Brian's lil' SCVRealEstate360 video sheds some light on why we love working in Bridgeport Valencia – helping people there buy and sell homes. It's by far one of the most fun communities to do real estate in, because as far as real estate goes in Santa Clarita, Bridgeport Valencia is one of a kind!

Enjoy this brief video Brian put together today, and be sure to contact us for any of your real estate needs in the Bridgeport Valencia area.

Could it be, that July 2010 is the right time to buy a home in the Santa Clarita real estate market? It's looking like it sure as heck couldn't possibly be bad timing! The main reason to go out on a limb like that is this: low interest rates + increasing home inventory + less homebuyer competition = great timing. Wouldn't you agree? Of course all that, in a market where home values have already come down a significant amount from their historic highs.

I believe homebuyers in Santa Clarita with FHA loans should especially heed this warning. In recent months, and over the last few years, you've run into some major competition when making offers, especially from buyers with conventional financing or all cash. Being in a multiple offer situation is by no means fun, when you think of the home you're making an offer on, as your dream home. You want to GET that home! So, it only stands to reason that if homebuying activity is decreasing, and interest rates are low as heck, and the choices of homes to browse through are increasing from their extreme lows (in the Santa Clarita real estate market), then, if you think you're close to being ready, and or ready now…I say it's time to pull the proverbial trigger!

Interested in buying a home in Santa Clarita, call us here at The Robert and Brian Team. We'd love to make your next real estate transaction, a successful one!

While you're contemplating all of this, watch our latest SCVRealEstate360 video (Episode 62) where Brian touches on much of what I noted above. Enjoy!

Have you checked out our YouTube channel for Santa Clarita real estate yet? Why not? We call it "SCV Real Estate 360." We have well over 50 episodes in the bag already, and we make more everyday. It's an awesome resource for the curious homebuyer, or the homeowner who is thinking about selling their home, and is looking for some tips.

Real estate is filled with personalities. We figured this was a way you could find out a bit more about ours. Afterall, until you buy a home, you don't fully comprehend what a huge financial decision it is. With that in mind, you want to most certainly want align yourself with someone you know has experience, insight you can benefit from, and most importantly, a person or team you can trust. Sometimes you get an entire team of Realtors working for you, like us @ The Robert and Brian Team.

Both Brian and I (Robert), have been born and raised in the Santa Clarita Valley. We know all of the ins and outs, and have a mountain of experience in real estate transactions here in Santa Clarita. We specialize in Santa Clarita to simplify things. We don't bother trying to help people all over Los Angeles County, or Southern California for that matter. Our clients shopping for, and trying to sell their real estate in Santa Clarita, appreciate that fact very much!

Learn more about us, gain from our insight, and relax, while you watch YouTube channel – SCV Real Estate 360. We add new videos every week, sometimes daily. It's just another resource we offer to you. Let us know if you have any real estate questions….perhaps we can answer them in a Q & A episode on our show.

Go to our Santa Clarita Real Estate YouTube Channel (SCV Real Estate 360)

Call us if we can be of any assistance to you in your next real estate transaction! Contact The Robert and Brian Team.

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Before making an offer on a Santa Clarita home that is within a Homeowners Association (HOA), there are a few things you should find out about the HOA's "health" so to speak, especially if you are financing your home with less than 20% down and will be occupying the residence.

Each lenders' guidelines are different, so check with yours…but often times if you are putting less than 20% down and will occupy the home, and or you are an investor who is financing the home, despite putting 20% down, or more….your lender will probably scrutinize and investigate the condo or homes HOA for several items.

Those items "tend" to be:

• Any litigation/lawsuits the HOA is involved in
• Current non-occupied owner ratio (ie. how many are rentals)
• Percentage of units or homes that have a delinquent HOA dues balance

Unfortunately, a lot of this information is not learned until the 2nd or 3rd week of escrow, once your lender receives a report back from the HOA. Sometimes the HOA's are backed up on these sorts of information requests, and they don't get them back to your lender in a timely fashion. Sometimes they are just lazy or understaffed too.

By the time your lender receives this information back from the HOA, it's very likely you have already spent about $300-500 on the physical home inspection, and about $400-$500 on the appraisal your lender had you pay upfront for. Now, wouldn't it be a pity to find out, from your lender, that once they reviewed the HOA's certification, they subsequently determined that lending on that community, with your type of loan is not an option!? That would be shitty horrible! Why? Well because of that money, time, and emotion already invested into making the transaction work.

While not all details are able to be learned upfront, prior to opening up an escrow…do your best, have your agent and lender do their best, to investigate some of the key questions that need to be answered about the HOA. This way you may be able to save a lot of money, by not entering into a real estate transaction in Santa Clarita that is doomed to fail.

Check out our SCV Real Estate 360 video that Brian put together on this subject…enjoy!

Grant money has been made available by the Southland Association of Realtors (SRAR), via the California Association of Realtors' Housing Affordability Fund. The grant, worth $4,000 to qualifying homebuyers has restrictions. It's specifically for Public Safety Responders, such as Police, Sheriffs, Highway Patrol, Firefighters, Paramedics, etc. In addition to that, the homebuyer must be a qualifying first-time homebuyer, purchasing in Santa Clarita, or the San Fernando Valley, they must use a member of SRAR to successfully purchase their home, and they must meet certain income limitations as well as participate in one of several programs.

Those programs and classes include:

• Walk-in homebuyer program (City of Los Angeles)
• American Dream Down Payment Initiative (ADDI) (City of Los Angeles)
• Low Income Purchase Assistance Program (LIPAP)(City of Los Angeles)
• Mortgage Credit Certificate Program (MCC)(City of Los Angeles & LA County)
• Housing Economic Recovery Ownership (HERO)
• Home Ownership Program (HOP) (Selected cities of Los Angeles)
• Southern California Home Financing Authority (SCHFA) (County of Los Angeles except city of Los Angeles)
• Employer Assistance Programs
• The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Developments (HUD) Good Neighbor Next Door Program

Applicant must attend the Los Angeles neighborhood Housing Services (LANHS) First-Time Homebuyer seminar and must prove the successful completion of the seminar with the certificate provided by LANHS.  

LINK: Full program details for Grant made available from Southland Regional Association of Realtors

LINK: $4,000 Grant Application

If you need help searching for a home in either Santa Clarita or the San Fernando Valley, please give us a call @ The Robert and Brian Team, 661-964-1760. We will be more than happy to help you.

SCV Real Estate 360 Episode regarding: Grant from Southland Association of Realtors

If you're a Santa Clarita first-time homebuyer that scrambled to get into escrow by April 30, 2010, and are currently struggling to close that escrow by June 30, 2010, in order to get your "up-to" $8,000 tax credit, you may be relieved to know that the Senate has just approved the extension of the June 30, 2010 deadline. Your escrow, once the house and senate reconcile and pass the same bill, will be able to close by September 30, 2010, and you will still get your $8,000 tax credit.

This is good news for all of the first-time homebuyers who are stuck in slow-going escrows that may not be able to close by the current deadline. Some of the escrows could be moving slow due to the many backed up lenders trying to fund all of the loans created by the avalanche of homebuyers who scrambled to buy a home (meaning be under contract and open escrow) by the April 30, 2010 deadline. Also, many of the homebuyers had no choice but to place offers, and open up escrows on short sales, since there are so many short sales in Santa Clarita, and the entire country for that matter. Short sales are notorious for being slow, and can take many months to close successfully.

The National Association of Realtors, along with Congress, didn't want to see upwards of 180,000 first-time homebuyers lose out on the Federal Tax Credit simply because a deadline passed. These homebuyers jumped through many hoops in order to find their home and successfully negotiate a home into escrow. That is no small feat, especially in low inventory, hot markets like Santa Clarita, where first-time homebuyers are the David, and the many Investors are the Goliath, with their generally larger and more attractive down payments.

For more information on the Senate's action, check out our SCVRealEstate360 Episode that we posted yesterday, here at SCREF, and keep checking back for more information on the finalization of this bill that Congress is trying to pass, which this deadline extension is a part of.

For those of you Santa Clarita first-time homebuyers who entered into escrow by April 30, 2010, in the hopes of receiving the Federal Tax Credit for first-time homebuyers, you may be happy to know that the June 30, 2010 deadline to close your escrow, may be extended.

This week an amendment was introduced in the Senate, as part of a tax extension bill. This amendment, which is being championed by Senators Harry Reid, Johnny Isakson, and Chris Dodd, could offer relief to many of the first-time homebuyers currently in an escrow on a Santa Clarita home. Many of those escrows may not close on-time, by the June 30, 2010 deadline, in order for the homebuyers to get their tax credit of up to $8,000. The proposed amendment will extend that deadline to September 30, 2010.

Many of the escrows that may have problems closing on-time, will usually be by no fault of the homebuyer. Many lenders, and lenders working on short sale approvals, are slow-going, backed up, and not enabling a speedy close for these particular homebuyers. The Federal government, and the National Association of Realtors understands this, thus, an extension to the June 30, 2010 deadline will likely be a reality. It's said that there will be no extra expense in enacting it, since no additional homebuyers will be allowed to get this tax credit due to the extension. The April 30, 2010 deadline to enter into an escrow will not be extended. This is just an extension to the date the qualifying escrow must close by.

Good luck homebuyers! We're rooting for you here at The Robert and Brian Team. We know you deserve this Federal Tax Credit…especially with how difficult it was to meet the April 30, 2010 deadline, in such a low inventory housing market like Santa Clarita.

UPDATE: SENATE APPROVES DEADLINE EXTENSION

We are going to start putting out a series of episodes via our SCVRealEstate360 Channel @ YouTube, where we will share with you Santa Clarita Short Sale Tips. These will be tips for both Santa Clarita homebuyers and sellers of short sales.

In this episode 54 of SCVRE360, I share with you today's top 3 Short Sale Tips for Santa Clarita homebuyers.

Check it out. And of course, feel free to contact us with any of your Santa Clarita short sale needs.

The inventory of homes for sale in Santa Clarita is increasing. It's increasing slowly, but it's increasing. A major contributing factor to the steady increase of homes for sale, is that the Federal Tax Credit to first-time homebuyers ended April 30, 2010. In addition to the homebuyer credit ending, Santa Clarita bank owned homes are in low supply. The fact that banks have not been foreclosing as quickly, therefore putting much less "great deals" onto the market, has possibly stalled some of the home purchases that may have taken place otherwise. Much of the inventory that is being listed are short sales and regular sales where the owner has equity in the home. Santa Clarita short sales tend to have a high days on market statistic because it's generally difficult to get the bank to approve the short sale quickly, and regular sales tend to not be discounted from the real market value, in contrast to many bank owned homes, or the perception that bank owned homes are discounted.

The increasing supply of homes is great for Santa Clarita homebuyers, in that it will give them more options when searching for a home. There is still a historically low inventory right now, as we are at about 900 homes for sale in Santa Clarita. But 900 Santa Clarita homes for sale, is much better than 600 or so homes for sale, which is where we were earlier in the year.

Listen is to this SCV Real Estate 360 episode #53, where Brian give you his take on the Santa Clarita inventory of homes for sale. He also touches on some of our listings that will be hitting the market over the next several weeks. Enjoy! 

We were really honored to receive the letter from Realty Executives International, letting us know that we were among the Top 100 agents in the world in their company. Realty Executives International has over 15,000 real estate associates in over 14 countries.

At The Robert and Brian Team we are proud to bring our innovative style and approach to real estate, here in the Santa Clarita Valley. It's our past clients, friends, and family, that have been there with us, through this growth spurt, in what has been a down real estate market for the last 5 years. We are lucky to have bucked the trend, and very proud that some hard work has paid off. Thank you Realty Executives International for the recognition, and thanks to all those who support our local Santa Clarita business.

Enjoy our SCVRealEstate360 episode 52: