San Clemente Condos / Buyer – Seller Tips


San Clemente Homebuyers Quandry


Before you begin your next home search, make sure the San Clemente you have is Market Ready. If painting or landscaping or repairs need doing, get them done. If you are going to go out house-hunting you may save yourself a lot of heartache and headache if your house is ready to be listed at a moment’s notice.

In many cases the amount you expect to realize from your existing San Clemente real estate will determine the price you can afford to pay for your next home. Start with a Comparative Market Analysis so you will know about how much you can afford to spend.


Bitten by the San Clemente Home Improvement Bug?


Maybe, like millions of Americans, you can’t help it! You live in your San Clemente home for several years and before you know it, you find yourself thinking about how the kitchen would look with new cabinets and a granite countertop. Should you start with the kitchen or would it be better to add a home office to give the family a little more room? There seems to be endless options for the creative San Clemente homeowner bitten by the Home Improvement Bug. Once you get started thinking along these lines, it usually doesn’t take long before the ultimate question pops up. Is it better to improve your current home or simply sell and buy a bigger, newer or more desirable Area home? Here are some issues to help you make that all-important decision.


Building San Clemente Home Equity


As a San Clemente 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 San Clemente 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 San Clemente 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 San Clemente home appreciation values in your area, please call or E-mail me today.



Buying a San Clemente Fixer-Upper


This, of course, depends on the condition of the San Clemente home and the estimated cost of the repairs you must make. San Clemente 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 San Clemente 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.


The Benefits of Selling San Clemente


If your San Clemente 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.

When San Clemente Does Not Sell


Let’s say a home is in excellent condition but simply messy. The cat box needs changing, the dog dish is a mess, the dishes haven’t been put into the dishwasher and the beds are not made. Should these conditions affect the price of the San Clemente? No, but they do. Take two identical houses next door to each other and priced the same. The sparkling clean house will sell much faster than the messy house and the messy house will more than likely sell for a lower figure. This is true of San Clemente as well as real estate nationwide.

When a home does not sell, the owners tend to think that the REALTOR didn’t do a good enough job of promoting the property. There is a difference among agents and brokers and some will promote a property more than others. However, the main and most important method of promoting San Clemente for sale is listing it in the local MLS.