Buying A Home

Buying a home is an exciting and complex adventure. It can also be a very time-consuming and costly one if you’re not familiar with all aspects of the process, and don’t have all the best information and resources at hand. One of our specialties is representing the best interests of Orange County area buyers throughout the home buying process. Our comprehensive, high-quality services can save you time and money, as well as make the experience more enjoyable and less stressful.

If you’re like most people, buying a home is the biggest investment you will ever make. So whether you’re buying a starter home, your dream home or an investment property, why not take advantage of my experience as a local market expert for Orange County to make the most informed decisions you can, every step of the way!

See below to learn more about buying.

LEARN MORE ABOUT BUYING

What Every Buyer Needs To Know About Buying A Fixer Upper

Apr 17, 2014

Buying a fixer-upper upper can be a great idea. You get a home in a great area at an affordable price with the potential of getting twice what you paid for it in value once you’ve finished a couple repairs. This of course is a best case scenario, but it is achievable. However, there are lots of things to think about before you take the plunge and invest your time, money and personal energies into a fixer-upper. Let’s start with a simple pro and con list to help you decide if you should purchase a fixer-upper. Pros of Purchasing a Fixer-Upper: Get your dream home. All home buyers have a wish-list of things they want in a home – pool, granite kitchen counter tops, built in grill, location, bay window, etc. A sure way to get your perfect home is to put in the work and fulfill your own dream list. You might not be able to find the home you want within your price range that meets all of your wildest dreams, but you can find a home with the potential to do just that. Fixer-uppers are cheaper. Most home buyers purchase a fixer-upper because it’s a great deal financially. It’s in a great neighborhood, has more space or is just generally better than the other homes you’re able to afford.  Purchasing a fixer-upper is a great investment for a young couple or family because it allows you to save now on a down payment and monthly mortgage. A fixer-upper is an investment in your future because soon it will be the home you want with a higher resale... read more

The Psychology Of Moving – Tips For Helping Your Kids Cope

Apr 9, 2014

Moving is stressful—for everyone, regardless of the reason for the move. Moves due to job and financial loss, death or divorce, etc. may be even more stressful.  Moving for school age children means new social circles and friends and for some children that means new anxieties. Psychologists Shannon Mitsuko, MD and John Magee, PhD of the Carolinas Healthcare System say that children take many cues from parents. That’s why it’s important to understand what you as a parent can do to help your child readjust and cope with the stress of moving to a new home. Misuko and Magee say that it’s important to allow children to have their feelings rather than telling them how happy, sad or excited they are and then validate or affirm them during this time.  With that in mind here are 5 tips on how you can ease the transition to a new home with your kids and cope with this life change. 1. Know your child and play to their needs. Mitsuko and Magee say that knowing your child is key – there is no one size fits all advice. For example if you have an older child with an outgoing personality, you may want to have a going away party. However, that’s not the case for everyone.  According to Mitsuko and Magee hosting a going away party is a nice way to say “aloha”, it’s not goodbye.  But again, this is more of an adult way to handle transitions. They suggest that this may be a good approach if you have a teenager but for a school aged child it may just be too much... read more

4 Pitfalls Of Online Home Searches And How To Avoid Them

Apr 3, 2014

According to the National Association of Realtors, 90 percent of all home buyers start their real estate search online. What buyers don’t realize however are the various pitfalls they face when doing online searches and the opportunities they could be missing. There are four big mistakes you might be making when searching online. Most of these problems can be avoided simply by finding an experienced agent with the time and know-how to catch all the hard to find listings out there. So listen up, here are the top 4 pitfalls you face when doing online searches and how to avoid them. 1. Missing homes that have been mislabeled in the MLS All third party sites are fed data from Multiple Listing Services (MLS) but this data is only as good as the listing agent inputs it.  Many large cities are broken into MLS areas and agents can get the area totally wrong or may use a “catch all” area.  If you think you have figured out the area you want and are searching exclusively, you may be missing some homes that have been mislabeled or only very generally categorized. Even if you search by drawing the boundary on a map, just to catch everything, you may be missing the few misplaced homes.  These are not common, but they happen.  Agents sometimes even make mistakes about number of bedrooms or square feet, sometimes they leave the field blank and it could show as 0. How to fix it: Search several different ways yourself, eliminating the other criteria to make sure you haven’t missed any.  For instance realtors shouldn’t call a... read more