How To Buy Your Home - The Process

Here we go. We're about to go through the PROCESS of buying a home. During the next month we'll discuss all the important steps involved in moving from where you're at now into the home you've always wanted. Ready?

First a thought about the concept of buying a home....AS A PROCESS.

Want to buy an orange? Start car. Drive to grocery. Go in. Find orange. Make way to checkout. Pay. Leave. Home. Eat. This is the PROCESS. And with buying a home, it's just about this simple.........well.....no, it's really not.

And the reason it's not even remotely as easy is that the tasks that we perform when buying an orange (start,drive,go,find,make,pay,leave&eat) are tasks that we have done on our own, all our life, and are able to do without much of even a thought. Compare that to the following (short) list of tasks we have to do during the PROCESS of buying a home.

(Agency, Multiple Listing Service, FICO, preapproval/prequalification, HUD statements, Value Range Marketing, FSBO's, contingencies, addendums, title insurance, liquidated damages, highest and best offer, appraisals, escrow, loan conditions, ethics, disclosures, time periods, cancellation rights, and closing....just to name a few).

Even if you think you know what each of these tasks represent, in the setting of the home buying PROCESS they are very complicated, highly charged, tasks that define and protect the multiple parties to the sale. For instance, unlike our orange buying example, which involved one person, a store, perhaps a clerk, and yes, an automobile, a real estate transaction involves agents, Realtors, lawyers, title officers, lenders, underwriters, escrow officers, warranty representatives, property inspectors, appraisers, experts in natural hazard disclosures, transaction coordinators, and yes, sellers and buyers who may be individuals, corporations, trusts or partnerships. We're talking about some serious muddling/clearing up of the tasks by these folks, so the home buying process is much, much more complex.

So as we embark over this next month on a discussion of how get started, how to move forward, and ultimately how to complete the purchase of your home, remember that their IS a process, one which you can learn about here, and that process is at the heart of any success you'll eventually have in that purchase.

Next post - Getting started on the Internet

California on Sale!!!

Went to a Real Estate Investment meeting last night with two friends, Steve Rosenberry and Mia Rosenberry. Steve is a general contractor and home inspector. Mia is a birddog and much more for snydicators and other real estate folks, and yes, she is a Silpada jewelry salesperson as well.

Here's my take on the meeting, and on a rather big epiphany I had. California real estate is On Sale....no kidding! If you have lived and enjoyed any part of being in California, then NOW IS the time to buy, put down roots, or just simply add an investment to your portfolio that actually makes sense, makes money, and makes every other investment pale by comparison.

I have been working with clients in the Oceanside area, investors, who have found that they can put down 20 to 25% and clean the investment clock by getting a cash flow that is somewhere between $200 to $400 per month...right now....right here.

Renters are lining up (with all the past homeowners who have given up their homes in foreclosure now taking on the roll of renters), and the going rate in most parts of Oceanside are $1500+ for most homes in most of the areas where homes are being foreclosed on.

Buy now. California is on sale. Hasn't happened before. Won't happen again. Call me at 760-802-9713, or email me at don@buyhalfahouse.com. Don't wait. The current money supply (subbject of the next blog) is astronomical, and will be going away in five to six months. That means that the window of opportunity is short, but BIG>>>>>>

California homes are on sale now like they have never been in the past. The time for buying, either for yourself, your children, as an investment, or as a move-up, IS NOW.

Doggone....it's a New Year

Please say "hi" to the newest addition to our household. His name is Ramius (named after the Sean Connery character in "Hunt For Red October"), and he's a mostly (perhaps totally) rottweiller puppy of ten months of age.

During the last two years we said goodbye to three of our most beloved dogs, two from old age, and one from a particularly horrible accident caused by what is termed "bloat" by veterinarians. Ramius now lives alone with us, and we're looking to find him the perfect companion with whom he can form a life long friendship and relationship.

Do you think, then, that my wife and I have said a hearty and thankful goodbye to 2008? Indeed we have, though with all that is gone, I'm now going to collect my thoughts and remember what was found. Oh, did I forget to mention that I am a Realtor, and therefore all of you can sort of guess that I've had to take a hard look at how I make my living now that the real estate market has collapsed all around us. But doggone, it's a New Year.

During these past difficult years, with 2008 being the granddaddy of them all for us, and probably for you as well, we've taken each Thanksgiving and Christmas to reflect on our family and friends, and to remind ourselves that what seems most difficult often turns out to be that which is most worth looking back on. Both Beth and I have parents in their mid 80's, mine living in Youngstown, Ohio, and Beth's living in Staunton (pronounced STANTON), Virginia. During this past year, while we struggled to pick up the pieces after our dogs passed away, and I struggled to keep my real estate business alive and well, I think we both sometimes just wanted to hang it up so to speak. Vince Lombardi once said that "fatigue makes cowards of us all", and in 2008 it was pretty easy to get fatigued, and end up acting out in cowardly fashion, both in what we wanted for our business lives, and what we wanted for ourselves personally. Losing the dogs, our kids if you will, just wore us out.

But doggone, it's a New Year, isn't it? Our trip back to see Beth's parents at Christmas was very special, and though they are stricken with ailments that should cause them to act with despair and fatique, they did the opposite. Instead they baked cookies, assembled a 1000 piece puzzle, cooked old Norwegian and Swedish fare, served us up Glugg (Scandanavian drink with wine and more), and brought out a Christmas quiz that had all of us questioning whether we had ever read the story at all!

Beth spent much of the last six months taking care of Ramius, easing him into our home from our adoption of him at probably only six weeks, to see him grow daily into a responsive and loving puppy, but a puppy still. Her tasks included taking him out in the middle of the night when required, as a hip injury had sidelined me and given me a virtual free pass from having to perform this duty. What a gal, Beth is!!!

But I digress. Doggone, it's a New Year. Look for us to add to our home a friend for Ramius, and for me to add new ideas and energy to my real estate business. Already we have blocked out time to walk more together, play more with Ramius, and grow our family even closer. Already we have made goals for ourselves to conquer, and shared ideas about things that we want to do for ourselves and others in this coming year. Already we have planned to see more of our friends, keep more of our commitments, and share more of our free time together.

Doggone right.

Wanna Be on the "Smart Side"???

It's coming, and not soon enough if you ask me.

It's coming, and even Arnold (pronounced "Ahhhhknowlddddd") and his band of merry men up in Sacramento can't stop us.

It's coming, and it will be here before the snows stop melting in the Sierra's.

Stay tuned.......This time we're going to show you how to KEEP OUR KIDS IN CALIFORNIA, no strings attached.

In February we'll be letting you know about a Webinar that is upcoming in which a group of us real estate types (lenders, lawyers and Realtors) will be showing you how to help yourself and your children take part in the American dream, take ownership of a home, and begin the process of building a life of their own in this beautiful state of California.

To get yourself oriented, just stay tuned to this blog.

Wanna be on the smart side? Stay put.....we'll come to you.