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.
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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’.
Selling to an iBuyer ? Here’s What You Need To Know!
By Caroline Abkar, REALTOR | October 8th, 2019
You may have heard the news and seen their ads everywhere. What an iBuyer is, is a company that will offer to buy your property very quickly, all cash, with an online offer, sight unseen. Think Zillow Offers, Redfin Now, Offerpad, Opendoor. These are all iBuyers.
Now why do they do this? Why do iBuyers offer to buy your home sight unseen, all cash? Well, it’s because their model is based on providing you as a seller all the convenience, compared to the traditional models. That way, you can sell very quickly and they claim that it’s almost hassle-free. There is a risk with this model that they need to bear and account for. iBuyers are volume based companies, buying a lot of homes and they’re buying them all cash, but they’re also making their profit up front. They’re not making the profit when they resell the house later on with a markup. Making a profit up-front at the time they purchase the home means that for you as a seller will be netting much less for your home compared to the traditional model. Research shows that we’re talking up to 15% less.
So if you’re a seller who desperately needs the cash, you’re moving out of state, out of country, you absolutely need to move and you cannot wait the 30-45 days or however long it may take on the open market, then you may really be considering an iBuyer’s offer. But again, you need to understand that that convenience absolutely comes at a cost. Take this example provided by Fidelity Title:
iBuyer vs Open Market
What this shows is that the net difference between using a Realtor in a traditional open market model vs an iBuyer is $93,217 for a home that it worth $680,000. That is how much less you walk away with as a seller in exchange for a quick close. Therefore, it’s very important to understand the cost of that convenience and remember as well that if what you’re looking for is a quick all cash offer, a good established Realtor will have partnerships with local investors who will offer all cash and no contingencies for your home as well to make it hassle free. So don’t forget that option, and make sure that you’re doing your homework and you’re thinking of all the possible scenarios in order to make the best decision for yourself when the time comes to sell your home.
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.
The Best Time To Buy A House Is Now: Top 5 tips to get a deal!
By Caroline Abkar, Realtor – 9/23/2019
Buyers always ask me: when is the best time to buy a house? Turns out, realtor.com crunched numbers to figure out exactly when the best time to buy a house for 2019 is and it is… right now, right this week!
Statistics show that there will be north of 26% less competition for buyers out there with many families having already settled in time for back to school. In addition, homes that did not sell over the summer are seeing increased market days which in turn equates to motivated sellers. There is also some new fall inventory hitting the market as we speak, with sellers wanting to close their transaction before the end of 2019. Realtor.com projects a 6% increase in inventory starting this week. Throw in the low interest rates, and it’s the perfect home buying environment out there.
I am sharing my top 5 tips on to get that deal. It’s all in my quick video!
About the author: Caroline Abkar is an established 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.
Are Zillow’s Zestimates accurate?
Everyone knows about Zillow’s Zestimate’s and millions of users look them up, but how accurate are they and can you use them at face value?
The key items to remember after watching this video are the following:
- Zillow’s website describes Zestimates as a starting point. It should not be used a a final sales price. They also encourage discussing the home price with a professional.
- Zillow has not been inside your home and does not know the specifics such as location, lot shape, functional layout, views, upgrades, traffic patterns, and walkability.
- Zillow’s Zestimate uses data points from homes in a much larger geographical area than your neighborhood. Each neighborhood has its own characteristics and desirability though, which also need to be taken into account.
- Zillow’s Zestimate does not take into account the current market conditions i.e. the other comparable homes for sale at the same time as your home, and how your home compares in price, condition, and location. That will help you ensue you are positioned for success!
Please remember to always partner with a knowledgeable professional who will look out for your best interests, from start to finish!
Questions? Comments? I’m happy to help.
Caroline
