.

1.       Get a Realtor to assist you in your search.  A good practice is to ask your Friends or family if they know a good Realtor who can assist you in your home search.  I suggest this because you can run yourself ragged looking in print media and on the internet for a home.  If you have multiple homes that you want to see, chances are that you will have to make appointments with multiple Realtors and each one has a different schedule and personality.  Pick one Realtor who will schedule appointments, suggest listings to see, let you know when that house you missed out on is back on the market and just might have some tools that will help you in your search.  More on helpful tools another blog post…

2.        Get Pre-qualified or better yet, Pre-approved! - This makes all the difference in an active market.  You may have looked at an online to see what kind of payment you can afford but without visiting with a Lender you may not realize that the car you bought last year actually affects what a bank is willing to lend to you.  You should be realistic about what you can afford and it will help your Realtor narrow down listings that currently

Many homes coming on the market under $200,000 are getting multiple offers.  You don’t want to have an offer rejected or miss out entirely by not having a lender willing to write a letter attesting to your qualification to get a loan on the house. How bad would it feel if you missed out on the perfect home because you had to visit with a lender before your offer would be considered by the Seller? So visit with a competent lender to help you get that home.  It will also help to know exactly what you can afford.

3.       Make yourself available to see homes.  Waiting a week to see a new listing may put you out of the running.  Also plan to look on weekends and evenings even lunches if necessary.

4.       Don’t apologize to your Realtor for seeing a house that doesn’t suit you or fit your personal style.  If you ask me I think of that as a success because now we can cross it off of the list.

5.       Be realistic about the condition of the home.  Just because the house is located in the perfect neighborhood, is the right size and (best of all) is priced right doesn’t mean it is right for you.  If it is missing flooring, has chipped and peeling paint, no toilet and a non-functioning kitchen chances are that you won’t be buying that place.  This doesn’t apply for cash buyers and rehab loans, but it’s likely the only buyer for that home is an investor.

6.       Be Realistic about location.  If you work in Eureka and your spouse or significant other works in Eureka it would probably be wise to live in Eureka, not Willow Creek.  Especially with gas prices like they are…

7.       Be patient.  If you miss out on one home there is likely a reason for this, if you are patient another house will come along probably a better house.  I once had a client that I worked with for 2 ½ years.  They missed out on a house they loved early on and they would always mention it.  They finally bought a new house last year and couldn’t be happier.

Happy house hunting!

Court overbids - The sale of Real property when in Probate or Conservatorship

Yesterday I went to court with a client who was interested in a property in Arcata. This property was being sold through a conservatorship, and the sale had to be approved through the Probate Court. The property being sold had an accepted offer on it, but as a matter of course, the sale was subject to an overbid process. The opening bid had to be $5,500 above the accepted offer of $100,000, so $105,500.
In this particular deal the condition of the property was poor, so the bidders had to pay cash. The bids stopped at $141,000 and my client won, but it was a good experience to see how it operated.
These types of sales are conducted when an offer isn't atleast 90% of the appraised value determined by a probate referee (appraiser) OR the administrator of the estate doesn't have full authority to sell the property. Notification of the sale is published in a local paper including the date, time and location of the sale.
On the day of the sale the process is pretty simple: the judge announces the case and then the attorney for the petitioner conducts an overbid, should there be anyone there to bid.
At the end of the overbid/auction, the winning buyer would have to bring to the Attorney for the Petitioner the predetermined deposit and escrow would begin.
If you have a probate property in Humboldt County and you need assistance selling it, give me a call, I'd be happy to help you.

185 Cummins

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Video Tour"

1111 Killdeer Road Video Tour.wmv

185 Cummins

January 2010 Market Report

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January 2010 Market Report for Humboldt County

Welcome to another Market Report for Humboldt County Real Estate Sales. Sales numbers slipped for the first month of January, but this is standard for the First month of the year. It tends to be the slowest time because of the holidays the prior month.

January 2009 saw 80 sales vs. 81 sales for 2010, but there were more listings in 2009 (1416) than in 2010 (1153). Inventory is down to 14.23 Months of Inventory vs. 17.70 for 2009.

What does this mean? Less downward pressure on prices, this is good for sellers but signals to buyers that the market has likely hit the bottom. Coupled with the highest afforbabilty since March of 2004 (27%) and low interest rates, this makes for an excellent buying opportunity.

Where does the market go from here? Good question! If I could predict the future, I'd be living on my own private island somewhere, but since I can't I'll have to give it my best guess. I believe that the prices of homes will bump along the "bottom" until there is a real economic recovery. Look for sales activity to increase through the year and In the mean time, there is a very real possibilty that two factors could affect the market.

1. Credit could dry up even further. Thus far, FHA has powered the market across the country, but if HUD makes significant changes to FHA loans by increasing the down payment from 3.5 % to 5% or requiring higher credit scores this could push many more buyers out of the market. This loweres the demand and pushes prices lower.

2. The Federal Tax credit for First Time and Move Up buyers is not renewed (again) causing sales activity across the nation to drop substantially. This is scheduled to occur on April 30th. (You must be in escrow on a home by that date to qualify.)

In any event as we move towards recovery interest rates are likely to increase, this affects a buyer by cutting into their buying power, so I think now is a great time to buy.

No matter what happens, a home is always more than an investment, it's a place to celebrate and live life with friends and family. Feel free to browse Humboldt County Listings and then call me if you see something you like, I'd be happy to help you find a place to call home!

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