Dear Readers,

For my real estate listings, updates and my weekly Radio Shows recordings, please visit my facebook page. It has the latest updates. Please click on the link below.  Thanks.

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Congrats to the Amarnath family on their lovely home in Union City!
Wishing them all the happiness, good health & success! 🎉 They moved from Michigan and it took them only 3 weeks to find a home..
Thank you for giving my the opportunity to serve you! I appreciate your trust and confidence! It was wonderful working with you!🙏🎉
Need a hard working REALTOR who will find your dream home and negotiate for you! Call me today at 510-501-1916

Ann Gupta REALTOR
www.anngupta.com

 

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I will like to share some tips that will help you sell your home faster and for more money.

• Price it right from the start. Pricing a home is an art. Work with your your agent on pricing your home. Your agent will do a comparative market analysis (CMA). She will show you comparables for your home and help your price the home right.

• Fix anything that is obviously broken. A cracked windowpane,  microwave, dishwasher, range, appliances, any broken light fixture.

• Check the flooring. Replace any bad flooring with engineered or laminate flooring  or carpeting as needed. Refinish the hardwood floors.

• Update the interior and exterior. Fresh paint, updated landscaping, new light fixtures are all easy and affordable ways to give your home a makeover.

• Clean and declutter. Remove knick knacks and excess furniture.  Make space. The fewer things in the home, the larger it will look.

• Hire a Cleaning service to do a deep cleaning, including washing the windows.

• Depersonalize. Experts suggest removing excessive personal items and family photos.  The focus of the buyer should be the home and its features.  It will make it easier for buyers to envision their family in the house.

• Enhance your home’s curb appeal. Could mean adding new sod, artificial grass, drought resistance plants. Planting flowers to add color. Trimming and pulling out weeds.  Check the door bell and  mailbox.

• Stage the home. In today’s market staging is very important. The home should be dressed up and look charming inviting to the buyers.  A staged home will sell for substantially more than a non-staged home. It’s true and I have experienced it.

• Make the property easy to show. The more flexible you are about visits, the more people will be able to see your home.

• Go away when the house is shown. Leaving the house also gives them the freedom to discuss its pros and cons honestly with the agent without worrying  about   offending  the seller. The agent can also show them around without any hesitation and have a conversation with clients.

When you buy a home, you want to know about it as much as possible. A buyer comes to know about the home through two things – inspections and disclosures. In my previous blog, I wrote about the inspections. Today I will like to discuss the importance of  disclosures.

As standard of care and business practice we use –  California Association of Realtor (CAR) disclosure forms. Seller needs to fill out these disclosure  forms at the time of selling.  These disclose important information about the home in sale. The purpose of disclosures is to communicate to the buyers about the home and about the sellers experience in the home.

When selling your home, your real estate agent will ask you to fill out various important forms.  About 40-50 pages of forms & documents like  Transfer Disclosure Statement form, Property questionnaire, Supplemental disclosure,  Lead Based Paint Disclosure, Megan’s law disclosure, and Market Conditions Advisory, Water heater  Carbon monoxide and smoke detector and many more. If it is a condominium complex,  we have Home Owner Association (HOA) disclosures. Natural Hazard Disclosure report.

Our state, California, has stringent disclosure requirements that protect the buyer. I have seen that in my past 19 years in business, the number and type of disclosures a seller needs to make, has grown substantially.

One of the main reasons for disclosures is to prevent lawsuits after the property has been sold. So lawmakers keep coming up with more and more disclosure requirements. It is very important for a Realtor to keep on top of these important  documents .

It is critical that the seller should use standard California Association of Realtor (CAR)  forms  and complete these forms as thoroughly and honestly as possible. The buyers should read the disclosures forms as thoroughly as possible. This will prevent headaches, assumptions,  surprises, and lawsuits later on.

I personally review these disclosures  with my buyers when we sit down to make an offer.  So folks make sure that you select an agent who understands the home selling and buying process completely. Who is knowledgeable about the disclosures and other paperwork . An agent who guides you, educates you,  and handholds you throughout the process. Who helps you make the right decisions!

In my last blog  I talked about the importance of checking the condition of the home before buying it. As a buyer, you want to make sure that the home you’re buying is in good condition and is on a firm foundation. You need to make sure that you are not buying a money pit.  Inspections and disclosures are two things that help you determine the condition of a home.  I will like to talk about inspections in more details.

A home is a quite a complicated structure. It has many systems. The key systems in a home are foundation, structure, roof, plumbing, drainage, electrical, heating and ventilation. A home also has many appliances like the water heater, stove, oven, dish washer. Then you can have additions like pool.  Before buying a home, you want to make sure that a good inspector inspects all these systems thoroughly.

Critical inspections are – home inspection, roof inspection, termite inspection, pool inspection, chimney inspection.

Home inspection costs about $500 depending on the size of the home. Roof inspection is about $100. Termite inspection is about $200 -250. Pool inspection is about $100-200. A Chimney inspection costs about $ 150-250. For a typical standard home, inspections cost about $1000  or more depending on the size of the home.

I hire competent inspectors who are certified and have done these inspection thousands of time. I have been working with some of them for almost 18 – 19 years. They are very thorough and stand by their work.

I strongly encourage my buyers to attend the home inspections. It helps them to know what they’re buying and become familiar with the home they are buying. I also make it a point to attend all inspections.

It is equally important for the seller to know the condition of their home. The seller should get the inspections done before putting their home in the market for sale. This helps the seller make any needed repairs before putting the home for sale.

Because, after the property goes in the market, some of these issues can be a big surprise and a deal breaker. The seller should have these inspection reports on hand for the buyers to see. This helps the buyer to be informed and to know the condition of the property before making an offer.  Also, if needed, the buyer can do re-inspections or any further inspections.

Make sure you work with an agent who will help you thoroughly inspect the home you are buying and handhold you through the process.

There are two key factors that determine the value of  a home: location and condition. There are other factors like the floor plan, upgrades,  size  etc. But all else being equal  the key factors are – Location and Condition.

When you buy a home, you need to make sure that it is in very good condition. It is critical that you check the condition of a home thoroughly before you buy it.

A good home will give you a lot of happiness and comfort. On the other hand If you buy a bad home,  it can cause you suffering and pain. You may end up spending a lot of money taking care of it.

The home may have  foundation problem, a bad roof leak,  or a lot of termite  damage. Or may be the home is in bad condition because the owner has not taken good care of it. So it is critical that we check the condition of the home before buying.

We find out about the condition of the home through inspections and disclosures. That is why inspections and disclosures at the time of purchase are very important.

By going through the inspection reports prepared by home inspectors and the disclosures prepared by the seller, you come to know the condition of home and you know what you are buying.

It is like buying a used car. You check the Carfax report to find out the history of the car. And you also get it inspected by a trusted mechanic to make sure it is in good condition. Same thing  with the house.

The disclosures prepared by the seller give you information in writing about the home. Whether there was any deaths in the home, any work done without permits, changes or damage… or other important information about the home.

Inspections tell you about the condition of the home.  Condition of the roof, drainage, foundation, electric work, plumbing, heating and ventilation, air conditioning, appliances safety issues.

Even in this tight market, I encourage my clients to take inspections and disclosures very seriously. I make sure that they are buying a home that is in great condition and that will serve them well for years to come.

Make sure that you have an agent will help you to fully investigate the condition of the home you’re buying.

Real estate is a great long-term investment.  Over the long-term, real estate prices and values tend to go up , especially, in a highly desirable area like the Bay Area.

Several of us have grown up in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai. We can see that how much the real estate prices have appreciated over past 10, 20, 30 years.

It provides tax benefit. The interest on the home mortgage is tax-deductible. So it provides a great tax break.

Equity – the money you pay up in rent is just gone. But mortgage payments let you build equity in the house.

Unlike rent, the mortgage payments do not change, especially if you have fixed-rate mortgage. With rent you have no control over your monthly payment, unless you live in a rent controlled area. A lot of people in Bay Area are having a tough time as the rents have gone up so much over the past few years.

Freedom – Your home is yours. You can do pretty much anything with it, especially, If you do not have HOA (Homeowner Association). Even with HOA, you can make any changes to the inside of your home. You can remodel. You can make upgrades. You cannot do that with the rental property.

Above all, remember home is where our sweetest memories are made. This is where the kids make connection to the friends, and you develop relationships with the neighbors, not so much with a rental.

Make sure you have an AGENT who is competent, honest, sincere and ethical.  Who has knowledge, experience and a  great reputation. Who will guide you and handhold you thru out the transaction. Not only will it save you money, stress and headaches. You will be much happier in the long run !!

In the last blog, I talked about the real estate agency and why a buyer should have his or her own buyer’s agent.