First Time Home Buyer – Trials, Tribulation, & Joy!

By Author: findcarealestate
Total Articles: 7
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With home prices well off their highs of 2007, first time home buyers have slowly but surely entered the real estate market. This is a story about one of my clients and his quest to buy his first home in South Orange County . . . and by the way, we encountered trials, tribulations, and joy!

First let me clarify a rather large misbelief – home sales in the under $500,000 range in most of South Orange County are much hotter than you might think. I am going to avoid playing statistician and instead give you a summary of our first time buyer experiences.

My first time buyer, Brian, was very well qualified and preapproved for financing. I set him up for success – he received daily new listing updates and we promptly looked at everything that was of interest – there is no doubt that we wore down a set of Michelins as we looked at homes in his $400,000 price range in Aliso Viejo, Mission Viejo, Laguna Niguel, and San Clemente.

Like all home buyers, Brian was seeking the right home at the right price. Well we found them – some short sales, some bank owned, and some standard equity sales. Initially ...
... the lure of the “short sale” was hard to resist with the promise of an incredible value. We ultimately looked at close to 50 homes, made offers on 7, and closed on one great townhome in Aliso Viejo.

Key Learnings:

* Short Sales make up a large part of the market – well over half the homes we looked at were short sales – 4 of our 7 offers were on short sale listings all with mixed results. A couple received no response at all – I really wonder if the seller knew that their listing agent had received an offer on their home! Some were multiple offer situations and did not work out either.
* REO Sales also make up a large part of the market – we looked at several, made an offer on one home in San Clemente, and rejected an onerous list of terms and conditions put forward by the bank.
* Equity Sellers – The Cherished Equity Seller – over the few weeks that we diligently looked for the right home and made fruitless offers, we grew to love the standard equity sale. I can assure you that a competitively priced equity sale in the right area will have a stampede of potential buyers. While out looking at potential homes, I received a new listing alert on my BlackBerry that a townhome had just come on the market in Aliso Viejo – we looked at it and made an offer one hour later and found that it received multiple offers that evening and sold well over asking.

Brian ultimately settled on a great townhome in Aliso Viejo. By the way, it was a cherished equity sale – closed in 30 days, at a fair price. Joy – after many trials and tribulations.

If you are first time home buyer looking to buy in Orange County, contact me today and let’s get started. I can be reached at 949.500.0484 or visit www.findcarealestate.com to start your property search.

For more Detail:

Aliso Viejo Real Estate

Dana Point Real Estate