Opportunity is knocking for homebuyers in Folsom

There was a good article in the Sacramento Bee this weekend, "Housing Crash Means Bargains for Some Sacramento-Area Buyers", that talked about the opportunity that exists for home buyers to purchase an affordable home in this market, this after years of inflated home prices. If you and your family are at a point where it's time to either move into your first home or maybe even move up, take a look at the homes currently for sale. I checked our local multiple listing service this morning and found 189 homes in Folsom selling for under $300,000. And, of those, 64 were listed under $200,000. That is opportunity.
all4now

Some good news from Freddie Mac for Buyers looking to buy a home in Folsom

Here's the deal: Freddie Mac is offering up to 3.5% in closing-cost assistance to homebuyers for offers on HomeSteps properties that are received by July 31, 2011, with escrow closing no later than September 30.

HomeSteps homes are foreclosures owned by Freddie Mac. That represents some serious money for homebuyers. For example, on the purchase of a home worth $150,000, HomeSteps would pay up to $5,250 towards the buyers closing cost. Pretty sweet!

This deal may sound familiar. Fannie Mae has been offering a similar deal on homes closing by June 30.

Currently there are two homes for sale in Folsom that are eligible for the Freddie Mac incentive with possibly more coming on line. Freddie Mac says it expects the REO inventory to grow (REO stands for real-estate owned--the term banks use to describe as properties they have foreclosed).

Write me if you would like more details...

all4now

Errors in public records can hurt home buyers, sellers

If there is one thing we think we should be able to trust when buying or selling a home is the information on the home that we find in the local public record. But it is buyer (and seller) beware when it comes to those public records. Did you know that when an agent fills out their local multiple listing service’s property information when listing a home, the field regarding square footage of the home is often auto-filled from the tax record? And, I can tell you that that information is not always correct for a variety of reasons, including, additions made to a house without proper permitting, so that the new correct square footage or information such as number of bedrooms or baths is not be reflected in the public record.

I just read an article today from Inman News on this topic and here are a few of the examples in the article on how things can go wrong: A house has 3,000 square feet of space but for some reason the public record show only 2,200 square feet. A buyer making an offer on this property may have trouble securing a loan after a low appraisal comes in based on a smaller square footage.

Advice to buyers: if square footage (rather than the flow of the home, for example) is important to you, you need to verify independently the square footage.

Advice to sellers: check out the public record on your property at least 2-3 months before listing your home so you have time to get corrections made is there is an error.

all4now

Home buying tip of the day

As you look for that perfect Folsom home, make sure to always have the following with you when you visit houses:

• a measuring tape (and pencil and pad) to mark down those room measurements
• a flashlight--Bank-owned homes especially may have no electricity to the house so it'll be darker later in the day and evening
• a compass so you can figure out what rooms will get sun/shade at what time of day

all4now