Orange County House Hunting Tips

Finding a Orange County house for sale for a great price can sometimes be a trying experience. First, you have to find out about all of the houses for sale in your price range in a timely manner - next, you need to preview the inside of these homes - then, after you've have selected a few candidates, you need to analyze to see what's a fair price for each house - Finally, you formulate your offer to purchase.... and by the time that's all completed, the really good homes with a great value, are usually sold... So what do you do? Follow this 5 step program for buying a house, and you will greatly increase your odds for success...

1.) First - Get with a mortgage lender and obtain pre-qualification letter. We usually recommend mortgage brokers over banks for often times a mortgage broker will have a wider selection of loan programs to choose from as compared to a bank. This step is very important for shopping for a house to buy is challenging enough, and not being confident with regard to your price range makes it even more difficult. The pre-qualification letter (pre-qual), can usually be done in an hour or two, and will tell you how much of house you can afford and what your monthly payments and closing costs will be... valuable information. Shop around for lenders before you give them permission to run your credit, for you don't want to many inquiries on your credit report at this stage.

2.) I know you have probably heard it before, but is true - Find yourself a good tech savvy Buyers Agent. The services of a good Buyer's Agent are essentially free to you for the Seller has already signed a contract to pay a commission to the agents who sell their home. So whether you deal with the listing agent, a brand new rookie agent, or a seasoned and professional Buyers Agent, there are no extra costs to you the Buyer! Dealing with the listing agent directly is not such a good idea, for the listing agents fiduciary responsibility and loyalty is first and foremost with the Seller. That leaves you at a negotiating and contractual disadvantage. Also, many listing agents specialize in working with sellers, and many of them don't have the time, interest nor demeanor to work effectively and patiently with home buyers. Working with a newbie agent with less than 2 years experience f0r the purchase of a $800K house is not such a good idea when you can work with a seasoned professional for the same NO cost! How do you find such a seasoned professional tech savvy Buyers Agent ? - by searching on the Internet or referrals from friends and co-workers.

3.) Once you've selected and met with your Buyers Agent, have them set you up on an email alert home finding service that checks the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) every day. When a new listing comes on the market that meets you criteria, it will send you and your Agent an email notifying you of this brand new listing, and the email will contain many details about the house for sale.

4.) When you're ready, set an appointment with your Buyer's Agent and go look at all of the houses for sale that meet your needs, wants, price range, etc. In today's market, that list of houses for sale won't be to big for the inventory has been low in Orange County for many months. So in one or two afternoons, you can see every house listed for sale. If you didn't find a house you like, then start using the email alert service (above), and check your email on a daily basis to see if a new listing pops up that is worth seeing. When a new listing arrives, it's usually a very good ides to hop in the car and have your buyers Agent show it to you as soon as possible. After a month or so, if you haven't found a house that strikes you interest, it's probably time to modify your search parameters... ie; maybe look for slightly smaller houses, look in a few more cities, bump up the price a little bit, etc. etc.

5.) Once you and your agent have found a house (or two) that meet your needs and wants, get together with your agent and formulate an offer to purchase. Here an experienced Buyers agent will be very valuable in getting you the best deal possible, and assuring you a smooth, and timely contract closing (Escrow) process.