If you’re in the process of buying a home in Santa Clarita, or are about to embark on your home search soon, take a moment to read this, in the event you are considering homes with older roofs that have wear and tear issues.

Roofing problems can be expensive. That expense however, doesn’t necessarily have to fall on your shoulders, when buying the right home, and when you have a Realtor negotiating effectively, on your behalf.

Once you’re in escrow, and you learn about roofing repairs that are necessary, you may find yourself considering backing out of the deal, due to the fear expenses piling up. Your home inspector, may recommend that you seek the opinion of a licensed roofing contractor. We think that’s a smart idea to do, generally. Once repairs are specifically identified by the roofing contractor, you will have a more clear picture as to the price tag.

Ask about a roof certification

Did you know that many roofing contractors offer a roof certification? Each certification can have different terms. Essentially a certification will warranty the roof free from leaks and the such, for a set period of time – often 2 years. The roofing contractor will issue an estimate for the roof certification. If agreed to, they will perform necessary repairs, and then issue the certification. If a leak occurs during the certification time frame, and it was caused by normal wear and tear, most contractors will fix that at little to no cost to you.

This can give you much needed piece of mind, when buying a home with roofing issues, an older roof, or simply an older home.

Make sure you ask your agent about having the seller pay for the roof certification. Have them negotiate this for you, during your inspection contingency time frame.

Watch our SCV Real Estate 360 video below, as Robert elaborates a bit more on this topic of roof issues, and your Santa Clarita home purchase.

Need a Santa Clarita real estate agent to guide you through the homebuying process, and strongly negotiate on your behalf? Then please consider calling us here at The Robert and Brian Team. It’s what we do best.

Ever wonder to yourself, maybe you should sell your Santa Clarita home by owner? You know – For Sale By Owner? Save money on closing costs by doing so, such as commissions, and take home more money, at the end of escrow?

Sounds great, but did you know that people who try to sell their home by owner, typically net anywhere from 15-30% less in sales price, than they would, if they had hired a real estate agent! While there are obviously success stories when selling by owner, it’s just not typical. Most people who attempt to sell by owner, often call an audible halfway through the nightmare, and end up hiring a real estate agent due to the lack of progress or success.

To even think, that you might net anywhere from 15-30% less in final sales price, than a real estate agent could, should send shivers down your spine, unless your the brave type. Your home is most likely your biggest asset, and if that’s the case, why gamble? Why risk that much money? Real estate commissions are totally worth the price, when it means being able to sell your home for full market value, or even, selling it at all!

Listen in to our latest episode of SCV Real Estate 360, and take note of why you may want to reconsider selling your Santa Clarita home by owner. Also, we tell you the two biggest reasons why you’d likely net a loss less in sales price than a real estate agent could for you. Our advice: call a Santa Clarita Realtor to get the job done! While we think the decision to sell your home is a huge one, and all avenues should be explored, it’s always best to first discuss the sale with a Santa Clarita real estate agent. Simply talking to an SCV real estate agent is FREE, the advice you might receive, is also – priceless!

Enjoy – SCVRE360 – Selling Your Santa Clarita Home By Owner

We just launched our new Santa Clarita home search website, that’s mobile! Use it from your iPhone, your Droid, or whatever…just use it! It’s full of awesome, and we think you will like it. Don’t forget to turn on your phone’s GPS and get good use of searching for homes, with the mobile site’s GPS feature. There’s nothing like finding out all the information you need about homes around you, with the touch of a button. Don’t you just love real estate technology?

Today we were checking out our newest listing in the Crown Villas community, located in Stevenson Ranch, and we thought we’d take you along.

This Crown Villas community, unlike its sister community to the south, is gated. Located off of Stafford Canyon Rd, the views and landscape at Crown Villas is amazing. Our listing, has an equally impressive location. In the SCVRealEstate360 video found below, Brian shares with you details about the community, and the floor plan we listed, which is the 1,667 sq ft 3 bedroom 2.5 bath townhome. Amazing architecture as far as Santa Clarita Valley condo living goes, and ample space, make this a crowd favorite among Santa Clarita home buyers.

Interested in what Crown Villas in Stevenson Ranch has to offer? Check out the video below.

Interested in what’s currently for sale at Crown Villas in Stevenson Ranch? Check out the listings below. Also if you’re looking to search all Stevenson Ranch condos and homes, click here.

Showing properties 1 - 2 of 2. See more Crown Villas (crnv) (crown Villas (crnv)) tract real estate.
(all data current as of 5/22/2012)

1. $198,400 : 25564 Hemingway Avenue #H, Stevenson Ranch
   
   2 beds, 2 full baths

   Home size: 1,110 sq ft

   Lot size: 20,971 sqft

   Year built: 1992

   Parking spots: 3

   Days on market: 77
2. $179,888 : 25951 Stafford Canyon Road #H, Stevenson Ranch
   
   2 beds, 2 full baths

   Home size: 1,112 sq ft

   Lot size: 38,774 sqft

   Year built: 1991

   Parking spots: 1

   Days on market: 123

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.

Today we were checking out one of our newest listings in the Mariposa Townhomes community, located in the Plum Canyon area of Saugus.

The model that we listed, is the 1,710 sq ft 3 bedrooms 2.5 bathroom. By far, one of our favorite models, of the 7 available at Mariposa.

Interested to see what Brian thinks of this home and specific Model at Mariposa? Then please watch, and listen as he goes in detail, about all that it has to offer, and how it’s different from other townhome products out there in the Santa Clarita Valley. Don’t forget to call us if you need help with your search for either a Mariposa Townhome, or any other condo communities in the Santa Clarita Valley… 661-964-1760.

Enjoy!

Thanks to Keith Renno at The Renno Team of Pacific Funding Mortgage, for hanging out with me today on the ScvRealEstate360 show. Today we discussed the most popular and currently relevant questions that homebuyers and borrowers, are asking about mortgages.

Interest Rates? Down Payment Assistance? What’s the difference between Conventional and FHA loan programs?

When searching for a home to purchase in Santa Clarita, give the Renno Team a call to discuss their rates and programs. They are serious home loan pros, and have got the job done for so many of our clients. Keith is a wealth of home loan knowledge, so take take a moment, watch, and listen to what he has to say about the most popular mortgage questions that Santa Clarita homebuyers are asking him.

SCV Real Estate 360 – Popular SCV Mortgage Questions

SCV Real Estate 360 YouTube channel screenshot

And growing every week! Our collection of videos for Santa Clarita real estate just hit 100! We have our own YouTube channel (who doesn’t?) that we post them to. It’s called SCV Real Estate 360. We cover all topics on the SCVRE360 show, and sometimes we’re just touring you through our homes for sale. It’s cool, it’s diverse, and truth be told, we can be pretty lame, but in an entertaining kind of way. Why don’t you check it out? Click here.

When we set out to start our videos, we weren’t too sure what we were doing. In fact, I can remember doing one of our very first episodes from the webcam of a crappy laptop, and ended up doing about 50 retakes – rookies. Now, we’re a bit more comfortable putting our ugly mugs on the YouTube, and out there for all to see. Me, I’m pretty much of the mind – who cares. It makes us more real, and puts us out there. If it makes you like us even more, and want to work with us that much more, awesome. If it causes you to not want to do business with us, fine. Let the chips fall where they may. I can tell you however, we’ve mostly received positive feedback from our customers. We’re always hearing, “Oh I just watched you on YouTube!” Or, “You guys are so funny.” Apparently our videos can sometimes be amusing. I love hearing any feedback. Good, or bad. And we hope that the episodes we put out there, bring you as a homebuyer, future homebuyer, seller, homeowner, or whatever, some value.

This day and age, the internet is bringing about transparency, and unprecedented heaps of information, not previously available to the general public.

This is our way, as Realtors in Santa Clarita, to reach out to you, in ways that most Realtors haven’t done before with any consistency or substance. While I don’t claim that all our shows are substantive, in fact, some of them are just plain stupid, we are bringing to the table some insight into the real estate market, and into our day to day operations. Any information, as far as I’m concerned is better than no information. That said, it is your job to sift through it all. And we are definitely creating a record to be sifted through!

In the future, when setting out to buy a home, or sell, check us out over at SCV Real Estate 360, or at our main hub – TheScvAgents.com.

If you have time on your hands right now, below are 5 videos from our collection….enjoy!

Sabor Cocina Mexicana

And the picks are in! Here are our favorite Santa Clarita restaurants. There’s so many restaurants to choose from in the Santa Clarita Valley. We just wanted to note which restaurants and eateries that we frequent the most and get the most value from. There are great places to eat in the SCV that we didn’t mention, and I’m sure a few of you Foodies out there have some strong opinions about this. So excuse our simple, yet, in my opinion, delicious list.

Let’s end the suspense. What SCV eateries do Robert and Brian eat at the most, and get hunger pains for?

Here you go:

Recap with linked to Yelp rewiews:

Robert’s Favs

- Las Rocas Bar & Grill in Castaic
- The Lazy Dog Cafe in Valencia
- Sam’s Flaming Grill in Saugus/Canyon Country
- Marias Italian-American Deli in Newhall
- Whole Foods Market in Valencia

Brian’s Favs

- Piccola Trattoria in Canyon Country
- Chronic Tacos in Saugus
- Kisho Japanese Restaurant in Valencia
- Sabor Cocina Mexicana in Valencia
- Panera Bread in Valencia/Canyon Country

Tell us, what are your favorite restaurants and eateries in the Santa Clarita Valley? If we’re not talking about real estate, we’re probably talking food. So, let’s continue that conversation here, if you’d like.

Check out this tour of our Canyon Park Village Condo listing in Canyon Country. This condo has been largely remodeled. new paint, flooring, refinished cabinetry, granite counters in kitchen, granite in bathrooms, new stainless steel appliances, and the list goes on!

This condo is a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom, and is listed well under $170,000! It’s a steal, and turn key.

Sorry, audio is a bit low in video due to it being vacant/echo-e. Enjoy!

Interested in other Canyon Country condos currently for sale? Well, have a look below! The most up-to-date list of recent condo listings in Canyon Country that there is. Enjoy!

Showing properties 1 - 15 of 81. See more city of Canyon Country real estate.
(all data current as of 5/22/2012)

1. $99,000 : 27949 Tyler Lane #348, Canyon Country
   
   2 beds, 2 full baths

   Home size: 848 sq ft

   Lot size: 26,753 sqft
2. $105,000 : 27919 Sarabande Lane #422, Canyon Country
   
   3 beds, 1 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 934 sq ft

   Lot size: 2.47 ac
3. $199,000 : 17989 Lost Canyon Road #134, Canyon Country
   
   3 beds, 2 full baths

   Home size: 1,339 sq ft

   Lot size: 1.49 ac
4. $128,000 : 26770 Claudette Street #411, Canyon Country
   
   3 beds, 2 full baths

   Home size: 1,007 sq ft
5. $167,500 : 27612 Nugget Drive #6, Canyon Country
   
   3 beds, 1 full, 2 part baths

   Home size: 1,268 sq ft

   Lot size: 2.29 ac
6. $95,000 : 18756 Mandan Street #1516, Canyon Country
   
   2 beds, 2 full baths

   Home size: 850 sq ft

   Lot size: 4.19 ac
7. $130,000 : 20305 Rue Crevier #586, Canyon Country
   
   2 beds, 2 full baths

   Home size: 1,007 sq ft

   Lot size: 10.59 ac
8. $125,000 : 26834 Claudette Street #219, Canyon Country
   
   2 beds, 1 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 964 sq ft

   Lot size: 12.23 ac
9. $190,000 : 18018 Flynn Drive #5802, Canyon Country
   
   3 beds, 3 full baths

   Home size: 1,445 sq ft

   Lot size: 2.23 ac
10. $130,000 : 18193 Sundowner Way #823, Canyon Country
    
    3 beds, 2 full baths

    Home size: 946 sq ft

    Lot size: 1.90 ac
11. $109,500 : 18033 Sundowner Way #636, Canyon Country
    
    3 beds, 2 full baths

    Home size: 934 sq ft

    Lot size: 3.83 ac
12. $149,900 : 27612 Nugget Drive #2, Canyon Country
    
    2 beds, 1 full, 2 part baths

    Home size: 1,127 sq ft

    Lot size: 2.29 ac
13. $323,700 : 18612 Hilton Court, Canyon Country
    
    3 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

    Home size: 2,015 sq ft

    Lot size: 1.32 ac
14. $255,900 : 15815 Cindy Court, Canyon Country
    
    3 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

    Home size: 1,610 sq ft

    Lot size: 9.00 ac
15. $234,950 : 28912 Rue Daniel, Canyon Country
    
    4 beds, 3 full baths

    Home size: 2,103 sq ft

    Lot size: 7.70 ac

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.

Use your iPhone, Droid, Blackberry, or any Smart Phone to search for homes! Our app uses the GPS from your phone, to search and locate homes for sale in the Santa Clarita Valley. It will also find homes for sale in many other parts of the country!

Imagine driving through a neighborhood that interests you. Imagine. Just for a moment. You take your iPhone out. Click – Map Closest Homes – then, like magic, all homes around your exact position, populate on a map. From there you can view all details about these homes, photos, and even comparable sales to get an idea about what the neighborhood market values are. Pure real estate tech heaven (thanks to Smarter Agent for assisting us with the app).

We’re making it easier to find homes for sale, and the overall experience better, for homebuyers. This app, is just one of those tools that enables us to do that.

Watch our promo video, and the lovely Rachael Rini, as she tours you through it all. Want to download it? Just Text: SCVHOME to 87778. As always, call on us here at The Robert & Brian Team for all of your Santa Clarita Real Estate needs.

Enjoy!