Four Great Apps for House Hunters

Are you a smart phone afficianado looking to buy a home? Here are a few great apps to consider using to aid in your home search.

Wikihood

This app is designed to give you a crash course in any neighborhood you might be considering.

Mortgage Calculator

Use this mortgage calculator to determine your monthly payments on the house and loan you are considering..

Realtor.com

The closest thing to the MLS is Realtor.com and they have their own app! There are a few other available applications: Zillow, Trulia, Homes.com, Craigslist, ForSaleByOwner.com; but Realtor.com is more current.

TIP: When you find a home on another 3rd party website, talk to your agent to make sure that it is still listed.

HomeSnap

Out driving around and see a home for sale? Use this app to snap a picture and it will identify it, it’s value, the price it last sold for, and the details of it’s amenities. Cool huh? It’s like your own personal house hunter assistant.

Cool Thing: The Ripple Effect

Your New Home: A Move In Checklist

You’ve waited months on end for the day when the keys are in your hand and you can move into your new home.  It’s tempting to just jump right into it, right?  Not so fast.  Take a moment go over these five important steps to complete before and after closing on your house.

Set up Utilities

Don’t assume that all the utilities will work the day you move in.  If you’ve hired a crew to remodel your house only to find out that your electricity doesn’t work, this could cause a lot of problems and delay your move-in date.  Make sure all your utilities are set up and ready to go before you start any projects.

Tops Reasons Your Offer Could Get Rejected

It happens, but it can be avoided….

There are fifteen main reasons your offer could get rejected, but avoiding these pitfallls can improve your chance of aquiring your dream home!

C.A.R. Launches Tool to Help With Down Payment Assistance

from Car.org:  In an effort to provide California home buyers with up-to-date information about available home buyer assistance programs, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) today launched California Mortgage Resource Directory (http://mortgage.car.org), a powerful search tool that identifies current mortgage programs in communities throughout the state.

Buyers can search by city or address for public- and private-funded assistance programs including FHA/VA, HUD, affordable fixed-rate mortgages, rehab loans, and more.

“Millions of dollars go unused every year because home buyers are unaware of the various buyer assistance programs available to them,” said C.A.R. President Don Faught. “With California Mortgage Resource Directory, REALTORS® and buyers can quickly connect with any number of home buyer resources without having to search within each municipality individually.”

California Mortgage Resource Directory helps bridge the down payment gap for homebuyers and connects them with resources that they may not have otherwise known existed. The new directory is powered by Down Payment Resource, the nation’s only web-based aggregator of home buyer programs.

“With real estate-related searches growing more than 200 percent over the past four years, it’s clear today’s buyers are increasingly using online tools to find financial information,” said Rob Chrane, president and founder of Workforce Resource, creator of Down Payment Resource. “We’re excited to work with C.A.R. to deliver this valuable information to REALTORS® and home buyers alike.”

Four Reasons Your Listing May Have Expired

Do you have a home lingering on the market? MSN Real Estate recently polled real estate professionals to find some of the most common reasons why some properties won’t sell, besides trying to overcome a poor location.

However, a good realtor can help your listing over come these challenges. Call me at (562)743-2029 to ask me how.

Here are four common reasons listings don’t sell in a timely manner, according to the MSN survey:

It’s Not Too Late to “Keep Your Home California!”

Keep Your Home California has launched an easier-to-use website at www.KeepYourHomeCalifornia.org, allowing homeowners to answer questions online and determine if they are a good candidate for the free mortgage assistance program, and, if so, which program works best for them.

 

The federally funded program helps homeowners who have suffered a financial hardship, such as a job loss, a reduction in pay, divorce, or significant health care expenses, to make their mortgage payments.

 

The program, administered by the California Housing Finance Agency, can only help homeowners if they meet income requirements and their mortgage servicers participate in the program. More than 100 servicers now participate in the Keep Your Home California, so most mortgages in California are serviced by a participating Keep Your Home California servicer.