Ray Peckham Real Estate

Facts About Huntington Beach Real Estate

Huntington Beach Homeownsers Insurance

Bundle your Huntington Beach insurance policies. Some companies that sell homeowners, auto and liability coverage will take 5 to 15% off your premium if you buy two or more policies from them.

Reduce Your Risk. Find out from your insurance company what steps you can take to make your Huntington Beach more resistant to natural disasters. If you live in an older home, look into modernizing your heating, plumbing and electrical systems to reduce the risk of fire and water damage.

Huntington Beach Real Estate Title Insurance

Buying a new home is the single largest financial investment for most families but there are risks. What if the seller doesn’t really own the home? What if there are mortgages, judgements or liens against the property? What if the property taxes have not been paid for several years? Huntington Beach real estate Title insurance protects you against these types of risks and against the risks of human error. It is your basic home ownership protection.

Huntington Beach Title insurance protects you against future losses arising out of events that have happened in the past. Unlike other types of insurance, title insurance is paid when the policy is issued and is good for the life of the policy. The premium required is based on the amount of the sale or the mortgage.

Huntington Beach. How Much Should You Offer?

Or more precisely, what does the seller owe on the property. If a seller owes $400,000 on the Huntington Beach real estate he or she is not likely to welcome an offer for $350,000. If you want to negotiate price, make sure you don’t waste your time negotiating where there is no room to budge.

Even if the loan is high, if the seller is in default there is a possibility of a short sale as many lenders will reduce the loan balance in order to move the property. Most lenders do not want to foreclose and manage homes and the Huntington Beach market is no exception.

Huntington Beach. How Much Should You Offer?

Comparable sales figures is a good guide for homeowners who are pricing their Huntington Beach and a good guide for prospective buyers. Make sure you compare homes that are similar to the one your are considering...the same neighborhood, the same size, the same condition. Also, make sure you compare sales within the past six months.

Ask your REALTOR for a comparison of the list price and sales price of comparable Huntington Beach sales. This information may give you a trend and a guideline for your offer. For example, maybe homes in the area have consistently listed for more than they actually sold for. If that is the case, find out what percentage of reduction occurred. Use this information as a basis for your offer.

Building Huntington Beach Home Equity

As a Huntington Beach homeowner you have the right to pay more towards the principle loan amount each month. Let’s say your monthly payment is $700.00 a month and $100.00 a month is being applied to the principle. If you choose to pay $900.00 instead of $700.00, the $200.00 overage will be applied entirely to the principle. Thus, instead of gaining $1,200.00 a year in Huntington Beach home equity, you gain $3,600.00.

The only factor being considered here is Home Equity. In individual cases it may be wiser to invest than to pre-pay your home loan. It also may be wiser to pay off high-interest, non-deductible loans before considering your Huntington Beach home equity building options. Your financial advisor is the one to consult for these matters. If you would like up-to-the-minute information about Huntington Beach home appreciation values in your area, please call or E-mail me today.

The Benefits of Selling Huntington Beach

If your Huntington Beach holdings consist of both a personal residence and a rental, you can sell your personal residence and exclude up to $250,000 ($500,000 for a married couple) on the gain. Then you move into your rental, live in it as your personal residence for two years and then sell it, again benefiting from the $250,000 or $500,000 exclusion. This is true even though most or all of the increase in value occurred before you converted the property to your personal residence.