Andi Grant's Blog - Everyday Real Estate with a Twist

I want a 3 bedroom home...No Wait Make it 4!  Home Buyers and Their Changing Criterias

Working with first time home buyers continues to be the most challenging yet rewarding real estate experiences of my career.  They are excited, golden and full of energy.  In my opinion,  savvier and more knowledgable than past decade buyers due to information accessibility in this computer age.  Although open to suggestions, they will also research and weigh the material facts laid out before them as they do their best to make the most informed decisions when it comes to buying their first home. 

However, I have noticed that no matter the buyer, whether first time home buyer or seasoned, laid back personality or difficult, the snare that is almost a guarantee with each and every one of them during the househunting experience, is that of the buyer(s) allowing their wants to slowly take precedence over their needs when it comes to their evolving search criteria, regardless as to whether or not their budget can truly accomodate the expansion.  Heck , it even happened to me many years ago when I was searching for a home.  What's that all about?  You'd think it would be the exact opposite as reality met budget.

The original starter home list starts out looking like this:

• Desirable location
• 2 bedroom, but if we can get 3 - great!
• 1 bath
• 2 car garage
• It's ok if it needs updating or minor fixer work, after all it is our first "starter home"

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Then a week or two later, the "refurbished criteria" is hardly recognizable from the original model you first viewed or discussed and now looks like this: 

• The most desirable location
• 3 - 4 bedrooms
• 2 bath (one must be part of master suite)
• Remodeled kitchen with granite countertops
• Turn-key
• 2 car garage with enough room to accomodate a workshop, classic car hobby, and future eBay business

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Now don't get me wrong!  Getting you the most for your money is what I do!  In fact it's what I love most about negotiations!  If it turns out that we can expand the criteria, keep you in your most desired area and stay in a price range that will not have you on a diet of PB&Js or eating bowls of cereal with a fork to save on milk for the next few years just to afford the payments, then heck yeah - of course we'll go for it!  But in LA County's most desirable areas "Mo House" usually means "Mo money".  If it turns out that your budget can only accomodate the "needs" list while still keeping you in your top desirable area, sending me blingy listings that are clearly beyond your budget is not going to frustrate me more than it will frustrate you.  Lowballing in highly desirable areas will not produce favorable results.

Lets get back to the original criteria of first fulfilling your needs and then adding the wants to create the total package.  Remember in most cases you can usually add, change or remodel features to create the perfect starter home, but the location - your stuck with!

First Time Home Buyers often ask me about getting money from parents and other relatives and friends to help them with down payment or their portion of closing costs in a homebuying situation.  George Souto a loan officer in Connecticut has allowed me to reblog a very detailed article explaining who is an acceptable contributor donor in most cases when it comes to gift money in a homebuyer's conventional Fannie Mae loan situation. 

NOTE: Please pay special attention to the "acceptable donor" sections and the part that states the gift money documentation includes a statement signed by both borrower and donor that NO repayment is expected.  That caveat appears to be the one that is the glitch in the homebuyers being the recipient of the "gift money" award in many cases from what I've experienced. 

L.A. First-Time Home Buyers Shooting at Shrinking Targets:  Buyer's Market Ha!

It was bound to happen!  There had to be a slight shift from buyers' market to sellers' market in quite a few areas of Los Angeles county where my buyers are currently looking.  When working with first time buyers in the $450,000 or less range, one does tend to open one's self up to a large pool of buying competition because let's face it, the buyer that can afford $600K, can also afford $450K as some buyers are wisely looking for homes they can afford on one income level if future circumstances should force it.

As I am househunting with buyers in several different parts of LA county, I'm seeing the same thing happening no matter where we go, shrinking inventory and multiple offer situations.

The past three weeks of searching with some of my 1st time home buyers looked a little something like this:

First time buyers looking in the Northeast LA target cities of Alhambra and Highland Park: multiple offer situation after multiple offer situation.  We initially found a great home, got an accepted offer, one of the two buyers then decided he wanted more bling for the price.  He wasn't budging after 3 days of talks and we ended up withdrawing the offer as seller couldn't accomodate.  Now 3 weeks later, one buyer is peeved while the other now regrets decision because the competition is not only fierce, they also have bigger pockets!  I bet the other house is looking a whole lot better than the doghouse he's currently in.  Yikes!

First time home buyers looking in Los Altos,  California Heights, Bixby Highland areas of Long Beach, and Lakewood Village, Lakewood Mutuals, Mayfair areas of Lakewood: faced with multiple offer situations on both turnkey and fixers.  I had one agent in Los Altos tell us during an open house that her last set of buyers submitted 11 offers before they were able to get in escrow in the same area and that had been an easy buyer for her.  This wasn't what my 1st time buyers wanted to hear, but at least it helped them to know theirs wasn't the only case.

First timers searching in Downey and Lakewood:   Again faced with multiple offer situations. We are even starting to see where some sellers want buyer to pay appraisal difference or perform any lender required repairs because they aren't paying for squat.  That sure sounds like the language that was being used during the seller's market days, eh?

What was once an easy shot at a standing target for my first time buyers is starting to become not only a moving target in some areas, but a shrinking one! 

Inventory levels for some first time home buyers are shrinking and one can only guess the reasons why behind the diminishing numbers:

• Fewer FHA Ready homes causing first time home buyers using one of the most popular  first time home buyer programs in Los Angeles to shun the fixer homes that will require extensive lender required repairs prior to close 
• Non-short sale homes for first-time buyers that can't wait (buyers facing lease renewals, growing family timeframes, relocation).
• Homes being withdrawn off market by sellers looking for that "Zestimate" price, thus opting to rent/lease out their home when they aren't getting any bites. 
• Heavy buying competition as the largest pool of buyers are usually in the $450K price and below.  The law of supply and demand kicks in as homes that once sat for 180 days now appear to be going within 30-55 days as turnkey sellers can afford to wait to get several stacks of offers in before choosing highest and best

Again, only guesses.  I had all three sets of buyers say with different levels of exasperation in their tones these passed few weeks, "But I heard it was a buyer's market!"  My standard answer that almost always applies:  "The person who said it wasn't buying in your market or desired area." 

I have yet to have an unsatisfied buyer so although finding a home can and does happen quickly for some, it may take a little while longer for others, but it will be oh so worth the wait!  Hang in there!

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Shrinking target by viZZZual 
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic License.

Searching Long Beach Rentals is so 2011!  First Time Home Buying is Where It's At in 2012!

"Every time tax time rolls around, I become mad at myself that I didn't buy a home to write off while my landlord gets one and continues to collect rents from me!"  

I heard this from a Long Beach renter last week who called to ask about first time home buyer programs in Long Beach.  This Long Beach renter was paying nearly $1800 a month rent!  That's unbelievable considering that with record low interest rates, a large population of Long Beach apartment dwellers could easily afford to own in one of many great Long Beach neighborhoods as well as in any of the nearby cities of Los Angeles, Downey, Lakewood and Carson for nearly the same monthly payment, while being able to possibly have a great a tax write-off to boot! 

With what I've been calling the holy trinity of homebuying: low home prices, low interest rates, and low down payment assistance, why not at least see if you can go from being a Long Beach renter in 2011 to a Long Beach first-time home buyer in 2012!  Why continue to pay a landlord who only knows you as a check or an apartment building unit # when you can become a Long Beach homeowner with your own address and most likely be able to be reap the benefits of it around tax time? 

We can help 1st time buyers with the following:  

• Mortgage Pre-Qualification Application
• Down Payment Assistance Request
• Answering your FAQs about the home-buying process 
• Choosing from one of many First-Time home buyer lenders
• Connecting you to a first time home buyer Realtor® who can negotiate a great home price for you that's within your budget!

If you are currently a Long Beach apartment dweller  or house renter and would love to become a first time home buyer and home owner in Long Beach, Los Angeles, Downey, Lakewood, Carson or in any of their surrounding cities, while also acquiring what could be a great tax write-off, do not hesitate to call us today at 310-508-4354

We look forward to working with you soon!  Happy Househunting in 2012!

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Did You Know:  A first time homebuyer is generally considered to be a person that hasn't held any title interest or ownership of real estate property within the last 3 full years? 

APPLY NOW (no SS# required): 

Pre-Qualification Mortgage Application  

Down-Payment Assistance   

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Are there any bookstores still OPEN in Long Beach? Why yes…yes there is!

In my dream, I'm shopping Long Beach's Retro Row when I hear a sound that I haven't heard in awhile.  But could it be?  At first I think it's a figment of my imagination and then I hear it again. This time what appears to be the faint sound of a book being cracked open is immediately followed by the oh-so-subtle swish of a page turn.  I hook the corner and there it is! OPEN, waiting for me to enter, a bookstore located on Long Beach’s famous Retro Row.  No, you don’t understand,  is the name of the great independent neighborhood bookstore located at 2226 E. 4^th st. in the heart of 4th St's famous Retro Row in Long Beach! 

As I walk into the {open} bookstore, I'm surrounded by wall-to-wall bookshelves containing, get this, books! Real live bound books of gently used unique reading material of classic literature, sci-fi, biographies, children's books, fiction, comic books, back issue magazines, new independently published books and so much more! If that ain't cool enough, {open}'s founders and owners Sé Reed and Shea M. Gauer are introducing new independent authors, musicians, and artists to the city of Long Beach and it's press by allowing them to have book releases, concerts, literary performances and art exibitions at their {open} venue throughout the year.  How awesome is that for Long Beach's huge eclectic and creative community?

All of a sudden  I'm jarred out of my sleep by a nearby gardner's buzzing weed wacker.  In a panic, I check the calendar on my phone and I'm elated to see that it's only 2012!  Phew!  The "e-age" hasn't completely taken over and {open} isn't only a dream!  Unlike the impersonal mega-chain bookstores that are closing all around us, the {open} bookstore in Long Beach is still not only open, but remains a favorite neighborhood bookstore among many of Long Beach's locals and visitors to Retro Row alike.  

So when you feel like cracking open a good book, checking out a new undiscovered artist or hearing a new twist on a favorite genre of music, be sure to visit {open} at a 4th Street Retro Row bookstore near you!  

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  2226 E. 4th St. @ Junipero Long Beach, CA 90814 

Books ~  Magazines ~  Music ~ Art