Ray Peckham Real Estate

Huntington Beach Homes Search / Buyer – Seller Tips

Huntington Beach Real Estate Cycles

In the business cycle of real estate, there are buyers' markets and sellers' markets...and some markets in between. It is all based on supply and/or demand. Huntington Beach is no exception.

There are times when the economy is brisk and everyone feels confident about his or her prospects for the future. As a result, they spend money. People eat out more, buy new cars, and... they buy houses, namely Huntington Beach.

Then, for one reason or another, the economy slows down. Companies lay off employees and consumers are more careful about where they spend money, perhaps saving more than usual. As a result, the economy decelerates. When there are fewer people in the market to buy homes. This is true for the Huntington Beach real estate market as it is for all markets nationwide.

Huntington Beach: Art and Science

Buying a piece of Huntington Beach real estate is a science but buying your Huntington Beach home is an art. The science part involves getting the legal and financial parts down while the art is finding the Huntington Beach property that you’ll be happy with.

The total universe of possibilities within the universe of Huntington Beach real estate is quite diverse but narrowing your search ahead of time will help keep things in perspective.

In general there are two phases to any Huntington Beach real estate search. In the first phase, you get a feel for the different areas and an idea of what is being offered at what price. In the second phase, you search for the Huntington Beach real estate that meets all or most of your specifications.

Buying a Huntington Beach Fixer-Upper

This, of course, depends on the condition of the Huntington Beach home and the estimated cost of the repairs you must make. Huntington Beach real estate in a good neighborhood that is priced about 25% lower than others that are in good shape may be a good deal if it simply needs cosmetic or minor structural repairs. If the house is a gut job, that is the entire inside will be torn out and rebuilt the 25% rule may work and may not so estimate your costs as closely as possible.

Shopping by neighborhood makes good sense when considering the purchase of a fixer upper. As a buyer, the more you know about the Huntington Beach homes in a particular area the better able you are when it comes time to judge whether or not a home your are considering meets the financial parameters you are looking for.

Rent or Buy Huntington Beach

In the early years of your Huntington Beach mortgage, nearly all of every monthly payment is interest. This means you are only paying off a tiny bit of the loan principal, but it is good news in terms of tax savings.

The monthly payment for a $100,000, 30-year, 8% mortgage on your Huntington Beach would be about $734. In the first year of your mortgage, $7,970 of your $8,805 payment or 91% would be deductible as mortgage interest. Even in the tenth year, almost 81% of your payments would be deductible. What this is worth to you depends on your tax bracket but this tax savings built into the home-buying equation is why you can afford to make higher mortgage payments than your current rent payments without squeezing your budget. There is no similar tax subsidy for renters.

Tips for Buying or Selling Huntington Beach

Most experienced real estate agents and brokers already have Websites that showcase their local MLS data so your Huntington Beach can show up online as soon as it is listed. On the other hand, if you are selling on your own it will take time or a considerable advertising budget to get your individual Huntington Beach property to show up on the major search engines where prospective buyers will find it. You could tap into one of the several For Sale by Owner Websites but that would limit your market of buyers.

Buying real estate in Huntington Beach is also much easier when you work with a real estate agent who knows the area and the market. While there is a great deal of information online about real estate asking prices, it is not always so easy to find out what a property actually sold for. And even then, specific terms of a sale often make a difference in how to interpret the sales price.

What Makes Huntington Beach Sell?

Books have been written about this topic but to be concise, successful sale depends on six factors: Price; Terms; Location; The Home’s Condition; The Home’s Accessibility and the Marketing exposure the Huntington Beach receives.

Price is what a willing seller and a willing buyer agree on. Price is determined by the current market, which fluctuates causing home values and prices to fluctuate. Often Huntington Beach that does not sell is over-priced for the current market. Terms can vary as well. Some owners want payment in full, some are willing to carry a second.

Location is a major consideration in pricing and desirability for Huntington Beach. Has the neighborhood gone to pot or does it look like a street at Disneyland? Are there open spaces nearby or is the home located in the middle of commercial district?