Santa Clarita Real Estate Forum

santaclaritarealestateforum May 26th, 2008

Santa Clarita Home Seller Tip

Originally uploaded by The Scv Agents

Invest in some light bulbs! We see so many homes for sale, every week, that are flat out missing the basics. Sometimes it’s the little things that add up on the buyer’s list, of why not to buy your home. Don’t let poor lighting on a dark and cloudy day, ruin your next home sale.

Simply take 15 minutes out of your weekend, check all of the chandelier’s, and replace the old bulbs, with the new. Such basic advice….but you’d be amazed at how many sellers are indeed, missing the basics.

Robert Mickalson
Realtor
Vintage Sothebys Int’l Realty
cell 661-373-2374
office 661-219-2260

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santaclaritarealestateforum January 29th, 2008

Tip Of The Day:

If you’re like many Santa Clarita homebuyers, you sift through the various real estate websites, and try to decipher which homes represent the best deals, as part of your process of elimination when trying to find the right home.

As a local Santa Clarita Realtor, I sift through our Santa Clarita MLS every single day, literally looking at each and every NEW listing that hits the market, each price change, and each home that falls out of escrow and becomes available again for sale. This information changes every minute, of every day, and I do track this information hourly in order to notify my clients and website visitors of the best home buying opportunities. Just about every day, I post these hot Santa Clarita real estate deals to my Santa Clarita real estate website www.TheScvAgent.com.

You should check it out! Follow this link… Robert’s Deals Of The Day, and bookmark that page. Who knows, it just may save you THOUSANDS of dollars when buying your next home.

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santaclaritarealestateforum December 16th, 2007

TIP OF THE DAY: Know your closing costs upfront

For those of you pondering a sale of your home, in Santa Clarita, you may be wondering what type of closing costs are associated with the sale.

While this won’t be a perfect example, as all closing cost scenarios vary, some marginally, some greatly, I thought it would be nice to give you an example of some of the costs involved with selling.

Here is an estimate, received from my trusted escrow provider. This example is of an inexpensive condo, so many of the fees are quite small, however, you will likely have very similar types of fees in your next sale, it’s just the amount that may very greatly, as do many of the fees based on when your escrow will close (proration variances etc). This doesn’t show a mortgage pay off though - some people are lucky! You can probably expect to see one on yours if you’re like most people.

Call me @ 661-373-2374 if I can be of any assistance to you, in figuring out closing costs on your next Santa Clarita home sale, or purchase. The Santa Clarita real estate market can be tricky to navigate and realize success in. You are best served by having someone on your side who will give you the personal attention when setting out to partake in a large financial transaction.

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santaclaritarealestateforum November 24th, 2007

TIP OF THE DAY TO YAH!

A neat tool arrived last month in the form of CLTA Title Wizard! This new website, is provided by CLTA, the California Land Title Association, which is a non-profit corporation that represents member title companies throughout the state of California. The CLTA Title Wizard’s (which was designed by ClosingCorp, a La Jolla, Ca based information technology company) primary goal is to promote price competitiveness in the title insurance industry.

From this handy website, one can simply select which area they will be either selling, or buying a home, then choose whether or not they are the buyer, or seller, and wallah - a quote from a long list of insurance title companies is born! No need to register, no need to divulge email address, no need to worry about call backs from anyone. This is just a straight forward tool for you to utilize when buying or selling your next home, and make sure that you are getting the best deal possible, with respect to one of the major closing costs for both parties - Title Insurance.

While it is customary for the owner to pay for the Owner’s Title Insurance policy in a Santa Clarita home purchase, and in many other metro areas, it’s a RESPA violation for the buyer to be forced to use the seller’s preferred company. With that said, it has been documented that there wouldn’t be any enforcement of this law (The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), 12 USC § 2608), assuming the owner (as is customary) is the one paying for the Owners Insurance Title Policy. If you are a buyer, with a loan, as most are, you’ll have what’s called the Lenders Title Insurance Policy, as a standard closing cost. From the CLTA Title Wizard, you can figure out what that policy should cost you, by retrieving a quote from the various companies part of CLTA, with services in your area of California. It’s fairly standard, for the company issuing the Owners Title Insurance Policy to also issue the Lenders Title Insurance Policy. The CLTA Title Wizard bases it’s quotes off of that scenario. Like the Owners Title Insurance Policy, the seller can’t force the buyer to use the same provider for the Lenders Title Insurance Policy that the buyer customarily pays for as a portion of their closing costs. But be on notice, the premium will likely be higher if the Title Insurance company in the transaction issuing Lenders Title Insurance, is not also the company issuing the Owners Title Insurance Policy - which the seller customarily pays for in his/her closing costs.

About: Owners Title Insurance Policy

About: Lenders Title Insurance Policy

Here are two scenarios pulled from CLTA Title Wizard for a Santa Clarita home purchase & sale, in the Valencia 91355 zip code:

Owners Title Insurance Policy:

• $500,000 sale price (owner hasn’t purchased or refinanced home in last 5 years, residential, single family home):
  • United General Title - $1811.70
  • LandAmerica Southland Title - $1853.00
  • Provident Title Co - $1307.00
  • Orange Coast Title Co of LA - $1386.00
  • Placer Title Co - $1954.00
  • Equity Title Co - $1853.00
  • Ticor Title Co of CA - $1826.00
  • Chicago Title Co - $1826.00
  • Stewart Title Guaranty Co - $1898.60
  • LandSafe Title of CA - $1898.60
  • LandAmerica Commonwealth - $1853.00
  • LandAmerica Lawyers Title - $1853.00
  • Security Union - $1729.20
  • North American Title - $1744.00
  • Western Resources Title - $1386.00
  • Fidelity National Title - $1826.00
  • American Coast Title - $1898.60
  • California Title Co - $1386.00
  • First American Title Co - $1386.00
  • LandAmerica United Title - $1695.00
  • LandAmerica gateway Title - $1853.00
  • Orange Coast Title Co - $1386.00
  • Old Republic - $1307.00
  • Stewart Title of CA, Inc. - $1898.60

   Lenders Title Insurance Policy:

  • $500,000 purchase price (residential, single family home, no money down):
    • Equity Title Co - $674.00
    • United General Title - $626.45
    • Chicago Title Co - $635.00
    • LandAmerica Gateway Title - $674.00
    • North American Title Ins Co - $655.00
    • Placer Title Co - $679.58
    • Stewart Title of CA - $679.58
    • Ticor Title Co - $635.00
    • California Title Co - $592.00
    • LandAmerica Lawyers Title - $674.00
    • LandAmerica Southland Title - $674.00
    • Orange Coast Title Co of LA - $592.00
    • Security Union - $596.60
    • American Coast Title - $679.58
    • First American Title Co - $592.00
    • Western Resources Title - $592.00
    • LandSafe Title of CA - $679.58
    • LandAmerica Commonwealth - $674.00
    • Stewart Title Guaranty Co - $679.58
    • Old Republic - $640.00
    • Fidelity National Title - $635.00
    • Provident Title Co - $640.00
    • LandAmerica United Title - $609.00
    • Orange Coast Title Co- $592.00
    • Commerce Title - $610.00

  A few thoughts! First, LandAmerica needs to consolidate! Second, don’t ever let your agent tell you all Title Insurance companies charge the same. It’s evident that they don’t. And with money being tight these days, if it’s at all possible, try and save some money on your closing costs by going with better priced closing vendors, however, make sure you are working with a reputable company too.

  The winner(s) above: Seems to be either First American, and or, Orange Coast Title Co. Both charged lower fees compared to most others with respect to both types of Title Insurance coverages. Both companies also have a good reputation in the Santa Clarita Valley, so far as I know from my first-hand experiences.

  Let the CLTA Title Wizard empower you that much more, in your next Santa Clarita real estate transaction.

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santaclaritarealestateforum November 8th, 2007

I am posting this as a Tip Of The Day, for the obvious!

As a follow up to my post earlier today, I ended up going to the $10k giveaway lunch, hosted by Realty Executives of Valencia. The odds ended up improving once we got there, as we learned there would be only about 26 agents in the drawing, unusually low, as opposed to somewhere in the low 30’s. I ended up being one of the last two names called in this reverse drawing, and the two of us (another agent who was also last to be called) decided to split the drawing grand prize so we would each be assured to win "something". However, they didn’t let us split it 50/50. One person had to win more, so we did 60/40, and agreed to that. My card was the first of the last two to be drawn, so I ended up winning the 40% share.

Proof Positive!

So, I guess the lesson learned from this, will have to be, positive thinking not only works, but can make you that much richer!!!!!

If you can’t see my earlier post, here is a link to my Positive Affirmation that I put out into the world! http://santaclaritarealestateforum.com/tag/Realty_Executives_10k_drawing

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santaclaritarealestateforum October 17th, 2007

I wanted to share with you future home buyers out there a bit of insight, okay, a “Tip Of The Day”.

If you are planning on making an offer to purchase a home, to include a credit from the seller for closing costs, make sure you understand if that credit is going to cover your recurring closing costs as well, and items that must be prepaid due to the date you are closing, such as taxes, insurance, HOA pro-rates, etc.

While your Realtor may very well provide you with an estimated picture as to how much your closing costs will be, they may not be taking into consideration, or going down the path of estimating your recurring closing costs. The reason why that amount is often left alone, is because it can very so much based on different factors (ie. when the escrow will actually close).

My suggestion is to make sure to tally up an estimate for both closing costs and recurring closing costs prior to making an offer. To do this, get together with your lender and ask for an estimated HUD1, tell them how much the property is, how much you are putting down, determine a loan product, and estimate the most likely closing date. He or she should easily be able to tell you how much your entire closing costs will be to include non-recurring and recurring closing costs. If you feel you can strike a deal with both types of closing costs being paid by the seller, the go for it! Otherwise if you can only get your regular non-recurring closing costs covered, you will have to come out of pocket on certain prepaid prorates for items such as interest, property taxes, HOA fees, etc.

You should be working with a Realtor who can give you an “estimate” of these costs. But the lender should be the one to give you the superseding estimate that you are going off of since the lender and you will deterime a large portion of your closing costs, such as any points paid in order to lower your interest rate.

An excellent resource for examples on closing costs, is a Realtor colleague of mine out in Arizona. His website has an excellent web page devoted to this subject. Take a look, and get an idea what an Estimated/Final HUD1 closing cost statement looks like.  

Remember…when buying or selling Santa Clarita real estate, call me 1st.

Robert Mickalson, Realtor

Vintage Sotheby’s International Realty

661.219.2260 or 661.373.2374

Search the Santa Clarita MLS like a pro @ www.TheScvAgent.com

Search the UP-To-Date Santa Clarita Tract Directory! Go to www.TractDirectory.com

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santaclaritarealestateforum October 16th, 2007

For you Santa Clarita home buyers out there, those of you that are a part of the 80+% of people who search the Internet for homes prior to buying one, I want to make sure you never, ever, ever, do a search like this:

City: Los Angeles

Bedrooms: 4+

Price: 699,999 - (minus)

Whats wrong with this picture above and why?

Well, there is nothing wrong with the city part, except for the fact its to broad of a city search (not the point), and there is nothing wrong with the bedroom specification. So that leaves us with the price!

If you are a serious home buyer, in market where its a “buyer’s market”, you do not want to end a search with _99,999!

YOU CAN GET A DEAL ON A MORE EXPENSIVE HOUSE! For numerous reasons, and many that don’t make too much sense, a lot of sellers insist on listing their home at price levels just above a number like _99,999. For instance, we will see sellers list their price at $508,900. Or $911,900. While they may think they are being creative with their price, what they don’t realize is that there are just too many buyers who do an MLS search such as _99,999 - and will never find their home for sale even though they are “so” close to their list price. Sure some will find it, so the seller is not completely out, but it can limit traffic for that seller, and potential deals for the buyers.

So the tip of the day is, consider more expensive property, increase that MLS search price above _99,999 a bit…because you might find one listed “higher” and be able to get a bigger better house when you negotiate it back down to a price right for you!

This tip is two-fold I guess: Sellers! Don’t price just above _99,999 unless your home is a STEAL at whatever price you are at.

Get started now on your Santa Clarita MLS search!

Remember…when buying or selling Santa Clarita real estate, call me 1st.

Robert Mickalson, Realtor

Vintage Sotheby’s International Realty

661.219.2260 or 661.373.2374

Search the Santa Clarita MLS like a pro @ www.TheScvAgent.com

Search the UP-To-Date Santa Clarita Tract Directory! Go to www.TractDirectory.com

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santaclaritarealestateforum October 11th, 2007

Eyeing a particular Santa Clarita home for sale? Maybe two?

I work with a lot of Santa Clarita home buyers. Not one has ever asked me this, “Hey Robert, would you mind providing me a Property Profile report on the home at _ _ _ Street?” Why not! This report is jam-packed with information, and I provide it FOR FREE. Have email? I can send it there by way of a special link. Have a fax? I can send it there too. And if I must, I can even mail it to you.

Bottom line, this tool, called the Property Profile report is a must have for every single person buying a home. Why is it important to have? You will find the following: comparable home sale data, tax assessor records, nearby neighbor’s names, the owner’s names, their current mortgage information if any (great to help determine if they have equity or not), past sale transaction on the subject property, and tons of demographic information that is PERFECT for someone new to the Santa Clarita Valley, and are purchasing there first Santa Clarita home. I am not restricted in pulling reports only for Santa Clarita homes. If you are relocating out of the area, just let me know which homes you are scoping out, I would just need the address, city, county, state…and just as I would send you a Santa Clarita Property Profile, I can send you one for a home in Anytown, USA!

I would love for once, for one of my buyers to ask for this report. But until then, I will keep offering it to them, to make sure they have all the best information in their hands.

Please, even if you are not a current client of mine, but are thinking of jumping into the Santa Clarita real estate market, and have your eye on a property or two…give me a call, send me an email, let me know which homes you are interested in, and I will be more than happy to send you your very own Property Profile report for any Santa Clarita homes. I have access to every single one thanks to a few of my Title Insurance representatives!

Don’t feel like contacting me, and want to download your own Property Profile report? Click here.

Remember…when buying or selling Santa Clarita real estate, call me 1st.

Robert Mickalson, Realtor

Vintage Sotheby’s International Realty

661.219.2260 or 661.373.2374

Search the Santa Clarita MLS like a pro @ www.TheScvAgent.com

Search the UP-To-Date Santa Clarita Tract Directory! Go to www.TractDirectory.com

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