Is now really a good time to sell your home?
🏡Is now really a good time to sell your home? How on earth are home prices going up during a pandemic, and why? Find out the answers in this week’s video update! 🎥
4 No-No’s When Applying For a Mortgage!
🏡 🏦 Over time, I have learned that there are specific things you should avoid doing once you decide to apply for a mortgage, otherwise you may very well hurt your chances at getting that new home!
3 Home Buying No-No’s To Avoid!
In my tidbit this week, I share with you 3 important No-No’s to avoid and how to plan around them as a home buyer!
Top 3 Tips to Increase Your Credit Score!
By Caroline Abkar, REALTOR®, B.Sc.Eng.
5/29/2020
Why is it important to increase your credit score? A high credit score means a better interest rate when it comes to applying for a mortgage loan. And a better interest rate means you pay less every single month to own your home!
There are several factors that affect your credit score, but these top 3 tips are the ones that will increase your credit score most.
Tip #1 to increase your credit score: Pay your bills on time.
Tip #2 to increase your credit score: Keep your credit card balance and utilization ratio as low as possible.
Tip #3 to increase your credit score: Don’t apply for a new credit card if you will be applying for a loan in the near future.
Watch the video for all the details around these 3 tips.
As always, if you have any questions or need help buying or selling a house, please reach out!
~~~
🏡 Caroline Abkar, REALTOR®, B.Sc.Eng.
Your Trusted Realtor and Advisor For Life
Windermere Homes & Estates
DRE# 01998434
Cell: 619.808.4804
www.yoursandiegorealty.com
About the author: Caroline Abkar is an established San Diego Realtor and Bay Park resident who is absolutely passionate about the community as well as representing her clients in selling and acquiring the biggest investment of their lives. A former successful engineer & project manager, she is very detail-oriented and will go above and beyond for those who place their trust in her. You can contact her anytime at 619-808-4804.
Follow me!
All my videos are on YouTube: My YouTube Channel
Like my Facebook page: My Facebook Business Page
Follow me on Instagram: My Instagram Page
Should You Buy A House Sight Unseen?
By Caroline Abkar, Realtor, B.Sc.Eng.
5/20/2020
It used to be that buying a house sight unseen was mainly for out of area buyers who needed to get their hands on a home but didn’t have the ability to be present on site on time. Now, with COVID-19 changing our interactions and the way we do business, there are more and more statistics showing that several buyers successfully buy their house sight unseen. This is even truer in competitive price points when time is of the essence. I personally have had several clients ask if this is the “new” way of purchasing real estate. It’s time to share my honest opinion!
Top 3 Things To Look For in a Realtor!
By Caroline Abkar, Realtor
5/12/2020
👩🏻💻👨💻👩🏽💻🧑🏿💻👨💻🎥 There is one thing you can do right now if a move is in your future, and that is leveraging video calls to interview and identify your dream team, including your Realtor & lender! In this video, I share the 3 very important things to look for in a Realtor!
About the author: Caroline Abkar is an established San Diego Realtor and Bay Park resident who is absolutely passionate about the community as well as representing her clients in selling and acquiring the biggest investment of their lives. She will go above and beyond for those who place their trust in her. You can contact her anytime at 619-808-4804.
Follow me!
YouTube: My YouTube Channel
Facebook: My Facebook Business Page
Instagram: My Instagram Page
The Best Answer to ‘What Is My Home Worth?’
‘What Is My Home Worth’? Ah, the million dollar question. Today, I’m give you tidbits to figure out what your home is worth. The classic thing that everybody does is go on Zillow, Redfin, Trulia, to see what their home is worth. And while that’s a good starting point, it definitely is not going to give you the best answer possible. And that’s because algorithms and computers do not take very specific factors into account. I have a whole other tidbit that you can find on my YouTube channel about Zestimates and how they’re calculated. But in order for you to know what to list for, the first thing you need to do with your realtor is look at comps. Actually your realtor should be looking at comps. And when I say comps, I don’t mean all the homes that have sold that have the same specs as yours within your entire zip code. That is too broad.
You need to look at what I like to call your micro neighborhood. You need to first of all, look at your home and your lot and find homes that have sold in the recent past three to six months that are similar in lot size and also are they a flat lot or is yours on a hill? That’s something that you need to take into account as well. The layout of your home, so inside your house, how is it laid out? You can’t know that, but your realtor who is a neighborhood expert, should have a good sense of those homes that have sold and walked inside of them to know functionally how well they were laid out compared to yours. Indeed, a functional layout is one of the top things that can affect the price.
Can You Cancel Escrow As a Buyer or Seller?
Are you wondering if you can cancel the contract once you are in escrow on the purchase or sales of a home? Watch your tidbit of the week to find out!
By Caroline Abkar, REALTOR
2/11/2020
Should You Remodel or Move?
By Caroline Abkar, Realtor | January 14th, 2020
Are you wondering if you should remodel your existing home or sell it and buy something new instead? I made this video to help you answer just whether you should remodel your home or move. It is chock full of all the information you need to consider when making this important decision.
There is so much that goes into the thought process of figuring out the right answer for you when it comes to remodeling vs moving. You need to first have all this data in hand with the help of your Realtor and lender:
- Remodel bid(s)
- Current loan balance on your home
- Fair market value of your home (appraisal or comps analysis from your realtor).
- How much savings you would put toward your remodel/new home
- What options do you have for a remodel loan including qualifying amounts (cash out refi, rehab loan, HELOC, etc)
- What you qualify for, for a new home.
- Net sheets if selling and buying.
Once you have all this information, you will need to determine what it would cost to buy a comparable home to your remodeled home in its future state. In other words, you are now going to figure out if you can get a turnkey home that you will love just as much as your remodeled home, without having to go thru the remodel, which for many people is an extremely stressful event.
Here are a set of tips and questions to think about for this step:
- Use your remodel specs (To-Be) as search criteria for a new home
- Review list of homes for sale or have sold that meet that criteria
- What is likelihood you will find a home like your To-be that is all done that you love?
- Do you love your current location?
- What is the after remodel value of your future home (ARV)? Don’t overbuild.
- Where will you stay during remodel?
- Impact on quality of life during remodel
- Include a $ buffer for unknowns during remodel
Hopefully all this data crunching and analysis will give you a good idea of an apples to apples comparison in order to determine if you should remodel, or move!
Caroline
About the author: Caroline Abkar is an established San Diego Realtor and Bay Park resident who is absolutely passionate about the community as well as representing her clients in selling and acquiring the biggest investment of their lives. She will go above and beyond for those who place their trust in her. You can contact her anytime at 619-808-4804.
Before you dig on your property, call 811 / Digalert!
By Caroline Abkar, REALTOR | December 12th, 2019
Are you about to begin a house project that requires digging?
Did you know that you can call 811 or go to DigAlert.org to submit your request for a free service where utility operators will be sent out to mark the locations where you have utility lines underground? It’s California State Law to call 811 so for any projects that require a permit! Even if your project doesn’t require a permit, it’s still a good idea to submit a request, for your safety and your neighbors’.
