Buying Tips

San Jose Real Estate Agent

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San Jose Real Estate Agent - REO Bank Owned Properties And Short Sale Buying Tips

Disclaimer: These buying tips are for general purposes only and are not intended to replace a one on one Real Estate Agent or Realtors advice. We don not know your given situation. Furthermore, we offer general buying tips on real estate only, for tax information seek the advice of a CPA, for legal advice seek the advice of an attorney.

Here are some useful San Jose Real Estate Agent

Home Buying Tips:

Short Sales take longer to work. If you have the time and patience to wait for a bank's reply then a short sale may be what you are looking for. Here is how it works. A Short Sale is when the value of the property is lower than the fair market value. In other words, the sellers are upside down in the property. This is a common occurence nowadays with close to one third of all listings being a short sale situation. What typically happens is that a buyer makes an offer to purchase the home, the seller counters or most often accepts the offer, then it goes to the lender for final approval. This is where the lender eats up the time. Remember the lender is inundated with hundreds and thousands of short sales and has to manage them all. You are just one of many, so this is time consuming. The Lender will send out someone to do a BPO (Broker's Price Opinion) and then either counter or accept the offer. If there is a second lender on the property, the process may take longer to approve. A typical Short Sale Transaction may take anywhere from three weeks to 90 days to recieve an approval from all lenders. Sometimes the buyers, lenders and sellers run out of time and the property is foreclosed. Game over. Time wasted. The best strategy for Buyers willing to be patient on Short Sale deals is to get in at the fourth quarter (forgive me for my sports analogy). If there is already an offer and the bank has completed the BPO and has made contact with the buyer's and seller's agents and has an approval subject to certain conditions, then jump in and make an offer now! You need to have your agent ask tons of questions to the listing agent before you make an offer on a short sale listing.

REO or Real Estate Owned properties are when a bank has foreclosed on a property and now has it on the mls and is trying to sell it. The REO market is increasing by massive proportions in the early part of 2008 largely due to short sales that never get sold. Bank Owned or REO properties are usually priced lower than fair market value to sell fast. The bank does not want it to sit on the market, they want it off their books. Lenders are faced with a cash flow problem and need to recover as much of the cash as possible. Buyers who are well qualified and have at least a 10% downpayment are good candidates for a Bank Owned property. When making an offer on an REO it is always best to have a broker represent you. Coldwell Banker, for instance, can protect you with it's trained agents, special REO disclosures, and legal experts. The REO game is different from all other real estate transactions and you definately need a smart and knowledgeable agent and a strong broker with legal backing in the event of a dispute or legal problem.

Congratulations BUYERS! It is officially a buyers market - Go shopping - Have fun - The Interest Rate is still very good - under 7! Remember you have the advantage right now in the early summer months and there's lots of inventory to choose from. Be picky on what you want and stick to your guns on your offers. Don't be afraid to go after homes priced a bit higher than you are qualified for. If you wait long enough the home may be reduced, then you're ready to jump all over it!

Get pre-approved.Get a letter that says you have already gone through the loan process and are ready to buy any home up to the stated amount on the pre-approval letter. This will make your offer a bit more serious and believe me, when you are up against two or three others - you better have all your ducks in a row!

Ask your real estate agent to pull up all properties within your range. Say you are pre-approved for up to $750,000.Ask to see properties up to $800K.This way you will be ready to move fast in case a property drops in price from $800K price range (which is starting to be more common these days).

Go on a tour with your real estate agent. Most agents will take a few hours on a Sunday afternoon to walk through open houses and other available properties with you. It is important to go together in order to evaluate the agents attentiveness to your needs and wants. If you tour houses with a small yard and you continually tell your agent that you need more yard space. If he continues to ignore your demands, move on to someone else.

What is the condition of the home, and age you are looking for? Do you want a home at a lower market price and invest the money into renovations? Would you prefer a well kept home in "move in condition" at current market value?

Be clear about your window of opportunity. If you are moving because of schools, make sure that you let your realtor know the urgency. If your realtor knows your motivation, you will both work together as a team better.

Do your research. If you are like the typical buyer you base much of your purchased on how the home makes you feel and emotion plays a big part of the purchase. Remember that it's your biggest investment and an investment in real estate needs to be researched. We offer free weekly updates on San Jose Real Estate, Los Gatos Real Estate, Campbell Real Estate, Sunnyvale Real Estate, and Santa Clara Real Estate . Just click here for to sign up !

Other Important Points To Remember:

Good buys are made on homes that require some cosmetic work (paint and carpet). Two similar homes can be priced very differently and all it takes is a little elbow grease.

If you are serious about buying a particular home it is important to price your offer correctly. You don't want to lose the home to a better offer. In a multiple offer situation you should understand that the home may sell far above the asking price. Are you willing to compete? If not move on.

The seller is not obligated to take your full price offer, even if you are the only potential buyer. The seller can wait, stall, or solicit more offers. Although this doesn't seem fair, that's the way it works.