Rivers Island Is Open for Homebuyers

If you’re looking to buy a home quickly in the $400,000 to $500,000 price point, River Islands has plenty of new home developments we’d like to tell you about.

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Today we’re coming to you live from inside the River Islands Welcome Center to talk about new home developments that are for sale within the River Islands community. Specifically, we’re looking at four different brand-new neighborhoods: 360 Lakeside, Crystal Cove, Tidewater, and Summer House.

If you’re looking for a home in the $400,000 to $500,000 price point, there are many great options available in these locations. Starting prices will depend on the home’s square footage and the lot it sits on, and there is a huge array of different types of homes available. The lowest price point can be found in 360 Lakeside, which features 4,000 to 5,000 square foot lots starting in the low $400,000 range. Crystal Cove and Tidewater both offer homes starting in the mid $400,000 range. Summer House features homes as large as 3,000 to 4,000 square foot that start in the low $500,000 range.

360 Lakeside, Crystal Cove, and Tidewater all have lakefront property available, but the premiums are different for each because the lakes in 360 Lakeside and Tidewater are different sizes and Crystal Cove has a shared lake.

There are many great homes available in this community.

River Islands is a master planned community, which means there are all kinds of parks, lakes, and schools built around the houses. River Islands is 5,000 acres in total, and by the end of the project—which they estimate will take 20 more years—they will have 11,000 homes built. They will also have a town center which will include restaurants, retail stores, apartments, condos, a grocery store, and a gas station.

The first facility they built was The Boathouse at River Islands restaurant, which offers lakeside dining and is open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. You can also rent the entire place out for events like weddings and other parties.

If you have any questions or are interested in buying a home in this area, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d be glad to help you!

The Importance of a Pre-Sale Inspection Before Listing

With a pre-sale inspection, you can avoid a lot of hassle down the road. Instead of having to negotiate when a buyer comes back with a list of repairs from their inspector, you can provide a list of your own up front.

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The reason I chose this topic is because I’m finding time after time when I go to help buyers purchase a home there are no pre-inspections which is bad for the seller because we will be coming back to renegotiate after inspections are completed.
Without a pre-sale inspection, when the time does come for a buyer to inspect the home, they are going to come back with a list of repairs and we are going to have to end up re-negotiating the offer price midway through the contract, which is really not good for sellers.

With a pre-sale inspection, there is no second negotiation.

We get a property inspection, termite inspection, roof inspection, and sometimes even a sewer inspection for our homes before they go to market. That way, the seller is 100% sure on what repairs will need to be done and all those negotiations are done on the front end as opposed to midway through the contract. That’s crucial because it will give you a better idea of your net up front instead of halfway through the transaction. Pre-sale inspections are vital. That’s the most important thing to know.
If you have any more questions about pre-sale inspections, how they work, or anything else related to real estate, give me a call or send me an email. We look forward to hearing from you.

Take Advantage of Our Wonderful Real Estate Programs in 2016

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Happy New Year! Today, we want to go over all the wonderful services we provide.

First of all, there's the referral directory. We mentioned this last week and we received so many wonderful referrals! Thank you so much, and keep them coming!

We also offer a vacation incentive program. If you buy or sell with us, you will qualify for a five-day, four-night cruise for two! More details to come, but we are very excited about this program.

Also, you should know that we have over 35 offices with Berkshire Hathaway home services, which entitles you to over 900 agents. Having so many offices helps if you are involved in multiple transactions or if you're buying in different counties. For example, if you're selling in San Francisco and buying in Oakland, our offices can handle both transactions. The whole process is streamlined so you don't feel like you're juggling too much at once!

Other services include first-time home buyer grant programs, assistance for closing costs, and a credit assistance program. We will go over these programs in more detail later, so keep an eye out.

Finally, we have a commercial real estate department, property management, and a pool of investors ready to purchase investment properties.

As you can see, we have a wide selection of services available to you. Thank you again for your referrals. We look forward to an awesome 2016, and assisting you in the new year.

As always, if you have any questions, give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!

We Want Your Business in Our Referral Directory

Today we are going to talk about our referral directory. This is something we’ve put together to connect our clients with service providers and business owners in the area. 

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Today we are excited to talk about our referral directory. Our referral directory is an awesome thing we have put together in order to connect those in need of services with those who provide them. If you are a business owner or provide some type of home service, we want to make sure we give back to you.

You’ve been giving us referrals for the past 18 years, and we want to make sure we are giving back to you as well. If you’ve started a new business or have a product our clients should know about, let us know! We are here for you.

Just give us a call or send us an email, and we will get you added to our directory that we send to all of our clients! We hope to hear from you soon!

How Can We Solve Dilemmas During a Transaction?

There are so many things that can go wrong during a transaction. There are too many to discuss in one video, but today we are going to alert you to some of the most common problems we face during the course of a transaction.

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Whether you are buying or selling, a lot of things can happen to derail a transaction throughout the process. Today we are going to talk about a few of the most common problems we run into, so you know what to avoid when the time comes. Here are a few of the most common problems we run into:

• Income verification failures- when what was stated on the application is not actually what the buyer is bringing in
• Difficulty obtaining verification of rent (we run into this one a lot)
• A surprise seller lien that we don’t know about until closing

These are just a few of the hundreds of things that can go wrong during the course of a real estate transaction. If you have any questions for us about this topic, or about real estate in general, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!

How to Avoid Disaster During a Transaction

Today we have a story for you, and it's about how to protect yourself as a home buyer. One of our clients recently found a great home that they really wanted to purchase.

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Today I wanted to tell you about what happened to one of our buyer clients recently. They had been looking for a home for quite some time, but couldn't find one that suited their needs exactly.

Finally, they found a home and they fell in love with it. They liked it so much that they were actually willing to forgo a home inspection. We recommended that they get one, and we're happy they did because they discovered that the former owner had made a lot of his own repairs on the home, and they weren't up to par.

Sure enough, when the inspector came in he noticed all of the bad repairs the former owner had made. This caused our buyer to back out of the purchase, but we're happy we helped to prevent our buyer from making a terrible decision and not get a home inspection.

Home inspections are your only safety net as a buyer, and we recommend that you never purchase a home without one. Even new homes need inspections.

It's like buying a car without taking it out for a test drive. Why wouldn't you do that with your home?

If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. We would be very happy to speak with you!

How to Organize Your Home Before a Showing

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I recently found a good video on HGTV that I thought would be helpful to you if you're preparing to sell your home. It's essential that when you show your home to buyers, it's clean, organized, and decluttered. You'll want to empty out your closets, or at the very least, get them organized.

One thing you can do to get organized is put up shoe hangers in your doors, and store everyday items inside them such as cleaning supplies, utensils, or anything else that you can fit in them.

Another way to cut down on clutter is to use labels, or pick up storage bins to keep items like cords or wires in.

A tip for organizing your closet is to divide your clothes into four different sections: hang, sell, donate, keep, and fold. Once you have something marked out for every category, you can then organize your closet in any way you see fit. Here's an extra tip: you can use belt hangers to hang your necklaces and other jewelry.

I just thought this video would be useful for organizing your home, whether you're selling or if you just want to tidy up a bit.

If you need any assistance with staging, decluttering, or selling, please don't hesitate to contact me!

Is a 203K Rehab Loan the Option for You?

Today, Elisa Flores joins us to discuss an incredible opportunity. The FHA 203K Loan is a great option for people looking to buy a fixer-upper.

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Today, Elisa Flores joins us to discuss the many features and benefits of a FHA 203K Rehab Loan.

The main feature of a 203K Loan is the ability to purchase the property in as-is condition. This means if there is work that needs to be done on the property, you can address those issues after closing. 

The down payment requirement for this loan is only 3.5%, like many other FHA loans. However, the way that down payment is calculated is a little different. Say you're buying a home for $300,000 and it needs $50,000 in work, the 3.5% down payment will be on the amount of $350,000. 

Interest rates are a little higher on the 203K, but usually within a quarter of a percent of regular FHA loans. To qualify for this loan, you'll have to submit your credit history, debt-to-income ratio, and proof of employment to a lender.

This loan is fantastic for people who are looking to buy an affordable property that needs some work. It's also great for people who simply want to renovate a home to fit their needs and make it their own! Whatever you decide to use it for, you'll find it incredibly helpful when making changes to your new home.

If you have any questions about this great loan option, you can reach Elisa at (510) 828-1080. As always, give us a call or shoot us an email with all of your real estate questions and concerns. We would love to hear from you!