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The Perfect Home
Finding Your Home - The Wish List
Here’s a form to help you organize your thoughts about what would make a home perfect for you and your specific circumstances. It includes:
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“Wish list” of Home Features to help you rate the priorities of each for yourself
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List of House Types and Styles
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Community Type Choices
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Determine Maximum Desirable Distances to essential places you go regularly like work, school, hospital, shopping, etc.
This useful form is available as a downloadable PDF:
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Choosing A Neighborhood
Narrow your home search by identifying neighborhoods that are right for you. This helps keep your search focused and efficient. We can offer neighborhood information to guide you in your search.
When evaluating a neighborhood you should investigate local conditions. Depending on your own particular needs and tastes, some of the following factors may be more important considerations than others:
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Quality of schools
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Property values
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Traffic
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Crime rate
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Future construction
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Proximity to schools, employment, hospitals, shops, public transportation, prisons, freeways, airports, beaches, parks, stadiums and cultural centers such as museums and theaters
Neighborhood Search Strategies for Limited Budgets
If you’re a first time-buyer with limited financial resources, it's wise to buy a home that meets your primary needs in the best neighborhood that fits within your price range. You can maximize your home purchase location by incorporating some of the following strategies into your neighborhood search:
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Upcoming neighborhoods:
Look for communities that are likely to become “hot neighborhoods” in the coming years. They can often be discovered on the periphery of the most continuously desirable areas. Check for planned future development such as additional transit; new community services such as pools and theaters; and chain stores planning to move in. Look for a home in a good neighborhood that is a bit farther out of the city. If commuting is a concern, purchase a home that is close to public transportation.
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Neighborhood demand:
Look at the neighborhood demand by asking us whether multiple offers are being made in a particular area or whether the gap between the list price and sale price is decreasing and whether there is active community involvement. You can also drive around neighborhoods and see how many “sale pending” and “sold” signs there are in a particular area.
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Co-ownership:
Look into purchasing a condominium or co-op, rather than a house, in a desirable neighborhood. This way you still may be able to purchase in a prime area that you otherwise could not afford.
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How to Choose a Home
Here are some tips to help determine which house is best for you. Once you’ve settled on a couple of preferred neighborhoods for your home search, it’s time to pick out a few homes to view. Having a house features “wish list” keeps you focused on which features are most important to you.
When narrowing down your home search, consider the following:
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Know what types of home you want to buy
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Determine what age and condition house you want to buy
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Consider resale potential
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Use a features “wish list” to keep focused
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Use our home tour worksheet to keep organized
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Act decisively when you find the right home
Determine What Type of Home You Want to Buy
There are several forms of home ownership: single-family homes, multiple-family homes, condominiums and co-ops.
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Single-family homes:
One home per lot.
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Multiple-family homes:
Some buyers, particularly first-timers, start with multiple-family dwellings, so they’ll have rental income to help with their costs. Many mortgage plans, including VA and FHA loans, can be used for buildings with up to four units, if the buyer intends to occupy one of them.
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Condominiums:
With a condo, you own “from the plaster in.” You also own a certain percentage of the “common elements” -- staircases, sidewalks, roofs, etc. Monthly charges pay your share of taxes and insurance on those elements, as well as repairs and maintenance. A Home Owner’s Association (HOA) administers the development.
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Co-ops and TICs:
In both San Francisco and the East Bay, cooperative apartments and Tenants In Common are possibilities. With co-ops, you purchase shares in a corporation that owns the whole building, and you receive a lease to your own unit. A board of directors, comprised of owners and elected by owners, supervises the building management. Monthly charges include your share of an overall mortgage on the building. And with a TIC two or more people co-own a parcel of real estate without a “right of survivorship”.
Determine What Age And Condition House You Want To Buy
Weigh your needs, budget and personal tastes in deciding whether you want to buy a newly constructed home, an older home or a “fixer-upper” that requires some work.
Consider Resale Potential
As you look at homes, you may want to keep in mind these resale considerations.
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One-bedroom condos are more difficult to resell than two-bedroom condos.
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Two-bedroom/one-bath single houses generally have less appeal than houses with three or more bedrooms, and therefore have less appreciation potential.
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Homes with "curb appeal," i.e., well-maintained, attractive and with a charming appearance from the street, are the easiest to resell.
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The most expensive houses on the street or ones with anything unusual or unique are not suited for resale. The best investment potential is traditionally found in a less expensive, more moderately sized home.
Use a Features “Wish List” to Keep Focused
Use our Finding The Perfect Home features “wish list” to clarify which aspects of a home are most and least important. Just writing it down, and then using this “wish list” as a reference while you're looking will keep your house hunt focused and effective.
Use the Home Tour Worksheet to Keep Organized
While house hunting, it’s a good idea to make notes about what you see because viewing several houses at a time can be confusing. We have created a Home Tour Worksheet that you can print out right from our website and bring with you to open houses that will help you keep track of your search, organize your thoughts and record your impressions. This will help when you go back to compare all the properties you have viewed.
Act Decisively When You Find the Right Home
Before you begin the home buying process, resolve to act promptly when you do find the right house. Every REALTOR® has stories to tell about a couple who looked far and wide for their dream home, finally found it, and then said, “We always promised my Dad we’d sleep on it, so we’ll make an offer tomorrow.” Many times the story had a sad ending -- someone else came in that evening with an offer that was accepted.
Resolve that you will act decisively when you find the house that’s clearly right for you. This is particularly important after a long search or if the house is newly listed and/or under priced.
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Home Tour Notes
As you are looking at homes on a given day, your mind will convince you that you’ll remember the details of each home and the specific details you liked or disliked about each one…NOPE, trust me, not gonna’ happen. Save yourself the long, frustrating process of trying to extract from your brain which house had that fabulous backyard that was perfect for Rover! Instead, just print out one of these Home Tour Notes forms and take it in with you as you view each home. You will be so very happy you did!
Home Tour Notes:
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