I'm Buying a Home....who pays the agent I hire?

How to win as a Home Buyer in a Seller's Market

2020 Buyer’s Edition

Find out if you qualify for our zero lending fee + $1000 closing costs lending

Having a hard time finding an affordable home with 5 bedrooms in a good neighborhood? Look no further!

Team Momentum Of Keller Williams Tacoma Presents 2407 North Orchard, Tacoma, WA 98407

MLS # 1153856

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is an aerial view of this spacious home.  It has RV parking, fenced back yard and is located in close proximity to the desirable N.Proctor District in Tacoma WA

 Open living room concept

 Stairs to entry behind half wall

 Fireplace

 Living room opens into dining and kitchen areas

 Eat in kitchen

 Open kitchen perfect for cooking and entertaining

 Dining area is open to kitchen

 One of 3 bathrooms

 A large bedroom with shelving and large closet

 Master bedroom

 Master bath

 Another kitchen view with stainless steel appliances

 

Family room

 Down stairs hall way


this home also has a huge fenced back yard and deck as well as a total of 5 large bedrooms and a garage.  All close to schools, parks, waterfront, 6th Ave district and Proctor District as well as easy freeway access.


For your personal tour of this or any listed property call Anna Matsunaga, 253 212 1252
or 253 353 2662

Want to be there for the open house?  It's Sunday 7/9 from 1-3pm

I want to buy a home....but I don't have a down payment. Good news, you may not have to.

 For most, owning a home is far more desirable than being a renter.  However, there are obstacles that seem to make it either not a possibility for you, or keep the dream of your own home far in the future. 


One of the largest is a down payment.  Gone are the days of conventional loans with little documentation and no down payment.  ( and this might be a good thing)  However, for owner occupied homes, even FHA loans require about 3.5% down.  If you are buying a median priced home in our county ( Pierce County WA) you would be needing to come up with almost $8500.00, and that is if are not talking about covering your own closing costs, which could be close to the same amount.




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Many would be home owners just don't know where they will come up with that much money.

If you would make a good home owner,  ( you want to live in one place for at least a few years, you are willing to maintain your home, you have the income to cover mortgage payments and a few unexpected expenses) and you would like to purchase, but your have not figured out how to overcome the down payment issue yet....there is hope!

Good news is, there are still ways to purchase with zero down.  One of these methods is to get a USDA loan.  Now I know you are likely used to seeing USDA in association with this......   But believe me, the USDA does much more than regulate meat.  USDA also has a loan program where you can qualify for zero down.  You do not have to be low income.  You do not have to have, worked for the USDA or any other organization.  The trick is you have to purchase as home that is located with in chosen areas that are approved for USDA loans.  Since USDA stands or United States Department of Agriculture, you may assume that this would be for the purchase of farm land....or at least a home in a very rural setting.  Actually however, this is not true.  I actually sold a condominium town home in downtown Gig Harbor under this loan program a while ago.  Currently I am helping clients find the home they want under the program as well, and let me assure you they are not shopping in rural areas.  

If you want to find out more about this program and be referred to a lender who can help you with a USDA loan, please call me and I will help you get started on finding a great lender who can help you get qualified for this type of loan.  If you want to know how to know if a property is eligible, I will be happy to help with that too.  If you know someone who would benefit from this information, again, please contact me or pass on my information and I will be glad to help.

Anna Matsunaga, Team Momentum, Keller Williams Realty Tacoma 253-212-1252

First time ( and not so first time) home owner series, What exactly is titlte insurance?

If you have bought a home or had a friend or family member buy a home, you likely have heard of title insurance.  However, even experienced home buyers and sellers often do not understand what exactly it is.

Knowing what it's for has become even more important now that, as of August 2015, regulations here in Washington as changing so that it is not REQUIRED that you have title insurance in order to close.  So....some may want to save money and not purchase it.  This however, could be even more financially dangerous than driving with out any insurance.

Here is a link to a video with a brief explanation of what title insurance is.  What IS title insurance?

Want to know more about all the steps to selling or buying a home?  Call me for a free consultation, I'd love to help!

Anna Matsunaga

Just want to just browse area homes on a site that updates data in real time?  Click here!

Pierce county prices jump.....real estate values update.

Prices are jumping and the good news is it is still a good time to buy ( interest rates are at an almost historic lows) and it is definitely also a good time to sell ( prices are up and interest rates are still low, while they are buyers can afford to pay a bit more for a house, where as when interest rates rise, well they will either not buy, or will buy for less.)

So....if you are thinking of buying or selling, now is really honestly the time. 

Here is a link to a news story I was blessed to be featured in on the subject which was featured on King 5 news.....


http://www.king5.com/story/news/local/tacoma/2015/01/08/pierce-county-home-prices-jump/21476147/

If you would like a free consultation on selling or buying a home or other property, please call me to schedule your time.

Anna Matsunaga, Team Momentum, Keller Williams Realty Tacoma

253-212-1252

Want to know more about what the value of your Pierce county home is go to www.piercehomevalues.com for a free market analysis or any other information on selling your home.

Even if you buy your dream house......

You know that amazing home you only dream of living in?  You know how beautiful it is?  You know how you dream about living there and how it will always be neat and clean and perfect when you do?  Well, I'm here to tell you, you may be able to buy that "dream" home and if it has been a good choice ( ie you did not over extend yourself and you and your realtor were REALLY clear on how you live and how you want to live and what is important to you) it will change your life for the better.

I DO want to burst your bubble now though, if you are anything like me, you won't be able to keep it as perfectly as you want.  Reality = I live with 4 kids and 4 dogs and a cat and a husband.  I should have known.  Other reality= I am often attempting to do too many things and am easily distracted so....I should have known.

Now that falling in love with a home is magical.  You imagine living there and how perfect it will be.  ( kinda like falling in love the first time)  Now hopefully you still have your eyes open ( I did when I first fell in love and also when buying this last house)  and you anticipate some of the issues.  ( I did) and still, thankfully though things do not go the way one might imagine in their fantasies, I have to say I am more in love with both my first love and our newest house more than the when I first fell in love with them both.....

Now when you first fall in love you believe in "magic" in so many ways.  When you stay in love you see different kinds of that magic....

So there is still magic in our house, it is just a different form that my fantasy about living here.

Magically here are some things that seem to happen here-

I find things I have never seen before in the laundry and even more magically I am able to figure out which of the children's friends they belong to and even more unlikely I find a way to make it return to it's proper home.

I find that a little dog born here at this new house though he is a minature breed can jumpt the fence that held the previous owner's big dogs with no problems at all.

When cleaning I find interesting objects, recently a flat pack FED EX box completely covered in Duct tape and with some strange item rolling around inside with a Pringles container also covered in duct tape with a watch connected.  When I inquire about WHAT in the world this is my 16 year old informs me that it is a pretend BOMB.  Why I ask, especially when this energy could have been used to clean house, do your laundry, do school work.  Well appearantly the little kids were using sticks to simulate bow and arrow and he felt that if they were going to play with these they should have a pretend BOMB since it is a more "modern weapon"  I take time I could have spent putting away laundry or decorating the home to look like homes and gardens to explain to him the pretend bows and arrows were for "target practice" in the back yard and no good ever ever came from a bomb, especially from a "bomb" filled with nails from the garage.

I find pictures in strange places like the closet, in the fridge, in my makeup drawer, under the couch.  Thankfully they are usually drawn on paper, magically sometimes they say things like " I Love You Mom" and show up on days I am feeling a little down.

Amazingly even though I have more cupboard space than I thought I knew what to do with, sometimes I cannot fit all of our food items neatly away.  ( We are very blessed that we always have enough)

In this home a little boy who did not talk at all when we arrived is speaking full sentences and people are now often surprised when they find out he was considered developmentally delayed.  ( such a blessing and magical in so many ways)

Magically, even though I now have 2 washers and 2 dryers ( something I would suggest to look for as a home feature or a potential home feature, in other words something you could build in) in any home that more than 2 kids are going to live in.)  I still can manage to fall behind on laundry.  Laundry just appears the moment I "run out" of dirty laundry.

Some how even with a 6 burner stove, on a night I am just throwing something quick together I manage to use all 6 burners at one time.....

Other things that are unexplainable happen here too.....I find action figures, home work, a bottle of cumin and another of cinnamon, a dog leash, poker chips, legos, a half eaten cookie, an unopened box of juice, a toy train, a bottle of syrup, 2 screw drivers, a drill, a garden shovel, 3 50' measuring tapes, a squid jig, a brand new paint brush still in it's wrapping, a mother board, 4 charges to something and I don't know what and 3 my little ponies, and 4 skylanders, and a match box car all in my bedroom when I go to clean it along with an entire laundry basket worth of dirty clothing that belongs to children in the household.  These things have appeared and sadly even one pair of my socks that match and my favorite bra have disappeared.

Also, paint peels, lawns get too high and even with such a tiny flower bed to maintain, weeds show up magically as well.

In the middle of it, I love love love our home.  I appreciate it too since it is easier than I have ever had it to keep it looking the way I would like ( I guess what I really mean is closer to what I would like)  I love that it is located in a beautiful place with neighbors I adore.  I love that I actually have a place to put most everything away neatly.  I love that there are no carpets.  I love the lay out and how pretty it is...yes even when I cannot keep it as well as I'd like.  I love the yard with it's privacy.  I love the feeling of love that permeates the way it was put together and comes from the love inside the house.  I love that my husband took a leap of faith and purchased it for our family and that I picked it since the exact house we lived in meant more to me than to him.  I love that I feel happy about being here each day I wake. 

And some day, when the kids are grown and no one is making a mess, it will actually look again like it did the day I fell in love with it, maybe even better.....in the meantime I will take care of it the best I can.  I will thank GOD for it and the people in it every day.  I will enjoy the crazy magic at work here now and appreciate it because like the magic of falling in love the first time I know the magic here right now does not last forever, and while it may, like the magic of falling in love, grow and turn into something even more beautiful, it is something to be enjoyed and appreciated now.

First time home buyer questions-What is earnest money?

If you are a first time home buyer the whole process of buying a house is....well rather intimidating and complicated.  Heck, I've been a Realtor(r) for a decade and I still have to say it's rather complicated.  That is why my clients need me.

One of the things that can be overwhelming for a first time buyer is the simple fact that there are many terms that they don't understand.  So If you are thinking about buying a home, pull up chair, in the next few posts I am going to define terms so you are clear about the process and what it means to you.

Today's topic, Earnest Money.

First off what is it?  Earnest Money is just that, money that you put up to show you are earnest.  You really do want this home and you are willing to risk that money if you were to decide not to buy the home you are making an offer on.  Does this mean that the money is just gone?  NO.  This means that unless you have legal excuse you do not get this money back if you decide not to buy the house.

So what reasons could you have to not buy the house and still get your money back?  That will depend upon how your offer is written.  Some common things that make it so that you still get your money back even if you don't buy are: The house fails inspection, The neighborhood does not pass a neighborhood review, or financing fails.  There are plenty of other possibilities and the 3 proceeding are likely the most common.  These are call Contingencies.  This means that you buying the home is contingent upon these things working out.  ( ie the house passes inspection, your financing goes through and so on)  Any good offer for a first time buyer will have contingencies of some sort to protect you and your earnest money.

Next post will answer the question- how much earnest money do I need?


From Anna Matsunaga, Team Momentum, Keller Williams Tacoma

253 212 1252