It’s that time of year again! Don’t forget to move your clocks back 1 hour on Saturday night for the autumn time change (fall back, spring forward) to daylight savings time. And, while you are at it, change the batteries in your smoke detectors (and carbon monoxide detectors, if they rely on batteries).

As always, if I can be of service to you in any way, please do not hesitate to let me know. It would be my privilege to assist with any of your real estate needs.

Early in my career, I had the pleasure of working with a wonderful young woman (let’s call her Ann) who was preparing to buy her first house in San Jose.  Ann was all of about 23 or 24 years old, but she had been saving since she was 16 or 17 years old. So much discipline!  This Silicon Valley native had a clear idea of what she wanted (a house in a good part of Santa Clara County), what she expected (a bigger place that probably would need some work) and her long term goals (get a house and rent bedrooms out to friends and relatives later).

Together, we got her into a 4 bedroom Blossom Valley house with lots of potential.  Ann rented the other 3 rooms out to friends and relatives.  She worked to save the money to buy the property and has labored to make it better over the years.  This was not an impulse buy at all – instead, it was part of a big plan she had since she was a teenager.  I did and do respect her so much: she had a very clear idea both of what she wanted, and what she needed to do to attain it.

How many of us can say the same or have so much discipline and planning?

I have a ton of respect for people who carefully save and plan.  At the other extreme, I worry tremendously about those who make spur of the moment, highly impulsive and seemingly unrealistic decisions.  When or if they ask me for advice, they don’t always like what I have to say, because as a friend or as their Realtor, I need to try to help them to make better decisions. (more…)

Are you interested in buying your first home?  Interest rates are very good and home prices have “rolled back” to about 2003 levels in many parts of Silicon Valley.  So if you’re earning a living and want to purchase a home, it’s time to work up a game plan.

Where do you begin? The foundation of home buying is good credit and a downpayment.  Do you know what your credit scores are? If not, there are many online sites where you can run this info at no cost or very low cost. Here’s one: AnnualCreditReport.com.  There are three credit scoring bodies: Equifax, TransUnion and Experian.  Some of the “free” sites aren’t really free – so check the small print.

Often there are small errors on your credit report (such as an old bill which you did eventually pay but is showing as due or delinquent), but you can write to the agency with whatever is amiss and provide documentation to clear it up.  This can take time, though, so you want to start this process when you are not in a hurry. 

If your credit is not stellar, do some research before deciding how to fix it.  Some people mistakenly think that they should close all of their credit cards, and in fact this might not help, but rather hurt, your credit.  Inactivity on some of yourcards may also be counterproductive to your scores. And, of course, if you are over your limits, you definitely want to pay those bills down both to get a lower interest rate and to improve your credit scores.

Downpayment

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