Buyer Tips, Featured

Buying a Home in Los Angeles

You have decided you are ready to buy a home in Los Angeles but you are waiting for:

The bottom of the market.
Interest rates to go even lower.
A great deal on a foreclosure……

There are many reasons to avoid actually jumping in an making the purchase.  But:

You will never know where the bottom is, and common opinion is that we are at the bottom now.
Interest rates are at an all-time low, and are likely to rise this year.
You and the rest of the world are looking for a great deal on a foreclosure.  The great deals usually to to insiders and if not the number of people bidding on the house will most likely put you out of the market.

If you are buying to make a quick profit, now is not the time.  If you intend to stay in your home at least five years, now is an excellent time to buy and you should certainly see a return on your investment come time to sell.

Typically investing in real estate far outweighs investing in stocks over the long term and the risk is much less.  The house is always going to be there, the stock could very well disappear.  We’ve certainly seen that happen.

Look what we have now:

Low prices
Low interest rates
Federal tax credit, up to $8,000 for first-time homebuyers and the possibility of an extra California State tax credit coming up, $3,333 a year for the next three years.

What’s your next step?

Get qualified.  You cannot buy a home until you know what you can afford.  You will also need a pre-approval letter from a lender before you can make an offer on a property.  For a ballpark figure go to CNNMoney.com.

Narrow down your criteria:  size of home, number of rooms, location, school district, etc.

Be realistic and be flexible.  You are most likely not going to get everything you are looking for in one package, so you need to decide what is most important.

When there is an opportunity to view a home of interest make yourself available.  Know that if a good house comes on the market you are not going to be the only one who is going to like it.

Above all be prepared to write an offer.  The more offers you write the easier it will become.  If you don’t write someone else will.

If you are ready to buy, if not now, when?