buyers

Rainy days are good days for home buyers

Posted on Patrick Lowell

rainy

It’s been so rainy lately!  This is obviously good news since California is in a major drought. We simply need the rain.  If you are in the market to buy a new home or condo though, there’s another benefit to the wet stuff falling from the sky. Touring your dream home on a rainy day can tell you a lot about your prospective home before you submit an offer.

Probably one of the last things you want to do is go out and look at homes in the rain. If you’re like most people, you want to see houses on a sunny spring day, where flowers are in bloom and birds are singing. Visiting a house on a rainy day however can sometimes be much more informative, here’s why:

Ideally when rain falls, it runs off the roof in to the gutters and eventually flows away from the house through a drain or pipe to the street or sewer. Given the hilly terrain in San Francisco, older housing stock, and densely packed neighborhoods, heavy rain in San Francisco sometimes leads to “ponding” or standing water with no place to go. Standing water tends to seep in to places it should not be (like walls, foundations, garages, or basements). Keeping water away from your home is important to help prevent issues like dry rot, wood boring beetles, foundation deterioration, termites, and mold. So while checking out your new prospective house, always keep your eyes open for standing water around the outside of the home or in the garage or basement.

If the roof or skylight needs repair, there will probably be some visible signs of a leak. Be sure to look up at the ceiling occasionally as you are walking around. If you see signs of a previous ceiling repair or variations in the ceiling paint, it may be worth asking about. There is  another bonus of visiting open houses on a rainy day…it’s likely that there will be fewer buyers milling around. That gives you a chance to take your time and look around without the crowds. The seller’s agent may also be more available to speak with you and answer questions since there will be fewer people around.

(Pro tip: Remember to be courteous and not track in mud or rain when you enter an open house on a rainy day. The seller’s agent likely will provide a spot to wipe your feet or have shoe covers handy).

I’m not a home inspector, but I’ve been at hundreds of home inspections with clients and have picked up a few tips along the way. I have many more home buying tips to share. Feel free to get in touch!

How do I buy a home in San Francisco?

Posted on Patrick Lowell

If you’re beginning to think about buying a place in SF, there is one sure-fire thing that you should do before you spend too much time visiting open houses. Get pre-approved for a mortgage. Until you know how much home you can comfortably afford, it really doesn’t make much sense to fall in love with the place of your dreams. Unless you are just browsing with no intent to buy soon, looking at homes before getting pre-approved for a mortgage is a bit of a cart-before-the-horse kind of thing. It is easy to fall in love with the perfect place when you see it. Unfortunately it is also that much more disappointing to learn that it is financially out of reach.

mortgage-application-approved

I suggest that buyers get pre-approved for a loan with two different sources. One direct lender (for example, Wells Fargo) and one local mortgage broker.  As I have mentioned before, the big banks are notoriously quite slow and bureaucratic when it comes to issuing mortgages. The reason is simple, they are huge organizations that make money by selling off bundles of mortgage loans. They can only do that if certain loan underwriting criteria is adhered to from the outset with every buyer. Careful mortgage underwriting is certainly good (hello 2008, I’m looking at you) however the slow-moving process can sometimes present problems for buyers who are trying to purchase a home in this very fast-paced seller’s market. Bottom line here is that sellers are really not interested in waiting around to see if you happen to get your loan or not.

A mortgage broker has access to many loan sources, from small banks to local portfolio lenders, all of which tend to move much faster than big brick & mortar banks. Mortgage brokers also know that properties in San Francisco often come with some local idiosyncrasies that do not exist in other areas. When underwriting with one lender is not working out for a buyer, a mortgage broker can move the loan to another lender to get approval.  I can suggest a number of reliable San Francisco mortgage brokers that have helped my clients over the years. Guaranteed Rate, Opes Advisors, Guarantee Mortgage are three examples. Let me know if you’d like any specifics about who to contact at each company.

By the way, some lenders and mortgage brokers offer the ability for buyers to get fully approved in advance (not just the customary pre-approval). If your lender offers it, do it. You will be ahead of the many buyers who don’t take this extra step in advance. Buyers are increasingly competing to get properties. It makes sense to be as prepared as possible.