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What Is The Best Gauge of a Property’s Value?

January 8, 2019

What Is The Best Gauge Of A Property’s Value

There are so many other factors besides the size of your home that affects its value.  How about the materials used in the construction of the unit, the upgraded amenities, and most importantly, the location?  One example is a completely renovated kitchen and/or bath does not add square footage to your property but will certainly add to the value!

A better way to determine your home’s value might be researching the “comps” in your area.  This is the measuring tool used by real estate agents when determining the best listing price for your home.  Comparable homes will include ones in your neighborhood that best match the style of your home, for example a single-story ranch.

One of the best ways to determine the value of your home is with a CMA, or comparable market analysis, prepared free of charge by most real estate agents.  This analysis reviews homes sold in your area over the past 6-12 months comparing the location, size, bedroom and bath counts, condition, amenities and lot.

An appraisal is another way to determine the true value of your property.  This requires paying a licensed, professional appraiser to give you the market value of your home.  

Correctly determining the value of your property can be beneficial for determining how to properly list it for sale; Find out what equity you have so that you can get money for the needed home upgrades or other business venture you have wanted to do; Determining the equity in your property to decide if you have enough to do a Bridge loan to buy your “dream home”; Or how about discovering the equity for your use to get a temp loan for an additional investment property to make more monthly income through rent?!

There are multitudes of reasons why you would want to properly ascertain the correct value of your property. I hope you found this useful.

To Buy or Not To Buy?: That is the Question

November 1, 2018

To Buy Or Not To Buy?: That Is The Question

Although not as existential as Hamlet’s query, this is a life changing decision facing many Californians today. Ultimately, the answer depends on several real-life factors: your finances, your long-term plans and the real estate market in your area.  Some of the questions you might want to ask include:

  • What can you afford?
  • How much do you have for a down payment?
  • How long do you plan to stay in the house?
  • Are you looking for stability or flexibility?
  • Do you want to be responsible for maintenance and repairs?
  • What are your financial, career and family goals?

Of course, the other choice you have is to continue renting.  A wise next step in your decision-making will include a Pros & Cons List of renting vs. buying.  It can look something like this:

Pro Buying:

  • Builds equity and credit
  • More stability (especially with schools)
  • Some tax benefits
  • Can “nest”, improving or upgrading to your tastes
  • Social benefits of a stable neighborhood

Con Buying:

  • Requires substantial money, paperwork upfront
  • Additional expenses beyond mortgage payment
  • Responsible for repairs and maintenance
  • Moving costs

Pro Renting:

  • Fewer upfront costs
  • Mobility
  • Not responsible for maintenance/repairs
  • No property tax bills

Con Renting:

  • Landlord can raise rent or sell the property
  • Choices may be limited
  • Might mean moving several times
  • Don’t build equity
  • No tax benefits

To summarize:  Homes typically increase in value (approximately 7.2% in California in 2017) thereby increasing your retirement fund, whereas, every penny spent on rent is gone forever.  Your homeowner costs are more predictable and stable than renters’ expenses, since a landlord can raise your rent in accordance with the rent control laws in your city every year.  If you own a portion of your mortgage, interest and property tax is deductible. There may be a small renters’ deduction if you rent.

To help evaluate your choices regarding buying/renting there is a helpful calculator available on Zillow: https://www.zillow.com/rent-vs-buy-calculator/  

When you reach the decision to buy, but find you do not qualify for a conventional loan, you need a fast loan or stronger offer over others, Sun Pacific Mortgage will be here to help you achieve your dream!  We have unique alternative financing options through our Hard Money lending programs.

Call us at 707-523-2099!

Make Your Dream A Reality in 2018

February 14, 2018

1 Owning Your Own Home Doesn’t Need To Be A Fairy Tale Or A Figment Of Your Imagination.  2018 Can Be The Year You Make It Happen By Simply Dispelling Some Commonly Held Homebuying Myths Regarding Age And First-Time Home Buyers.  

Owning your own home doesn’t need to be a fairy tale or a figment of your imagination.  2018 can be the year you make it happen by simply dispelling some commonly held homebuying myths regarding age and first-time home buyers.  

According to realtor.com, 65% of all surveyed homebuyers were first-time buyers and 40% of all homebuyers are 34 years old and younger.  More Millennials and Gen Y have gotten into the real estate market as rents rise, making it a more palliative option.  Renting means paying someone  else’s mortgage.  

How are the first-time buyers finding the down payment?  Some have set up small, weekly automatic bank transfers to savings, some have borrowed from family to help with the down payment, and many have made deep cuts into their budgets like brown bagging it, limiting trips and foregoing more expensive forms of entertainment.

The realtor.com Home Affordability Calculator can help to determine what price range you can afford.  If you find that you do not qualify for a conventional loan, Sun Pacific Mortgage is here to help you get into your first home and to begin establishing equity for the future, using their Hard Money loan programs.     

 

We Make Big Deals Happen

April 11, 2017

 

Fk We Have Two Main Qualifications:  #1. At Least 20% Down Payment Or Good Existing Equity And #2. An Ability To Repay The Loan.

We offer Hard Money financing for jumbo size loans with qualifications that are more forgiving than traditional and conventional financing.
Hard Money loans are the answer for someone with irregular income, tarnished credit, needs fast cash or property not qualify for regular financing.  These are not issues with us.

Recently Funded Jumbo Loan
Location: Palo Alto, Santa Clara County
Amount: 770K
LTV: 70%
Length to close: 16 days
Reason for loan: Needed cash quickly

We have two main qualifications:  #1. At least 20% down payment or good existing equity and #2. An ability to repay the loan.

Having been in business for almost 30 years now, we have seen it all, and we can usually make the seemingly impossible, possible.   Call Us today at 707-523-2099 or reply back with any questions or scenarios!

Stop Being Stopped – From Buying a Home

October 13, 2011 No Comments

STOP BEING STOPPED

DECIDE TO NOT BE STOPPED FROM BUYING A HOME

By Broker: Owner



 

This Article is addressed to all those who long to buy a home but have not done anything about it.

Let’s be clear on this question of “Buy a home – don’t buy a home?”

It’s obviously not the rates. 30 year fixed rate loans are at the lowest – ever! Did everyone see that headline in every news forum? Lowest ever!

It’s obviously not real estate prices, because the majority of the statistics show they have hit bottom and are projected to rise based on those statistics.

It’s obviously not the fact that there are major tax advantages to owning a home, because those have been preached for years.

So what is stopping you? Think about it for a minute, what is really stopping you?

Whatever you came up with – get over it !OK that’s rather abrupt but look at the compelling facts above that demonstrate why you should get over whatever it is that has stopped you.

Did you decide to stop being stopped?

Good. So the starting point for becoming a home owner is being pre-approved for a home loan. This isthe starting point. You do not want to shop for the home first. That is putting the cart before the horse. Most sellers in this current market will only look at offers from Buyers that have been pre-approved for the home loan.

You have a couple of ways you can go here: If you have a real estate agent already, have them set this up with their favorite lender, preferably a mortgage broker, since you probably have no idea what type of loan you may qualify for. If you don’t have a real estate agent, you could interview a few and decide on one and then have them steer you to their favorite lender. You could also go direct to a local mortgage broker or your favorite bank. You could look in the Yellow Pages (do people still do that?) or go on-line and search mortgage broker and the city you live in.

It does not cost anything to find out what you can buy based on your credit, income and down payment.

Touching on that briefly, you can be a Buyer whether you have perfect credit, good credit or “bad” credit. You can also be a Buyer if you have from easily verifiable income to difficult to prove income. You can be a Buyer with as little as 1/2 % down!

Regularly published are the 30 year fixed rates offered by FNMA, FHLMC, FHA, and VA as well as PERS and loans made by the California Housing Finance Agency. These are deemed “conforming” loans. They are offered through local Brokers and banks. You need good to perfect credit for these as well as verifiable income. You also need to be buying a home that is in pretty good shape. No fixer-uppers.

Finally, any time one of the above traditional lenders cannot approve your loan you need the services of a hard money lender. These are Brokers and companies that offer these non-traditional, that is non-conforming – programs. Some of the reasons conforming lenders say “no” are low FICO scores, a recent bankruptcy, inability to verify income, no tax returns, no bank statements, high debt to income ratios, odd or non-conforming types of properties such as mixed use, multiple units, apartments, land, etc. Hard money generally requires just 2 things: a good down payment and ability to repay the loan.

You’ve already decided to stop being stopped. What are you waiting for?

Don’t miss out! Now is the time to buy.

Owner is a CA DRE Broker with over 23 years experience in real estate and lending. His number is (707) 523-2099. See website @ www.sunpacmortgage.com.

Statistics, Statistics, Statistics

August 17, 2011 No Comments

LENDER’S VIEWPOINT
By Owner

 

 

I debated in high school and then went to Loan Originatorzona State University on a tuition scholarship for debate. Not too long into my college debate team tenure, I discovered concurrently, the girls dormitory housing 1,500 suntanned beauties, 7 oz. beers 6 for a buck, and the pool life around Lemon Grove Terrace – among other things. So much for the debate team.

But from all those years of competition one thing did become clear and that was that statistics require scrutiny. They also need to be compared to other statistics to have any real meaning. Even more important is to look at who was giving forth the statistic and the source of the statistic. You probably innately know this, maybe you don’t. But in these trying economic times people the world over need to be reminded to think for themselves and not blindly trust what we are being told. Bad news and even worse headlines sell newspapers and draw us to news shows on television, radio and the internet. This is in spite of the fact there is good news buried under the headlines. It is commonly known that bad news sells newspapers.

This is really all that is holding down housing right now – the preponderance of bad news. It is really all that is hampering business expansion leading to the current unemployment rate. I have heard it called a lack of confidence. People are beat up about the bad news, the publishing of “bad” statistics. The real drag on the economy is that people get so beat up by bad news they feel like they can’t do anything about it – lack of confidence.

Can you have another viewpoint though? I mean can you subtly change your thinking just slightly?

America isn’t going to dry up and disappear. It will recover from the current mess. Don’t you truly believe that? I do. I mean I’m not done with supporting my family, I’m gonna go camping again and fishing and golfing, and buying clothes and going to church and paying taxes and eating right and eating badly and working my b___ off for all of this. That’s what I’m going to do. And I’m going to go about it confidently and with good cheer because it does not accomplish anything to be other than that. And I’m going to see headlines and statistics and hear news that I’m going to take with a grain of salt because I know their stated purpose is to put forth bad news. So I’m not going to let it affect me one little bit.

My initial purpose for writing this article was to motivate buyers to get out there and buy right now because the statistics I view as a mortgage broker and real estate broker all point to BUY NOW. Get your confidence back in America. That is simply your decision. And the next time you see a bad headline just know that they are probably all bad headlines with the worst statistics. It sells newspapers.

Owner is a CA DRE Broker with over 23 years experience in real estate and lending. His number is (707) 523-2099. See website @ sunpacmortgage.com.