Can first time home buyers afford a home in Santa Cruz County?

Are you looking to own your first home?

Buying your first home is one of the biggest financial steps you will make. It is important to think everything thoroughly before making that decision.

You need to take the time to prepare yourself in every aspect to make your home a blessing - not a negative experience. Especially if you're a first time buyer who has not owned a home for three years or a single parent who only owned a home with a spouse.

One that you should consider before buying a home is what are your current needs. How many bedrooms do you need? How many bathrooms? Do you need a lot of space? Is proximity to a school important?

Budget. How much can you afford for your home?

If you’re looking to buy a home in Santa Cruz County, I know just the person... ME, Sandy Wallace!

If you'd like to learn more about me, your top real estate professional from Santa Cruz, here's a link to my website www.SantaCruzHomesForSale.com/about

I also have good news for first time buyers looking for homes for sale in Santa Cruz County! Read on to find out.

Get to know more about the homes in Santa Cruz and their prices !

Santa Cruz is a great place to find a home in a paradise-like setting. If you want to check out some of the homes for sale in Santa Cruz, you can check them out here!

There are a lot of home styles to choose from here - from the Spanish Style homes of 1791 to the California Bungalow of 1920. One thing's for sure, when you buy a home in Santa Cruz, you can get spectacular ocean views you won't find anywhere else!

The median price of homes in Santa Cruz County is today is $708,500 for the zip code 95062. That is down from a all time high of more than $800,000. That makes it hard for anyone to save up a 20% down payment to qualify for a 30 year or 15 year conventional loan.

What Federal and State loan programs are available to help a first time home buyer?

Here's the good news you've been waiting for! Santa Cruz County is now offering FHA loans for homeowners!

FHA is a federally funded home loan program that allows people to buy homes with low down payments (3.5%) lower interest rates and fees. Typically, borrowers making a down payment of less than 20 percent of the purchase price of the home will need to pay for mortgage insurance. This adds .5% - 1% to the interest rate of the loan. FHA interest rates are lower than conventional loans, too!

A lot of other programs are also available to help first time home buyers in Santa Cruz. Depending specifically where you want to buy and your specific circumstances there may be a program for you.

We have the Measure 0 for the City of Santa Cruz and Measure J is for the County of Santa Cruz for lower income buyers. It depends where you fall in the California, Santa Cruz County, and the Santa Cruz City low or medium income. Each have their own income requirements and other stipulations. They are all a little different.

There is a Santa Cruz County program for downpayment assistance that my clients have used in the past and it is really great. There are also incentives for teachers, special loan programs for public employees, etc.

If you are curious as a prospective first time buyer I've done the online research at the city, county and state levels. I can point you to the best program for your needs.

I’m Sandy Wallace and I have been a REALTOR® since 1998. I have developed personal services for my clients that are unparalleled in Santa Cruz CA and I can make your real estate dreams come true!

When you sign up to use my full services you will be treated like my number one client for life! What are you waiting for? Call me now at 831-818-7099.