If you have never purchased a home before, you may not yet recognize how crucial it is to acquire the services of a professional Fontana real estate agent.

Buying a home will probably be the most expensive purchase you ever make.  Therefore, you undoubtedly should consider enlisting the help of a REALTOR® who has experience, extensive knowledge of the area and integrity.

Benefits of using a professional Fontana real estate agent

Having your own buyer’s agent to walk you through the entire home buying process saves you a lot of time and stress, as well as money.

You decide:

• Size of home desired
• Style preferred
• Location
• Price range

That’s easy!  With this basic information, your agent begins the hard part: searching for the perfect home for you and successfully guiding you through the purchase process.

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You may just be targeting the wrong market. Young families, Gen-Xers and 30-somethings tend to want to move into a Fontana home with high technology: expensive items like home theatres or home automation. Older buyers, however, have a frugal mindset, are often on a fixed income, and have a different set of requirements for their potential Fontana  home.

Why would you want to market to older buyers? Several reasons, but the main reason is the size of this market, especially the size of the baby boomer generation.

The Population Reference Bureau reports that there were 76 million births during the 19 years covering the baby boomer generation.  A large percentage of these baby boomers, who are now between the ages of 46 and 64, are looking or soon will be looking for a home to live in during their retirement years.

What are they looking for? The National Association of Home Builders says this market wants practicality over technical advances:

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We, meaning the real estate industry, say, “It’s a buyer’s market!”  Buyers think that means that deals are available out in the big wide world of Fontana homes for sale. Although that’s true, it’s not the whole truth. The whole truth is that money pits, bad deals and half-hearted sellers still exist. Without careful consideration, you may not get the deal you expected.

If you’re in the market for one of the Fontana homes for sale, follow these tips to help you get a great deal:

1. Go back to school. In other words, do your homework. Yes, due to the buyer’s market, you have an advantage, but you still need to do your research.  Talk with a real estate agent who specializes in the area and look at the prices of homes sold within the past year. The main point of the research is to find out how much homes are actually selling for in the area in which you want to live, and to determine if you can afford to buy there.
2. Line up the home team. Be prepared to jump on a deal as soon as you find it. Get pre-approved for a mortgage. Gather your real estate agent, home inspector and insurance agent. By having this team of real estate professionals on hand, the transaction will be smoother and faster. Read the rest of this entry »

If you watch the Rancho Cucamonga real estate market, you probably know it’s finally showing a little bit of upswing, with national home sales going up by 2.4% in June.  While lower mortgage rates and more affordable home prices, along with an $8,000 tax credit for first time buyers, has made selling a home easier, you may still end up holding on to that house for quite awhile.  Instead of selling straight out, consider renting to own.

Called a “rent-to-own” or “lease-option,” these deals normally require paying around 5% of the overall purchase price in up-front fees.  In addition, buyers are usually required to pay extra rent each month.  This is a win-win situation for both the buyer and the seller.

For you as the seller, you have regular rent that goes into your pocket, either to pay down the mortgage you still have on your home or to go toward your new home.  In addition, you keep the property profitable as well as get it off the over-stuffed Rancho Cucamonga real estate market.

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People buy Corona foreclosures for a lot of reasons: to live in, as fixer-uppers, to flip and for investment purposes.  The current real estate market isn’t so hot for quickly selling foreclosures at a profit.  Instead, consider purchasing foreclosures and holding on to your investment until the market turns around.  In the meantime, earn money by renting the houses.

Here are 5 things to look for when buying Corona foreclosures to rent out:

1.  Most Corona foreclosures are nice homes that, for one reason or another, the sellers have had to let go.  With the variety of houses available, take your time and find a property that doesn’t require a lot of major renovations, unless, that is, you’re a handy man and enjoy fixing up homes.

2.  Figure out the costs of the potential rental property and then look at the average rent in the area.  If the rent would cover the costs and a little over, it’s a keeper.

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Not just Fontana real estate, either. Since the end of 2007, as the real estate market started to decline, new rules, regulations, mandates and more have come down the pipeline.

State Specific Laws

Take Michigan, for instance. Ranking sixth in the nation on the number of foreclosures, Michigan legislature enacted the “Lifeline Law.”  This law gives an extra 90 days for homeowners to work with banks to come up with solutions other than foreclosure.  California did the same, with the California Foreclosure Prevention Act.  In New York, judicial hearings are mandatory for both borrowers and lenders before foreclosure can go through.

Nationwide Laws

Other laws have been enacted throughout the United States, such as Congress lowering homeowners’ tax deductions.

Before 2009, if you used your Fontana real estate as a primary residence for at least two years out of the last five, you could keep up to $500,000 (married couples – $250,000 if single) in real estate gains on your tax return. That exemption is now pro-rated to the time you spent in the house, which could be quite substantially less than what your tax exemption would have been last year.

As well, new appraisal rules went into effect May 1, and, although they aren’t government rules, they do affect Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans. With the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) put into place, every lender that goes through Freddie or Fannie has to follow the HVCC to the letter. The HVCC stops mortgage brokers from having home appraisals done themselves. Instead, the home appraisals must be done by a third party appraisal management company in the same area as the home.

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