Buying your first home can seem like a big and scary (if not impossible) process.  For starters, you’re probably not sure where to even begin.  And since you don’t own a home currently, you might not have much in terms of equity and assets to leverage. 

For a current homeowner, they can sell their house and put that towards the new one.  For you, well, there’s a lot of money that needs to come from somewhere. 

That’s why first time homebuyers are given the special treatment, and we don’t just mean people are nicer to you.  If you’re a first time buyer, there are exclusive loans, programs, rates, and rules available for you. 

In a lot of ways, it can actually be easier for you to buy a home if you never have before.  How so? …

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Buying a home can require a certain amount of patience.  After all, it’s not as simple as driving up to a house with a for sale sign, knocking on the door, and handing the owner a check for the cost of the home.  Unless, of course, you have a few hundred thousand dollars in cash on hand. 

If you do happen to be one of the few who can pay for a home in cash, and you know exactly what you’re looking for, you could theoretically find and purchase a home in a week or two. 

But that’s hardly the norm. 

For most people, home buying is a multi-stage process, and the window of time each stage takes can be hard to predict.  Especially the initial stages. 

Searching, Hoping, and Saving 

Depending on how particular…

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There comes a time in most homeowners lives where you’re ready to sell your home.  Whether it’s your first house or your fifth, you reach a point when it’s time to move on.  Of course, selling your home isn’t quite as simple as sticking a sign in your front yard and waiting for the offers to come pouring in.

It’s a process that requires strategy and assistance, even before it’s on the market.  So if you’re looking to sell in the near future, here’s what you should do.

The Little Fixes

Obviously you’re not looking to do any major renovations on your home before you say goodbye to it, but some minor repairs can go a very long way in attracting buyers.  Choosing a home is as much an emotional decision as it is anything else.

A few too many holes,…

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Home buying involves a lot decision making.  Where do you want to live?  What’s your budget?  How many bathrooms do you need?  Some of the answers to those might alter as you get deeper into your search. 

But there’s one question that needs to be answered sooner rather than later: who’s going to be your real estate agent? 

Your realtor will be your means for home searching, touring, negotiating, and more.  They will be your house hunting partner, assisting you in navigation the market.  That’s why it’s so important to choose the right one. 

Do I Need a Real Estate Agent? 

Technically speaking, as long as it’s your property that’s being bought or sold, you don’t legally need a realtor.  But the world of home buying is…

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Buying a home is learning experience, especially for first time homebuyers. Because the learning curve is so steep when buyers first enter the real estate market, there are a lot mistakes that homebuyers often make.

Some are big and some are small, but all of them can prevent you from enjoying what should be an amazing experience. Sure, there is some stress that goes along with purchasing a home, but this should be a big step in your life that you enjoy taking.

So, don’t make it any worse on yourself by making these first-time homebuyer mistakes.

You’re Searching on Too Many Websites

The Internet is an amazing tool to use to search for a home, but buyers must beware of many of the real estate websites out there.

It’s not that they aren’t…

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Whether you are single, in a relationship or a part of a family, buying a new home is a big step. While you’re walking through any number of San Diego open houses, it’s easy to become so enamored by the process of buying a house that you may not think as clearly as you always should be.

Because of this, some people rush into buying a home that may not be the most perfect fit for themselves or their family. So, while you are out on the hunt, we encourage you to be mindful of your future by taking these questions into consideration before buying a house.

How Big Will Your Family Grow?

The size of your family, both current and in the future, is integral to the house that you are going to purchase.

One of the most important aspects to consider…

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One of the top concerns that first time homebuyers have is how much money they should put down on a new house. The number that always gets thrown out there is 20 percent, and even in the San Diego real estate market, that can be a lot of money for people to have to put down on a house.

Just to put the percentage into a real number, 20 percent of a house that costs 300,000 dollars equates to 60,000 dollars as a down payment. Even for a homebuyer who has a stable job and a good amount in savings, this kind of money is a huge investment that many people either cannot or are unwilling to make.

The Good News

The good news that many people don’t know is that you don’t have to put 20 percent down on a house (not even close). Most people can get a new…

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When looking for open houses in San Diego, how closely are you actually looking at the neighborhood as you drive through it? Most people don’t really know what to look for in a new neighborhood, so they tend to focus too much on the house and not its surroundings.

As real estate agents, we see this all the time. Our clients consistently name countless features that they want in a house, but they know very little of what they actually want in a neighborhood.

Know What You Can Change

One thing that all house seekers should know is that you can change a house (to a certain extent), but you can’t change the neighborhood. You can change the color of a room, redo bathrooms and kitchens and add other features down the line, but unless you plan on…

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At the end of every year, we always get a lot of questions about what we can expect from the San Diego real estate market in the coming year. It’s something that is not too hard to predict, and with a bit of research, you can always get a handle on what will happen with home prices, the market and more.

One of the best tools you can use to check on current home prices is the MLS San Diego. It keeps track of houses that are being sold all throughout the San Diego area. It won’t predict what home prices will be in the coming months, but that’s our job as the real estate experts.

And now that it's 2016, we have formulated some educated predictions as to what you can expect from San Diego real estate in 2016.

Fact: The Federal Reserve is Hiking…

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Even in a city known for its sunshine, there are bad San Diego real estate agents who cast a cloud over the entire industry. It’s a sad but true reality of any industry. Thankfully, there are some pretty telltale signs that you’ve stumbled upon a bad agent.

For Buyers

If you are on the hunt for a new house, whether it is your first or your next, it’s a great idea to enlist the aid of a real estate agent. They often know the areas well and can help you find exactly what you are looking for within your price range.

However, there are a few red flags that you should be looking for when working with a real estate agent.

Avoid the Push

If your real estate agent is pushing you towards a house in La Jolla when you are really a Pacific Beach kind…

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