buying a home: Why is Drainage Important to Your Home, Sally Dunbar's Monday Minute
- 01/27/17 12:22 PM
Sacramento has been in a drought the past few years, but this year the flood gates have opened up. Yes, WAY above average, finally. I always point out the possible drainage issues a home may face that are apparent when I show a home. A few years ago, a Buyer's daughter asked me to stop because "It will obviously never rain again". That so??? But I admit it is hard to think about the effects of rain when you are shopping n shorts and 110 degrees!
Here is why you don't want drainage issues. Dry rot is a fungus that grows on … (5 comments)
buying a home: What Happens After My Offer Has Been Accepted?
- 01/04/15 03:37 AM
The Seller just signed your offer. WooHoo! Time for the happy dance and a big high five! You are one step closer to weekend honey-do lists! But what now? First, escrow will cash your check, so be sure the funds are in that account. No bounced checks, or your Realtor will get cranky. You can also wire transfer your deposit directly to escrow, as well. Keep in mind that the process may vary from state to state, but if I am your Realtor, I will open escrow and set up the framework of the transaction with the escrow officer. Escrow acts as the … (5 comments)
buying a home: How to Shop for Homeowner's Insurance - What to Look For
- 01/23/14 09:12 AM
My husband's high end bike was stolen while watching the America's Cup last year. Bummer. But the $4200 check we received the following week eased the pain. He's now riding on a really cool bike, thanks to Farmer's. While a stolen bike pales in comparison to a home burning down, it did point out to me the benefits of full coverage when you have a catastrophe. So how do your choose insurance? NOT the cheapest price, that is for sure. With insurance, you get what you pay for, and a cut rate plan can be the most expensive when you try … (6 comments)
buying a home: What are your best tips for negotiating? Help me out!
- 01/04/13 03:35 AM
We negotiate all the time. The price of a house. Our commission. Our kid's bedtime. But how the heck do we do it, and can we create helpful rules to define our negotiating strategy? I hope so, because I am teaching a class for my company of 950 agents, and am digging deep into this. I wanna come up with a winning class outline. I have found web articles on top tricks for negotiating that spell out the scuzzier side of negotiating - tricks to take advantage of the other side. Ugh... not what I'm looking for. I want the rules … (17 comments)
buying a home: Watch out for wrong information on-line....
- 05/05/11 09:01 AM
My escrow almost blew up today, because my buyer found out the HOA payment was $50 a month more than she thought. "It's HOW MUCH??? I was told it was much less", she said. Hmmmm... why did she think that? Did I give her that information??? Come to discover she got the wrong info from Trulia.com, who had downloaded the original listing, but never updated after the listing agent corrected his typo. Take a look at this post I wrote last year on the same subject - that buyer's need to be weary of information they get from the gazillion … (9 comments)
buying a home: Want to buy a Fair Oaks home? What should your Realtor do for you? Here's what I do.
- 04/26/11 01:02 PM
Want to buy a Fair Oaks home? What should your Realtor do for you? After 30 years of working on it, here's the best of what I do for you. First of all, I don't freak out. I just work on solving problems. Well, most of the time anyway. Occasionally I blow a fuse, but I work hard to keep your home buying process under control. You see, the one guarantee in buying a home, is we WILL run into problems. You can't afford the home you love. 4 other paople love the same home, and have made competing offers. … (2 comments)
buying a home: Testimonial for Sally Dunbar, Fair Oaks Realtor, by Margaret and Gene
- 10/22/10 02:30 AM
Margaret and Gene bought their first home from me a dozen years ago in beautiful Crosswoods. Since then, I sold a rental home for them, and recently helped them find the perfect home for their daughter. They are deep in the remodel as we speak! New floors, counter tops, and bathroom cabinets. Here what they had to say....
… (0 comments)
buying a home: First Time Homebuyer Testimonial for Fair Oaks Realtor, Sally Dunbar
- 10/22/10 02:24 AM
There is nothing like delivering the keys to a first time homebuyer. Visions of patio parties, joyous painting weekends, and spring tulips have not yet been replaced by the reality of weed control, air conditioning repairmen and taxes. Twenty-somethings buying their first home, in particular, warm my heart. I love that they are ready to jump into the mainstream of society... good job, now a home, next a dog... buying a piece of the rock! Mike bought his first home from me in McKinley Park, a quaint neighborhood of vintage bungalows in downtown Sacramento. Here's what he had to say at … (2 comments)
buying a home: Can you find accurate information on-line about homes for sale?
- 04/17/10 09:18 AM
Tough job, finding a home. And where the heck do you look to find out what's for sale out there? Google "homes for sale in lkjflskdjflk" (not a real city, folks...) and you'll find a ton of links to "experts" who are in the know. Some from google maps, some from Redfin, Homes.com, Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia. Then there are individual real estate company websites, and portals through individual agents. Wow... who knew it was so easy? My goodness - you can even find zestimates, where the computer all-knowingly knows the accurate price of a home... WITHOUT EVEN LOOKING AT IT, FOR … (5 comments)
buying a home: How to buy a fixer with an FHA loan.
- 04/16/10 10:33 AM
They're all over these days. Bad roofs. Stolen appliances. Dry rot. How the heck do you buy one of these homes if you don't have Fort Knox in your backyard... ie an all-cash purchase? After all, even with 20% down a regular loan won't be approved if the roof is shot. But there is an easy way. It's name is not easy - but the process is. It's called an FHA 203K Streamline loan. (told you it was a mouth full!) I just closed two escrows with this streamlined loan, with escrow of about 45 days. Here's how they work. You pick your … (10 comments)
buying a home: "How's real estate?" Here... I'm going to tell you.
- 01/13/10 10:27 AM
With a long face primed for sympathy, I get asked "How are you doing in this market?" quite frequently. Well-meaning friends and others who know I'm a realtor, assume I am suicidal about THIS MARKET... broke, in debt, and have no one to sell to, sitting all alone in an empty office day by day twiddling my thumbs. My answer always shocks them. "I'm doing great! I have helped 20 families manage their life by buying or selling a home this year." TWENTY! (Not my record of 55, but enough to give me great satisfaction that my career is still on-track.) "Who … (14 comments)
buying a home: "I want to buy a home. How do I know what price to offer?" A Video Tutorial for my buyers.
- 07/05/09 04:30 PM
"Wow, we found it... this is THE ONE. Now, my Dad says to always offer 5% less, my friend had to pay over full price, and I hear of bank foreclosures at fifty cents on the dollar. EEEHHHHHHH.... how am I supposed to know what to offer? After all, I don't want to pay too much, and I sure don't want to be a duck in THIS market. Heck, we want to feel like we are STEALING a home!" OK, folks, I hear this every day from buyers. And it's a good question. But when you figure that one home may … (10 comments)
buying a home: The Energy Efficient Mortgage for FHA is Hot.. no, Cold.. it can be both with a new HVAC unit!
- 06/26/09 12:11 PM
"What the heck is she talking about", you say? FHA has a killer loan "add-on" where you can save money by borrowing money to upgrade your heat and air unit, windows, insulation and other energy efficient products. It's pretty cool... (or hot, if you get a new heater!) "So stop with the mumbo jumbo and give me the details!" Ok, here's an example. You are buying a $200K bank repo using FHA financing, with a nearly dead heat and air unit (or missing!), ugly aluminum single pane windows that are drafty, a measly 2" of matted down insulation in the attic, and a … (6 comments)
buying a home: Fair Oaks, California, Home Prices and Sales Activity (5/09)
- 05/22/09 09:49 AM
It's been a wild ride for homes sales in Fair Oaks, California, but for 2 months in a row we have had huge increases in the number of sales. Sales doubled in March over the preceeding month, from 18 to 38, then increased another 10% in April, to 41. And all the while inventory has been dropping to it's lowest numbers in over a year. With 42 pending sales out of the 132 homes on the market in Fair Oaks, that's roughly 1/3 of the homes selling in one month. Compare that to one year ago, when only 1/5th of the … (4 comments)
buying a home: What happens if... My home doesn't appraise? Or worse, the review appraiser whacks the price?
- 05/22/09 04:58 AM
Bummer. But this is happening more and more. With the price decline over the past few years, it's like trying to hit a moving target. But what do you do when a buyer and seller agree on a price, yet it won't appraise? First, you may want to cry. Sometimes that helps. But usually not. Then see what you can do to adjust the appraisal. Get a copy. What have they used for comps (comparable sales that are used to measure value). Do you know of any closer... more recent.... more similar? Find out if any are about to close escrow. Current … (11 comments)
buying a home: Is This the Time to Buy a Home? What if Prices Come Down More?
- 04/23/09 05:07 AM
Buyers are panicking at the moment. They are running out of homes to buy! In Sacramento there is only 2.3 months of inventory under $300K (if buyers maintain their present rate of snapping up homes, we'll run out in 2.3 months). In Fair Oaks it's not much better... 2.4 months to sell 'em all out. That means if no new homes come on the market, we'll be out of homes by summer. Basically economics says when supply goes down prices go up.... like skyrocket up, in this case. EEKKKK! HOWEVER... don't look now, but there is a wall of new inventory … (13 comments)
buying a home: Sacramento Area... On Sale and On Fire!
- 04/06/09 07:34 AM
My broker, just returned from the Realty Alliance conference, which are the top 100 independent real estate brokers in the nation. Sacramento was the "talk of the town", apparently! We are apparently giving the nation hope that we are turning the corner in this market, with our booming sales. We were one of the first to be hit during this "Repo Madness" which is sweeping out nation, with a record in prices, but it looks like we are the first to be coming out of it. Our county-wide inventory is down 58% since a year ago (8968 to 5251 currently). Our … (5 comments)
buying a home: Interest rates and your home... THESE are the "good old days".
- 03/23/09 03:07 AM
You've probably heard that interest rates are pretty good now... around 5% for a "30 year fixed". But check out what that means to you as a buyer. It's pretty shocking! A $200K loan at 5% costs you $1,073 per month P&I (principle and interest) If you want to keep that payment, here's the price loan you can afford if interest were higher. 6.25% = $174,000 - (the interest rate in 2002 for a $1073 payment) 8.5% - $139,000 - (2000 interest rate for a $1073 payment) 9.25% - $130,000 - (1994 interest rate for a $1073 payment) 15% - $84,000 - (1984 interest rate fora $1073 payment) … (10 comments)
If you missed buying a Fair Oaks home back in '02, those prices are back! After a high of $250/sf (per square foot) in August of '06, Fair Oaks prices have dropped approximately 38% to a stunning $155/sf. That is lower than the cost to build a home, yet it includes the land! We have not seen such a buying opportunity for a long time.How does that compare to the hit the entire county has taken? Has Fair Oaks done better or worse? Much better, thank you. During the same time period, Sacramento County price per … (5 comments)
Fair Oaks homes for sale by Realtor Sally Dunbar, who's been hoofin' it through the homes of Fair Oaks and the surrounding areas, matching up eager buyers with ready-to-move sellers, since 1979.
While I sell homes in Fair Oaks, I venture in Sacramento, Carmichael, Citrus Heights, Orangevale, Rancho Cordova, Gold River, Folsom, El Dorado Hills, Roseville, Rocklin and Granite Bay...(and Chevron loves me!)
How have I survived for so long?... By always doing what's right for my people.... Always!
Now check out my video about why I love Fair Oaks...
Short Sale, REO, foresclosures??? ... find out the difference below...
How do you pick a listing price? See below...
What price should you offer when you've found the home of your dreams??? Find out below...
Prepping your home for sale??? Don't miss the video below...
Sacramento has been in a drought the past few years, but this year the flood gates have opened up. Yes, WAY above average, finally. I always point out the possible drainage issues a home may face that are apparent when I show a home. A few years ago, a Buyer's daughter asked me to stop because "It will obviously never rain again". That so??? But I admit it is hard to think about the effects of rain when you are shopping n shorts and 110 degrees!
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