Bellflower, CA

Welcome to my blog called Rancho Southeast Blog. I will be sharing with you activities in my community on regularly basic. I have been living and selling real estate in this community for 20 years. I will be glad to answer question, i.e. school districts, city hall and First Time Buyer programs and citywide improvement loans for homeowner. Yes low interest loan for homeowners. Most of all it beauty and the people that live here

Oh by the way you are welcome to share with me topic you want me to blog about. I am looking forward to talking with you soon.

People ask me all the time when is the best time to buy. And my answer always any time is the best time to buy regardless of the market. You see unless you are an investor, being a homeowner brings high level of freedom and pride of the American dream. Coming from a 3^rd world country, you experience a feeling that I cannot be explained. Anyway, here are my reasons that any time is the best time to buy.

•1. Sense of owning a real property you can call your own in a great country.

•2. A place you can raise a family & children

•3. Open door to wealth through built equity or unearned equity due to increase in value by the real estate market.

•4. Lower income tax from mortgage interests.

•5. Sense of accomplishment

•6. It beats renting any day and nothing wrong with renting.

How do you buy your first home? Here how you buy your first home:

•1. You look at your bills, saving and income. You want to list all your bills accurately with monthly payments including your living expense. Then you subtract your total bill from your income to see if you will need pay down credit debts or let go none essential bills. You have must 3.5% of your own money for down payment.

•A. You interview at least 3 full time brokers/agents. You are looking for knowledge, honesty and availability. Knowledge of type financing and the market trend. Available to show you properties himself/herself not his or her assistant and have personally previewed the properties.

•B. Ask if you need to sign a buyer contract and if you do, do not sign for more than 60 days. By the way, make sure you write into the contract to cancel if you are not happy with the service. Personally, I do not use buyer contract. If a borrower not going to buy through you why waste your time with empty paper called contract.

•C. Once you decided on the Realtor, asked to be preapproved through DU. Du approval is more reliable than regular approval. Du approval in most cases avoids being approved again by REO lenders. You can choose your own lender but let your lender know your Realtor is in charge of your transaction and should be given whatever is need from the lender. It is better to call one person for status than two different people.

•D. Previewing properties you are approved for. Please give an honest feedback on every property you shown. This is a team (you and your broker) effort so if you see any property you like, please call the broker with the address and phone number for more information. Stay away from short sale properties because they are not reliable.

•E. Find what you like, write an offer. Please have an open mind here, especially property in good condition or need less repairs. They usually attract many offers. Make your most attractive offer and remember that every concession reduces your offer price. For instance you offer $250,000 on a property but asking for $10,000 credit toward closing. Your offer then is $240,000. I am not say don't ask for closing costs, just be aware of how your offer is being perceived by the seller.

•F. Accepted offer when do you give notice to landlord? I usually tell my client to give notice upon formal loan approval.

•G. Next step close to the end is ESCROW. The job of escrow officer is to carry out the agreement and make changes agreed by both parties (buyer & seller) if any as disburse funds and final documents. Among other duties.

H. FINALLY YOU ARE A HOMEOWNER.

NOTE: DURING YOUY BUYING PERIOD PLEASE DO NOT USE CREDIT OR APPLY FOR ANY CREDIT. A DEAL KILLER!!

In July of this year, Congress passed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. Among the many provisions meants to stimulate the economy and the housing market is a $7500 tax credit for those who purchase a foreclosed home. If you purchased or are planning to purchase a foreclosed home between April 9, 2008, and June 30, 2009, then you may qualify for this tax credit.

There are income limits on this credit. The full credit will be given to individuals earning less than $75000 per year ($150000/year on a joint return). For those earning more than $75000 the credit is gradually decreased until reaching an income level of $95000 ($170000 on joint return) when the credit is phased out.

One great thing about this credit is that it is "refundable." Meaning it counts towards the amount that you are refunded. So if your tax liability if $5000 and you get the full $7500 tax credit, then you would receive a refund of $2500.

Of course there is a catch. The tax credit is really just an interest-free loan that must be repaid. However, you have 15 years over which to pay it back, paying 6.67% of the total amount each year until paid in full. That means if you qualify for the full $7500 credit, you would repay $502.50 each year. Still a nice way to get interest-free money that you have a long time to pay back.