San Jose Real Estate Blog

Benefits of Buying a Home

Wed, 08 Mar 2023 21:48:04 GMT

Top Reasons to Buy a Home

Buying a home is a major milestone in life that many people aspire to achieve. Becoming a homeowner offers a sense of stability, security, and independence that can be difficult to replicate through renting or other forms of housing. In this blog post, we will explore the benefits of becoming a homeowner and why it may be worth considering as a long-term investment.

1.Investment Opportunity

One of the biggest benefits of becoming a homeowner is the potential for long-term financial gain. Unlike renting, owning a home is an investment that can appreciate in value over time. According to the National Association of Realtors, the median existing-home price for all housing types in January 2022 was $356,900, which is up 13.5% from January 2021. This shows that owning a home can be a smart financial move that can provide significant returns over the long-term.

2.Pride of Ownership

Owning a home also offers a sense of pride and accomplishment. As a first time home buyer, you have the ability to make changes and improvements to your property that reflect your personal taste and style. This can be particularly satisfying when you see the results of your hard work and dedication. Additionally, buying a home gives you a sense of connection to your community and a feeling of stability that is hard to replicate through renting.

3.Equity Building

Homeownership is also a way to build equity over time. Equity is the difference between the value of your home and the amount you owe on your mortgage. As you make mortgage payments, your equity grows, and you can use it to finance other investments or as a down payment on a future home. This is particularly important when you consider that homeownership is often a key component of retirement planning. By building equity in your home over time, you may be able to tap into those funds in retirement and have a more secure financial future. A few ways you could do this is by listing and selling your home with a top local realtor , or by refinancing your home, or taking out a reverse mortgage.

4 . Tax Benefits

Another advantage of owning a home is the tax benefits. Homeowners are eligible for certain tax deductions that can reduce their overall tax burden. For example, homeowners can deduct mortgage interest, property taxes, and certain closing costs on their tax returns. These deductions can help to reduce your taxable income and lower your tax bill each year. However, it is important to note that tax laws change frequently, so it's always best to consult with a tax professional for the latest information.

5 . Customization

When you own a home, you have the ability to customize it to your liking. Unlike renting, where you are often limited in what changes you can make to your living space, owning a home gives you the freedom to create a living space that truly reflects your personality and lifestyle. From choosing the paint color to remodeling the kitchen, you have complete control over your living environment. Customizing and updating your home may help you when it's time to sell your home.

6.Stability

Owning a home provides a sense of stability that is hard to replicate through renting. When you own a home, you have control over your living situation and don't have to worry about a landlord raising your rent or choosing not to renew your lease. Additionally, owning a home provides a level of security that can be difficult to achieve when you are renting. As a homeowner, you have a place that you can truly call your own and you can rest easy knowing that you have a stable living situation for yourself and your family.

7.Pride of Neighborhood

When you own a home, you have a vested interest in your neighborhood and the well-being of the community. This can lead to a sense of pride in your neighborhood and a desire to contribute to its success. Whether it's volunteering for local events or working to improve the local schools, homeowners often have a greater sense of community involvement than renters. This can lead to a stronger and more vibrant community overall.

In conclusion, owning a home offers many benefits that make it very beneficial to you and your family for now, and in the long run. Blog by Capri Ndikum. Call Capri for more insights on how you can achieve the American dream, and buy a house.

Selling Your Home During a Slow Real Estate Market or Recession?

capri.sellsproperties@gmail.com — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 23:04:02 GMT

My House Didn't Sell So What’s Next?

In today’s real estate market which is experiencing rising interest rates this is the question that’s on the minds of many home sellers. Although we haven't received the announcement by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) that we're in a recession; by the end of summer 2022 we met the general definition of being in a recession with two consecutive quarters of negative GDP Gross Domestic Product. Selling your home during a recession is a lot different from selling your home during good economic times.

Recently we were contacted by a homeowner who was looking for a top and experienced realtor to sell their home. I recall her telling me that she didn't want to use a realtor that was used to selling homes and getting all of their experience only during the good times. She also said that she had found me on the internet after doing extensive research of other realtors and brokers, and specifically needed a real estate agent that had gained experience over a significant amount of time and had survived the Great Recession of 2008. This made me think that maybe I should do a new blog and try to share some of my experience with both buyers and potential home sellers that are trying to sell their home in today’s real estate market that seems so strange to both home buyers and sellers alike. But, it's not that strange after all, is it?

There are many things that you’ll need to consider when selling your home in a slower market, or a recession. Since homes are seen and visited during the first fourteen days they’re on the market it is vital that you try to get it right the first time. Some things that you'll need to consider is will you be staging your home? Will you make any repairs? How much should I list my home for? When should I sell my home? How long will it take for my home to sell during a slow market or recession? How much do I need to spend to get my home ready to sell? Finally, if your home has been on the market for some time and has not received any offers… Why hasn’t my home sold? Since these are some of the concerns which are daunting home owners I will go over them with you one by one. Even if you're living in an area where because of the low inventory of homes it's still a seller's market like in Mountain View, and parts of San Jose such as Berryessa, Evergreen and
Silver Creek; these tips can be very helpful for you, and will help your home sell faster, and for the most money possible.

WILL I NEED TO STAGE MY HOME?

The short answer to this question is yes. Staging your home can be a vital part of the selling process especially in a buyer’s market or somewhat buyer’s market. During a seller’s market staging your home could mean multiple offers and bidding wars, and getting more than the price you were asking for. A seller’s market is when the seller names the price and has most of the negotiating power. During a seller’s market, against their real estate professional’s advice home buyer’s would sometimes buy a home without doing the necessary inspections or appraisals, but times have changed and are still changing as interest rates continue to rise. In a buyer’s market, where home buyers have more negotiating control over the price and terms, home staging can be essential for the seller. In order to save time and money it is important that your home is “properly staged ” before it hits the market. I place an emphasis on the word “properly” because the type of staging and colors to use differs in every market and with each property.

It’s important to have a realtor that is experienced in working hand in hand with the right staging company and guide the company in order to give your home the look and feel that it needs. Buyers in some markets are more attracted to contemporary, and certain types of colors. Where in another market home buyer’s are attracted to a more traditional style and approach. Staging your home can help shorten its time on the market and help to receive offers when your neighbors and competitors aren't.

SHOULD I MAKE ANY REPAIRS WHEN SELLING MY HOME?

Good question, short answer. Only make repairs if you want your home to sell at or close to your asking price. Be open to the fact that home buyers now have more options, have become shoppers, and bargainers and are looking for the best deal in a somewhat buyer’s market. Now don’t get me wrong, in some markets it’s still a seller’s market, especially because of low inventory but even in many of those markets home prices have softened, are having longer days on the market and the home owners are needing to reduce the asking price in order to attract offers. Home buyers these days want a home that’s turnkey and in move-in condition. They wanted the same thing in a seller’s market and they want it to turn key even more now.

Now that the market is changing, making sure that your home is positioned and in the best shape possible is vital. Fix any leaks, and anything that is not working properly. If your home has not been updated in a while and you have the budget for it I would recommend a moderate update with fresh designer interior paint, matching laminate flooring, nice landscaping for curb appeal, affordable stainless steel appliances for the kitchen, you’d be surprised how affordable stainless steel appliances can be when purchased during a holiday sale. Resurfaced and painted kitchen cabinets and new hardware for doors, and cabinets can attract the hearts and offers of home buyers. If you're lucky you can get all this done for a bargain with the right contractor. If you live in the San Jose Santa Clara County area, Bay Area, Central Valley, Fresno or the Sacramento area give me a call and I’ll be happy to help.

WHEN SHOULD I SELL MY HOME?

I suggest that you sell your home anytime you need to sell it. Don’t put your life on hold and wait for the market to change. Whether your a first time home buyer or a seller looking to buy their next home now is actually a good time to buy a home because you have more options available to choose from, and you have more negotiating power to ask the seller to help pay for buyer’s closing costs in order to buy down your interest rate and get a lower interest rate in order to lower your mortgage payments. Potential home sellers may want to wait for interest rates to decrease before making their move but the data shows that you would pay more in the end because year over year home values increase on average at about 5%, so what this means is you might get a lower interest rate if you wait but end up paying more for the house, and have less options to choose from due to low inventory and other buyers entering the market.

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE FOR MY HOME TO SELL?

The answer to this question is not one size fits all and varies on many factors. Of all the factors involved and mentioned in this blog, the most important factor is who you hire as your agent. Choosing the right real estate professional will result in a less hassle and pleasant home selling experience, less days on market, and a higher bottom line. Even during the Great Recession of 2008- 2012 I sold many, many properties and my average days on the market was just 30 days, which is really good and above average during a recession.

HOW MUCH DO I NEED TO SPEND TO GET MY HOME READY TO SELL?

At Citi One Realty we can help you to get your home market ready by drawing up a plan that fits your budget. Also it’s important to note that by hiring the right contractor you could get your home ready to sell at a fraction of the cost, and save yourself a lot of time and hassle.

WHY HASN’T MY HOME SOLD?

If you find yourself asking this question, do not be in despair because there’s still hope. I have helped many homeowners that sought my advice after working with another realtor or after working with a friend or family member that happend to have a real estate license but didn’t have the necessary experience needed to navigate during a challenging real estate market and challenging economic times. It’s really important that you have a real estate broker like Capri Ndikum with a proven track record of success during a recession and challenging economic times. It’s important that you get it right the first time before putting your home on the market, but you can still succeed and accomplish your goals

with an expired listing if you get the right help and guidance.

What's my home's worth? Looking for a top realtor in San Jose? Capri Ndikum is a top San Jose Real Estate agent & broker/owner of Citi One Realty located in San Jose, CA with over 21 years of real estate experience. The American Institute of Real Estate Professionals listed Capri Ndikum as the 10 Best Real Estate Agents in California.

Who really is a real estate broker?

Sat, 17 Dec 2022 11:29:38 GMT

San Jose Broker

When you decide to make a purchase, the brokerage will be involved in almost every step of the process. The brokerage will have an extensive understanding of what it takes to get a house sold, and they can help guide you through the steps of the closing process.

If you are in the market for a new home and have not considered a real estate broker, perhaps you should.

In today's difficult economy, many people are choosing to work from home rather than taking a job with a company that might go under. While this is very commendable, most jobs offer a higher pay rate and a wider range of benefits, such as health care and paid time off. For these reasons, more people are working from home than ever before. Because more people need to work from home and more companies need to save money, there has been a tremendous increase in the number of brokers and salespeople. The San Jose real estate market has also benefited from an increased number of listings.

Brokerage helps the buyer find the home of their choice. They often work with multiple clients at one time. One of the most common ways they help their clients locate a home is by putting together a search list using local information. Most listings now come with some sort of property search engine, and a brokerage will have one or more on hand. When a buyer uses one of these services, the service pulls local data from multiple listing services (MLS) and brings it to the buyer's attention.

The job of a San Jose broker is to assist the client in making the decision to buy. Brokers are licensed and must follow strict rules in order to maintain their licenses. While the San Jose Real Estate Commission (RES) publishes these rules, it is important to remember that each city and / or county has their own regulations regarding real estate agents. RES also cannot order a broker to discontinue any services without giving the broker a written notice. Since by law, realtors and real estate agents cannot work alone, and must

be under the guidance and supervise of a broker, a broker teaches, train, guide and hire real estate agents.

In most instances, a broker's duties include helping their clients find suitable homes for them to purchase. This usually means looking through multiple listing services and MLS systems to see what properties are available for sale in the area. They also help to arrange viewings for prospective buyers. Some professionals also help their clients with paperwork, which includes preparing the appropriate forms needed by the buyer and arranging the necessary papers and documentation for the property transfer. They also handle closing proceedings, such as obtaining necessary permits.

In the end, a broker helps make the transaction as smooth as possible. Without him or her, a buyer might not feel comfortable purchasing a home, let alone negotiating the sale of one. A successful transaction will have everything working smoothly - from start to finish. Buyers should know how much they're willing to spend and should be aware of the asking price. Once the deal is sealed, the broker should help their client with the financing aspects of the transaction.

The Internet allows buyers to do a search on a given name to find out who is a real estate broker according to state requirements. It's important to look at all of the qualities listed above to ensure that the broker in question has experience and skill in the type of market where the house is being listed. Real estate transactions can be complex. Having a broker who is adept at navigating the transaction so it goes as smoothly as possible is very valuable to both the buyer and the seller.

How much do you pay your real estate broker?

There is really no standard price for this service, but it's helpful to know that it's not a rare practice. A good rule of thumb is commission of 2-3%. This fee includes administrative services, which include receiving and sending emails, handling the day-to-day leads, making cold calls, and more. For real estate agents who work on commission, the total fee may be multiplied by the number of properties they sell.

If you're looking for a top broker in San Jose, we can be of help. Give us a call and we will guide you to the right path.

Make Repairs or Just Sell As-Is?

Fri, 01 Jul 2022 19:51:15 GMT

GETTING YOUR HOME READY TO SELL

Capri sells homes in the San Jose Bay Area, Stockton, Tracy, Central Valley and Sacramento as the broker and owner of Citi One Realty . Specializing in home remodeling, staging, and selling of homes for over 21 years.

Make repairs, or just sell it as-is? This is the question that is on the minds of many homeowners in today's market. Within the past few years home buyers have become more attracted to homes that are in a turn key position, and ready to move into. Because of today's current events, inflation and rising interest rates home owners will need to make their homes more competitive in presentation and price in order to attract more potential home buyers. This may sound like a daunting task, but with the right real estate professional to guide you through the process its pretty simple and easy. In today's market it doesn't matter where you live from San Jose Evergreen, Silver Creek, Willow Glen, The Almaden Valley, Saratoga, Los Altos, Cambrian, Tracy or the Stockton real estate market.

Following these tried and tested steps will help you achieve a faster sale and higher sales price. While a few sellers decide to not update or stage their home; many homeowners do for a faster sale, so it's important in these markets to get your home ready in order to beat your competition. Not doing anything at all example, painting, cleaning, or listing your property above market value will only help your neighbor's home sell faster.

You don't need to spend a lot of money to get your home ready, but keep in mind that first impression is everything; and home buyers whether they know this or not are looking for an "emotional" experience when they walk into your home. Knowing how to prepare your home in order to trigger all the right emotions of a home buyer is key, and this process begins several weeks or even months before show time! The majority of the buyers in your market will see your home right when it's listed. What this means is that homes only get a small 14 day window to receive the best and highest offers; so it's imperative that you get it right from the very beginning.

It's important to have the right set of professional eyes to walk through your home with you and show you what work is needed, and what's not. We'll walk through your home with you and place you on the right path so that you reach your goals. I've always said that we prepare for big events like a special birthday party to show off our homes to our guests, we prepare our homes for holiday celebrations, we even spend months to prepare for a wedding celebration. Why not invest a little time and resources to prepare for what is usually the largest sale or investment of our lives?

When done correctly, repairs, possible minor remodeling IF needed, and some staging will help your home to sell faster, at a higher price, and make the process of selling of your home more seamless and pleasant. That's of course only if it's priced right! Reach out to us to receive your free no obligation home assessment to make sure your home is correctly positioned and ready to receive the most money possible! We're here to help. Click here to... Give us a cal l! 408-828-1809/925-434-8684

Top San Jose Realtor Discusses Inflation and How it affects Buyers and Sellers in Today's Real Estate Market

capri.sellsproperties@gmail.com — Fri, 03 Jun 2022 04:54:15 GMT

What Does Higher Interest Rates Mean for Buyers and Sellers?

Wonder why gas prices are so high? Or why food is so expensive at the grocery stores? Or why San Jose homes for sale, and homes all around the country are getting more, and more expensive? First home prices were up because of supply and demand issues and not enough construction. Then, home prices were worsened by Covid.

Now, here we are in 2022 and it’s inflation. Many folks have heard of and been through a recession, but many people do not know what Inflation is because they’ve never lived through or experienced high inflation before. I wrote this article to give San Jose home sellers and first time home buyers including those that are in the surrounding and other real estate markets a better understanding of what inflation is and why you are experiencing what you're seeing at the pump.

So what is inflation? Inflation usually happens due to loosened Federal policy making. Historically after times of war, recession, or any great event (such as Covid) the Federal government will loosen its reserve requirements and lower interest rates in order to help the economy stay healthy and strong.

However, there’s a downside to this which economists call the Phillips Curve. Too much money circulating in the economy, low unemployment and consumer spending force’s prices to go up, and prices will continue to climb without intervention from the US government. To counter inflation the Federal Reserve has already started to increase interest rates.

In 1980 the interest rates went as high as 18% to turn inflation around. Although I don’t think rates will get this high they could continue to increase possibly to 7% or higher because the CPI is at an unprecedented high. The CPI Consumer Product Index is how inflation is measured and is at 8.3% down from a 40 year high of 8.5% earlier this year. This gauge shows how much consumers pay for a market basket of consumer goods. That car you purchased last year would’ve cost you 8.3% or about $1600 more had you bought it today.

Inflation is also showing up in gas prices and the housing sector due to a long period of low interest rates, and laxed federal regulations. During the 2008 Great Recession the federal government had to lower interest rates in order to help boost the economy and reduce the high unemployment rate to get the country out of a great recession, and it worked! It worked a little too well I think…

We successfully got out of the recession but when it was time for the Fed to increase interest rates to slow down and prevent the rate of inflation from passing it’s normal 2% rate and keep the nation at a perfect balance they hesitated. So, interest rates stayed at a historic low for a decade, from 2012 until early 2022 rates have been between 2 and 4%. This is an unprecedented amount of time as interest rates have never been this low. Last year interest rates were as low 2.9% now they are at 5-6%.

As a result, new construction sales have softened, loan applications have decreased but are starting to pick back up as borrowers are recovering from the rate hike shock, and are having this now or never mentality. Appraisals and home values have started to soften and even decrease in some areas. Construction is still behind, and there are not enough homes built to accommodate everyone. We just haven’t been building enough homes year over year to fulfill supply and demand. Home values will be affected depending on how high the interest rates get. Since nobody wants high prices the government’s strategy is to bring us out of this inflation without plunging us into a recession.

Tips borrowers can do is not wait for rates to go up when purchasing a home. Also, if you are ready to become a homeowner go for it! Don’t try to wait for the market as there’s little to no benefit in lower home values with higher interest rates. Lock in your interest rate with your lender as soon as possible. Pay off any small credit card debt so that you’re not paying higher interest on your credit cards because when interest rates go up credit cards are usually the first to be affected. This will also help your ratios when applying for a mortgage. San Jose sellers and sellers in any real estate market that have been sitting on the fence about selling their home or plan on selling at the end of the year; real estate is a seasonal business.

Although less buyers are entering into the market this summer due to the higher interest rates summer is still and has always been the best time to sell your home. Homes traditionally sell faster during the summer and for more money. Waiting means possibly higher interest rates which equates to less borrowers, less borrowers equates to possibly lower values, and less dollars for sellers.

When buying a home make sure you have a knowledgeable and experienced San Jose realtor like Capri Ndikum at Citi One Realty. In these challenging times it’s always good to have a real estate agent who has had experience in Selling San Jose real estate during different times in the market. With two decades of experience, Capri can help navigate you through challenging, and changing markets and help you to achieve your goals whether you are a first time home buyer, or a seller wanting to list and sell luxury homes in San Jose, the Bay Area, Sacramento Metro areas, or the Central Valley.

Capri Ndikum is the broker/owner of Citi One Realty and has local real estate expertise in the San Jose Bay Area and surrounding areas. Because of her unique experience and years in the field Capri was recently selected by Redfin as a top financial and real estate expert! See the article we we're featured in and contact us if you have any questions: Inflation and House Prices: What Homebuyers, Sellers, and Renters Need to Know

As your local real estate expert we want you to know that we're here for you and all of your real estate needs.

Whether you're looking for a seller's agent or a buyer's agent in San Jose or Northern California feel free to give us a call or reach out to us on the chat for all of your real estate and financial questions. Looking for a top San Jose realtor? Our moto is, with Citi One Realty you CAN "Consider it SOLD!"

Is San Jose in a Strong Seller's Market?

Mon, 15 Mar 2021 08:07:17 GMT

San Jose’s single family housing market suggests that San Jose is in a strong sellers market.

The San Jose housing market is a strong seller’s market. This means that homes are selling in less than 20 days after putting them on the market. A hot market for buyers in February 2021 compared to last year was 107.8%. The comparison to last month was even hotter, at 107.7%. While other markets are showing signs of overheating, the San Jose housing market is clearly in a strong seller’s market. ( Source )

One of the most common mistakes made by novice home-buyers and sellers is to assume that a strong seller's market means a healthy Real Estate market. The truth is that it is more complicated than that. And one of the most important things you can do as a new home-buyer, is to ensure that you are not making the common and costly mistakes which can trap you in a Real Estate "depreciation pit" even before you actually own your first home. In this article I will explain why timing is so important in a sellers market and how you can avoid it.

First of all let's be clear on one thing - a buyer's market is when there are more properties for sale than people are wanting to buy. When the market is this buoyed up, prices start to go up. But just because prices are higher than what buyers are willing to pay doesn't mean that prices are good. It just means that there are more homes available to be sold. So naturally the competition increases and the properties are more competitive. This is exactly when inexperienced home-buyers make the mistake of thinking that they can scoop up a bargain property for far less than it is actually worth.

Unfortunately, because we have been taught in our economic education lessons that it is more desirable to buy something for a low price than to sell it for a high one, we tend to overreact in a buyers market. We tend to think that we can lock in a low price simply by being willing to buy now. And we do indeed sometimes manage to get lucky. But then there is the problem of overpricing. And the problem of locking in a low price is exacerbated by a sellers market.

Here are some examples of what I mean. Say you want to buy a foreclosure. That home is probably priced way below its true value. A typical inexperienced real estate agent might tell you that there is no way to make such a deal work. He or she will tell you to go home, pack up your bags and move on.

But let's say you have found a great foreclosure. You've negotiated a great deal, got the seller to agree to reasonable terms, and even made some upgrades to the home. You still end up selling the home for way below market value! And this is a seller's market!

This is why inexperienced buyers beware. When there are more properties on the market, sellers are less likely to want to negotiate with their buyers. They know they can get more money out of selling the home for a price than what it is currently worth. In a sellers market sellers don't want to sell for less than what they are worth. And buyers who price their homes incorrectly in a sellers market miss out on many great bargains.

The trick to see if you're having a strong sellers market is to check the average sales prices for houses in your area for the last few months. This gives you an idea of what the market has been like recently. If you see that the average sales price for houses has dropped, you may have a sellers market. Buyers who price their homes too high in a sellers market miss out on great deals. But when buyers price their homes too low in a seller's market it simply means that demand outstrips supply.

If you are interested in making money real estate wise, you need to know when to buy, when to sell, and how to price your house so that you can get the most for your time and effort. If you need guidance from an experienced realtor in San Jose , please reach out to me.

Getting Your Home Ready to Sell During & After the Holidays

capri.sellsproperties@gmail.com — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 01:13:22 GMT

Exciting Tips on Selling Your San Jose Home Fast!

I’ve been asked many times by home owners over the years “how can I sell my San Jose home fast?" The answer is in the preparation.

2021 is quickly approaching and just around the corner for home owners thinking about selling their home after the new year. The month of December is usually the time to prepare your home for entertaining and the festive holidays up ahead. If you are one of the many homeowners that plan on selling their home after the holidays now is actually a good time to start thinking about the type of improvements and changes you will be making in order to prepare it for the market. Here are a few ways you could kill two birds all with the same stone. For example, if you are planning on decorating the exterior of your home with Christmas lights, why not start with cleaning out the rain gutters first? Clean rain gutters will help your home pass a home inspection.

This is the time of year when all the leaves fall off the trees. We’re approaching the end of the fall season going into winter. Fall is such a beautiful time of the year because the leaves change colors, however they can create quite a mess and clog your rain gutters if you’re not careful. If you have several of the older and mature trees near your home the leaves can leave quite a mess. Although we benefit so much from these lovely mature trees and the absolute beauty that they provide to the neighborhood along with what nature has to offer; it is advisable to cut any of the branches that may be getting in the way and hanging over your roof. This will help prevent any damage to the roof and also prevents leaves from getting in and clogging your gutters.

Have you ever noticed that your grass and even your neighbors grass looks a whole lot greener during the winter season and tends to appear more yellow during the warm summer months? Winter is a great time for your lawn to receive natural nutrients from the rain and colder climate this time of year has to offer. If you have a stubborn lawn that tends to turn yellow, try capitalizing on this time of year to feed your grass with a lawn feed that will help protect it and keep it green even after all the rain has gone. Making sure your grass and landscaping are neatly cut and manicured for the holidays will also benefit you when it's time to sell in the spring. Also make sure that all your sprinklers are working and are in top condition. This will be one less item you will have to fix when the time comes to start thinking about selling.

Having your home nicely decorated with Christmas lights and ornaments will give your home the well attention it deserves. Every year families all alike love to drive by to see the grandeur and beauty of nicely decorated homes during the Christmas Holiday Season. This is a tradition my family has enjoyed for many years, with the children. We would listen to Christmas carols on the radio, drive up to a drive thru and grab a nice and warm cup of hot cocoa before going to enjoy the beautiful Christmas lights in San Jose. It was always fun to see neighbors competing. I think this will be needed and appreciated even more by families this year because of the pandemic. More families will spend less time in the mall with Santa this year, and will find a different way to enjoy the holidays like driving around and admiring all the homes with the nice Christmas lights and displays.

San Jose’s Christmas in the park is also a wonderful experience to enjoy with the family. It has been moved to a drive thru only event this year. Hopefully it will be moved back to it’s original home place in the downtown area of San Jose next year. This part of town is where most of the business offices are and where San Jose's commercial real estate it located. It’s being held this year at the History Park located on the corner of Story and Senter Road this year. You do need to purchase a ticket in advance.

For those who will be enjoying the free display of homes decorated in the Christmas spirit just think, your neighbors close by and even folks in the city who generally at any other time would never even know that your home existed; will see your beautiful holiday decorated home and fall in love with it even before you put it on the market. This is also a great idea for homes that are currently for sale especially in the South Bay real estate market. There is so much competition that the more exposure your home receives, the better. If your home isn't on the market, but you plan on selling your home soon this wonderful technique is sort of like branding. You will be planting a seed in the hearts of potential home buyers in the winter to harvest in the spring or whenever it’s for sale. The goal is that when you finally do put your home on the market your neighbors and folks in town can easily describe or identify your home as “Remember the house that had all the pretty Christmas lights, it’s for sale!” Bingo! Your home now has an identity where your neighbor’s home ( your competitor) that's for sale does not.

In fact, why not go all in with Jesus and the Manger, Frosty, Santa, and a Christmas village right in front of your home, especially if you are trying to sell it. Since you’re getting your home ready for the holidays and a future sale a little prep work is beneficial. Now is a good time to replace any broken bulbs, missing cabinet knobs, broken or missing door knobs, wall punctures, holes, fix broken light fixtures and repair any plumbing problems. You should do some detailed holiday season cleaning to your home, wipe down the baseboards and window seals, clean the windows especially places in your home that usually never get your attention throughout the year.

If you have the tall and vaulted ceilings there’s a good likelihood that dust and spider webs have accumulated in all the hard to see and reach places over the years. Adding some touch up paint to areas in your home that need it will also benefit you when entertaining your guests for the holidays and when it’s time to sell your home. No one wants the embarrassment of installing Christmas lights for so many in the public to see on top of a noticeably dirty exterior. So before you install those beautiful lights check to see if your home needs to be power washed. You would need to do this before you sell your San Jose home, so why not just get it out of the way now? Be sure to pluck up any weeds that may be growing on your front lawn and garden. Shampoo any soiled carpet in the home that needs attention. If you’re among those homeowners who have a two story home for sale in San Jose during or even after the holidays remember to wipe down all your stair rails and balusters before you hang up the Christmas reefs. Don't forget to get to the baseboards at the bottom of the baluster. These are easy to miss places that you may not see in your own home which is common. Your guests might even miss seeing it, but they stand out like a sore thumb to potential home buyers.

If your appliances are missing working parts or are out dated, and you plan on selling your home after the holiday season this is a great time to take advantage of all the holiday sales. In fact, the time to replace those appliances wouldn’t be more perfect. Reason is because you get the opportunity to use and enjoy them while also showing them off to your guests and family members during the holidays. Come to think of it, the holiday sales may be the only and last chance you’ll get to receive a great discounted deal on appliances before selling your house, so why not grab it now and enjoy the savings? They’ll even install them for you. Yes, those new appliances will help your home to sell fast and have more appeal. Home buyers just love new appliances.

The big home and hardware stores like Lowes usually have great deals on their stainless steel appliances and holiday sales. Many are available for purchasing online, so while you’re in the store or online shopping for all the holiday ornaments for the house check out their appliance section too. The end of the year is here and the deadline to donate that old vehicle that doesn’t run anymore in the driveway is expiring. Keep in mind that any vehicle, boat or RV no longer running and parked in the driveway is an eyesore for home buyers. Now is an excellent time to donate it to your favorite charity and get that tax write off while you're at it. While you’re donating to your favorite charity why not get rid of all the excess clutter that’s in the house, backyard and the garage. A lot of clutter and excess furniture will make a space look too small and confusing to home buyers. Also rearranging the furniture can be a fun activity you can do with the kids and a great way to give your home a fresh new look and feel for the holidays and for your home buyers too.

Remember that when staging your home less is always more. Lighter tones and neutral colors are welcomed. Too many colors is less desirable, so if you have a different color of paint in each room consider repainting the interior of your home with the same or a similar neutral color in each room. Before you decide to start enjoying your warm and cozy fireplace for the season consider having a chimney sweep done if you haven't already. This will be one of the first things a home inspector will look at during a home inspection. So now you have a wealth of information to make your home a holiday masterpiece and an enjoyable experience this holiday season. Hopefully you will also reap the rewards of all your hard work and creativity when it's time to sell.

How to Win a Bidding War in San Jose's Seller's Market Going Into 2021

capri.sellsproperties@gmail.com — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 03:56:51 GMT

Great Tips For San Jose Home Buyers & First Time Home Buyers!

The pandemic has changed the world of real estate and the way homes are sold in Silicon Valley and Northern California. Usually during this time of year homes sell at a much slower rate than any other time of the year. However, because of Covid, all of that has changed. Homes are still selling at a fast rate with only a few days on the market. Reason is; there is a very low supply of real estate inventory in today’s market. In fact, the inventory in the San Jose Bay area is about 40% lower than previous years. There are more home buyers searching for homes than there are homes for sale. Many ask why would someone want to move or buy a home during a pandemic? The answer is quite simple. Home buyers and families who live in condos, town homes, or apartments need more space because of the stay in place order. Many professionals and high tech home buyers are looking for larger homes with more space outside of the hustle and bustle of the busy city.

There's a high demand for homes with a bigger back yard so that families with children and pets will have more space to stretch their legs during a pandemic and a stay in place order. Also, since the shutdown many employees are able to work from home, and are even allowed to continue working from home after the pandemic is over. So this allows them to live and work outside of commuting distances from the office. Many companies are quickly realizing that allowing their employees to work from home helps to significantly reduce their operating expenses. This has allowed many businesses to stay afloat during these uncertain times. Because families are spending more time at home many of these families are needing a home with much larger square footage and an office for work.

Interest rates are also a big factor. Mortgage rates are still historically low and currently you can get a 30 year fixed rate below 3%. This is another reason why there is such high demand for home ownership not just in San Jose but throughout California and the United States.

Because of the high demand to buy real estate in Northern California, current historically low interest rates, and low inventory, buyers are forced to compete to buy homes for sale in San Jose and it's surrounding suburbs. Homes are on the market for a minimum amount of time, in some markets such as the Los Altos, San Mateo and Danville Markets houses are quickly going into a sale pending status within 7-14 days or less. Many home buyers have actually been pushed out of the real estate market place because of so much competition, and are planning to buy a house in 2021.

In such a competitive environment it is so important to have a real estate expert who has experience in winning bidding wars. Winning your dream home under the current environment takes planning, timing, a good strategy, good PR on the realtors end, and a strong offer.

Many of these required steps are actually done before you even begin your home search or find your dream home. The first step in the home buying process actually begins with your lender. It’s important that you work with someone who’s reliable and has the best loan and terms to support making a strong offer. Home owners and listing agents tend to favor Conventional Loans over FHA Loans. If you have the option to choose between the two loan products, and the terms are in your favor your loan officer may recommend that you receive a loan pre approval with a Conventional Loan.

Of course putting down a large down payment and earnest money deposit shows the seller that you are motivated and serious about the purchase. A large down payment with proof of funds showing some extra reserves on hand may help the seller feel more comfortable choosing your offer over others just in case the appraisal from the lender doesn’t cover your increased offer amount. Before we go any further with discussing the offer let's go back a little. Timing is actually the next step to winning a bidding war after your financing and loan approval is complete. Many home buyers do their home searching on their days off which is usually during the weekends and sometimes Fridays. Sellers generally choose these days as well in order to allow open houses and private viewings of their properties. So it’s safe to say that a great majority of home buyers are doing their viewings during these days of the week.

This creates a system, where offers will usually flow into the sellers agent’s email on Mondays and Tuesdays because of all the weekend traffic and open houses. This system works well for sellers because it allows buyers to see the home all at or around the same time, which creates a channel for offers to flow in around the same time as well. This creates a climate for bidding wars. Yikes! Although this system is good for sellers, it's not so good for home buyers. So, buyers seeking to purchase a home are advised to do all of their viewings tactfully, preferably on days of the week when other buyers aren't looking and without delay, immediately submitting their offer on any home they're interested in buying.

Communication is essential. It is a good idea for the buyer’s agent to begin communication with the listing agent before viewing the property to know it’s offer status. There’s no need of knowingly running into an ambush; this will prevent that from happening. If the property already has multiple offers and you have not seen it, it's probably best to just move on to the next home. Tour properties that are well within and below your maximum price range. That way you will have some wiggle room to negotiate and increase your offer amount if other offers happen to come in after you have submitted yours. Your agent should be in constant communication with the listing agent because things are so fluid these days and offer statuses are constantly changing.

Hopefully your agent or real estate broker is very cordial, friendly and has a great relationship with the listing agent, even if they don’t know each other. This helps keep the line of communication open and in your favor.

Now it's time to talk about the terms of your offer but before we go into terms keep in mind that it will more than likely be the price that will determine if you get your dream home or not. These tips can be very helpful but remember that the price that will be the most important if not the main factor the seller will use in determining who’s offer to go with. Don’t be afraid to cushion your offer with a few hundred dollars. Never let your offer number end in the 000's! You could be surprised and disappointed to discover that you lost your dream home over a lousy $300 if you allow your offer to end in 000’s. A good example is $2,890,300 is a better offer than $2,890,000.

Every home seller wants a short and easy escrow. Knowing this will be helpful when writing your offer. Try to make your escrow to be as simple and as short as possible. Of course you should check with your loan officer before writing your offer to see how short of an escrow you can have. After all your lender will need time to get your loan appraised, fully approved, and dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s. Be sure to be in constant contact with your lender, provide any requested documents and review and sign any requested forms in a timely manner. Title and escrow companies are required by law to be neutral parties to every transaction. Allowing the seller to choose the title and escrow company should be ok, it can save time and make all the difference between you receiving a multiple counter offer or getting a fully accepted offer back from the listing agent during a bidding war.

Although the earnest money deposit amount is not a major important factor to some sellers as long as it meets the threshold; it does help to show the buyer's willingness and level of motivation. Keep in mind that every contract allows buyers to have an inspection period to inspect the home and allows home and pest inspectors to come in too. A home inspection is very important and highly advised, even for newer homes. In California the inspection period is generally 17 days, however having the ability to complete all of your inspections in a shorter time frame helps to strengthen your offer.

Getting a home warranty to help cover appliances is also advised and can come in good use in case something breaks down and needs repair after you have moved in. Many home warranty companies offer these services for as little as $500. Which could save you a lot of money down the road. Some buyers ask the seller to help or even pay for the home warranty. However, if after checking with the listing agent, or broker you discover that there are multiple offers on the property that you are interested in or perhaps there aren’t any multiple offers but you're searching in a real estate market that is hot and prone to have bidding wars such as the Los Altos Hills, or San Jose then it's probably best that you absorb the fee. These are just only a few ideas to mention...

Purchasing a home should be a wonderful and pleasurable experience especially if you are a first time home buyer. Getting your dream home during a pandemic can be nerve racking and very challenging because of the low inventory out there and fierce competition. This is why it is so important that you have an experienced realtor like Capri Ndikum a t Cit i One Realty to help you navigate through the home buying process, bidding wars, and land you your dream home. Capri who doubles as a realtor and real estate broker has 21 years of real estate experience through changing markets and a major recession. She also has the know how to help you succeed and win!

Real Estate Opportunity Zones in Residential San Jose

capri.sellsproperties@gmail.com — Sun, 30 Aug 2020 00:17:26 GMT

Investing in San Jose's residential and commercial properties

Opportunity zones have become a very lucrative and popular investment tool for investors all over the country because it allows investors to defer their capital gains tax. They are becoming more and more popular in San Jose, California. Qualified Opportunity funds have attracted an estimated $75 billion dollars in new capital in just two years and are expected to attract much more. Before we go into more detail, let's go over the big question that’s buzzing around. What are Opportunity Zones? How can they benefit a new or a savvy investor, or help the community? Created by a bipartisan Congress through The 2017 Jobs act this new investment tool is a unique opportunity that helps and gives investors an incentive to invest their capital into low income neighborhoods and areas that usually are overlooked and even forgotten.

The program allows investors to defer their capital gains and even avoid paying capital gains on their new investments if their investments are placed into a Qualified Opportunity Fund, and invested in a census tract that is labeled as an Opportunity Zone.

Let’s go into more detail. An OZ is like a 1031 on steroids. With a 1031 exchange investors have only 6 months to reinvest their capital from the sale of real estate into a like kind property in order to avoid paying tax on their capital gains. However, with an OZ the capital can come from the sale of stock, a business, or real estate and it doesn’t have to be reinvested into a like kind property as long as it is reinvested into an OZ within 6 months from the sale. This program does have requirements in order to receive the tax benefit. One of the requirements is that the capital has to be invested into a neighborhood that has been zoned by the governor as an Opportunity Zone. There are 36,000 census tracts across the country, out of them 25% have been designated as Opportunity Zones. When the bill was created Congress did not want to have to decide which areas would be labeled an OZ, so they decided to give the governors of each state that responsibility in order to make sure that the intent of the bill is fulfilled since local governors and mayors know their communities and neighborhoods more than anyone else.

This program works best when local mayors and the governor work with the community, philanthropy and developers, and when local laws, development and permit policies are created and in line to support Opportunity Zones. This legislation allows the nation's private capital to go directly into the areas and communities that need it most. Creating new jobs and opportunities for so many people that have not seen any of the recovery and growth that has been mentioned and talked about on the news since the recession of 2008. In fact most of the recovery that has occurred in the nation comes from three states: New York, California and Florida and areas within these states that are medium to high income.

HOW TO CREATE A QUALIFIED OPPORTUNITY FUND

You can start your own Qualified Opportunity Fund if you have a Corp, Partnership, or LLC, however because of the required funds that will have to be invested into your new building or investment it may be more lucrative and make better since to just find an Opportunity fund to invest your capital into since they have more experience and knowledge with OZ’s. 100% of the price of the investment will need to be invested into the building for improvements minus the cost of the land within 30 months of the purchase. In order to know the land value you can always check with the local property tax assessor in order to find out what the recent assessed value of the land is. So for an example if you purchase a property for $1 million dollars and the land value is $200,000 you would need to make $800,000 in improvements. In order to make such a substantial improvement into some properties you would likely need to demolish and build a whole new building.

Today there are 30,000,000 Americans living in low income neighborhoods. Many of these low income neighborhoods around the country are getting a new makeover, and communities are seeing hope with this new program because developers are coming in and developing entire blocks with beautiful condominiums, town homes, hotels, businesses, and retail facilities, and medical and office facilities. Finally a straight line has been drawn that connects these economically distressed communities with potentially over a trillion dollars of US capital investments. These communities are also receiving new employment opportunities with all the new development that is happening because of the OZ. The big question is why would investors want to invest their capital into areas that have been known in the past as high risk? What exactly is the benefit for the investor? Those investors that are pulling their capital from the stock market today during the Covid-19 era will have to pay tax on the capital gains of the stock, and during the Covid trillions of capital has been sold and need to be reinvested somehow by these investors.

Many are looking at real estate because of its lucrativeness. Especially in areas like San Jose where you can enjoy rent and future equity from your new investment. If you invest into an OZ for 5 years you get to defer your capital gains tax, and only have to pay tax on 90% of your invested capital gains (ex. The money you pulled from your stock), and you don’t even have to pay it until the year 2026. Those who hold their investment in an OZ for an extra 2 years, a total of 7 years get to only pay 85% of their original capital gain when they decide to sell it. The big benefit is here: if you keep your OZ investment for a total of 10 years and you make all the required improvements which we discussed earlier, and are fully compliant You will pay NO CAPITAL GAINS when you decide to sell. So the way this works is let's say you sell some stock and receive 1 million in capital gains. You then purchase a building for 1 million dollars with the capital gains you received from the sale of your stock. You hold the new investment for 10 years (and made the required improvements) and decide to sell. The property has appreciated by 2 million dollars, so you get 3 million dollars from the sale. You will only have to pay capital gains tax for the original money you invested into the property since you never paid any capital gains on that money. Your original invested capital was only 1 million, so you will pay tax only on 85% of the original $1 million which means you’ll pay taxes on $850,000. So you receive $3 million from the sale but you will only pay capital gains tax for $850,000 of it. That’s sweet!

WHERE TO FIND OPPORTUNITY ZONES IN SAN JOSE?

To find out exactly where real estate opportunity zones are in residential San Jose you can find out by looking online as the state provides a map of all approved census tracts. Several census tracts in downtown San Jose have been selected as Opportunity Zones, and many have the potential to become very lucrative investments because of Google’s planned 60 acre campus to be built nearby, PLUS more new and upcoming plans are being filed by developers. In fact there are already Qualified Opportunity Funds that are working with the City of San Jose’s planning department to develop some of downtown San Jose Opportunity Zones. There are also some areas selected near Monterey Rd and Curtner Ave, Alma Ave, from Monterey Rd and Old Tully Rd. Also near HWY 680 and the McGlaughlin exit, and the Story Rd exit off HWY 101.

PROS AND CONS

We’ve gone over many of the pros in investing into this unique and new government incentive. The program was created in 2017 but didn’t start getting a lot of traction until 2018. While there are several benefits noted by investors, some investors feel that because they have to invest the actual value of the property into the property in order to capture their deferred benefit, they would likely need to increase rents in order to recapture expenses. Which would drive out the actual people that the program is designed to help, and they don’t want to push anyone out of the community. So it is believed that this criteria needs to be adjusted.

WHO CAN HAVE A QUALIFIED OPPORTUNITY FUND?

Anyone can have a Qualified Opportunity Fund. You will need to create an LLC (if using an LLC it must be treated as a Corp for tax purposes), Partnership, or Corp for your Qualified Opportunity Fund, unless you already have a qualifying entity you would like to designate as your QOF. The next step is to self certify your LLC, PARTNERSHIP, OR CORP as a Qualified Opportunity Fund using the IRS tax form 8996 . This will be done when you file your income taxes, so your accountant can attach form 8996 to your tax returns. Keep in mind that 90% of your QOF assets must be in an Opportunity Zone. There are many requirements that need to be met so that you don’t get penalized and miss out on capturing your deferred benefit.

Since for the time being your QOF is self governed it is so important that you have a team of professionals in place to help you. I believe you'll need a “team of four to keep it "FAAR ”! Fund manager, Attorney, Accountant, Real Estate Agent. 1.) Fund Manager will make sure that all the T’s are crossed and the I's are dotted with your Qualified Opportunity Fund so that your fund stays in compliance. It’s very important that they are closely involved. 2.) Attorney to keep you current as new rules and regulations roll out. 3.) Accountant to make sure your fund properly self certifies and does everything to be compliant and ensures that your savings are being allocated and used properly. 4.) You'll need a Real Estate Agent familiar with Opportunity Zones in San Jose to make sure that you're making good and sound investments that make sense from an investor’s standpoint and you’re getting a good return on your investment. Of course the deferred benefits you’ll receive from having an OZ are phenomenal, but it only makes sense if you're making a good investment. Also, your realtor will make sure that the investment does not defeat the main purpose of the law which is revitalizing these economic distressed areas because you don’t want to displace or drive anyone out of the neighborhood. Feel free to reach out to us for more information and for a free list of residential and commercial properties for sale in Opportunity Zones in San Jose and Northern California.

Why Is Now a Good Time to Sell Real Estate?

Sun, 05 Jul 2020 01:43:39 GMT

Why Is Now A Good Time To Sell Real Estate?

2020 has indeed been an interesting and strange year. The San Jose real estate market was hit the hardest in Northern California in March of this year. With Santa Clara County and Governor Newson calling a state of emergency. Many home buyers and home owners alike delayed, canceled and put off their dreams while the stay in place order was and still is in effect in many regions of the state. As California is slowly starting to get back into normalcy homeowners and home buyers in San Jose and the rest of the state of California are trying to decide if now is a good time to buy or sell their San Jose real estate.

San Jose is in the heart of Silicon Valley with a robust economy that is unique in its own nature. There was already a shortage of houses for sale in San Jose, Willow Glen, Los Gatos, and the South Bay Area prior to Covid-19. With so many home buyers wanting to move to San Jose, CA because of the city’s high rated schools like Silver Creek High School, Los Gatos High School in Los Gatos, Evergreen College in Silver Creek San Jose, and also because there’s just so many activities for the family to enjoy like great parks, restaurants, museums, and shopping at the well renowned Valley Fair Mall in San Jose, Santa Clara. There’s also Santa Ana Row which is renown for it’s high class and elegant boutique shops, classy restaurants and evening entertainment.

San Jose Real Estate

The South Bay is nestled and surrounded by beautiful green hills and mountain belts which makes it hard for home builders to expand and develop new housing for San Jose residents and new comers. This is one of the reasons why there is such a great supply and demand situation in San Jose and the rest of the South Bay. Another contribution to the supply and demand issue is that San Jose is the heart of the technology world. Many of the millennials here have great employment from high tech companies like Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, you name it and it’s here! There are just so many more able and qualified home buyers than there are houses for sale in San Jose. So with that being said, there has always been a housing shortage in San Jose, and now with the Covid-19 Corona Virus the housing supply is even more scarce. More home buyers living in apartment complexes in the city are also entering into the San Jose real estate market and moving into houses for sale in San Jose, Gilroy, Morgan Hill and Los Gatos in order to distance themselves from the public providing to them a feel or sense of safety and security from the Covid-19.

This is why the year of 2020 is a very unique and complex year for San Jose real estate for many reasons. Buying or selling your home in San Jose this year has its advantages, and it’s disadvantages. But, first let's go over all the advantages to buying San Jose Real Estate during the Covid-19 the Corona Virus era. The Covid-19 Corona Virus has created its own new economy, it’s own advantages, and disadvantages. As humans, we all want to feel safe and secure, we all want to protect ourselves, and our families from the pandemic. We all have similar reactions and ways of responding when there is a pandemic, and when everyone is reacting the same way at the same time a climate is created.

This new climate is creating both disadvantages and advantages for some depending on where you are standing. During the pandemic home buyers and sellers were staying indoors until recently. The stay in place order has laxed and the summer weather has warmed up and stimulated an all excitement in the air for home buyers that had been home shopping online. Many people who hadn’t left their bay area homes are now getting back to their normal lives and visiting houses for sale in San Jose for the first time.

So many San Jose home buyers and families stayed indoors for several months this year which is the longest time they have ever had to stay inside of their homes. On the other side of the San Jose real estate spectrum are the home owners. Home owners are wary of the current environment and many are not selling their homes yet. Many homeowners in San Jose cannot vacate their homes and actually need to first sell their current home before they can move out, and they are saying that they are not ready to allow the public to enter into their occupied homes. Buyer’s alike are more willing to take a tour of a vacant home with their San Jose real estate agent, than tour a home that is still occupied. The two combined situations are creating an even deeper housing shortage in San Jose, the South bay and even the East bay area including real estate in Stockton and Patterson. Home buyers that are looking to buy in the South Bay and the East Bay suburbs of Dublin, Danville, Livermore and Pleasanton are in general viewing just the empty and vacant houses for sale to avoid any chances of getting exposed to Covid-19.

So if you are a homeowner thinking about selling your San Jose Real Estate what do you do? Is now a good time? Because of the greater housing shortage and lack of homes for sale in San Jose home values are ever increasing. Low interest rates are also a big factor that is driving home buyers and many first time home buyers into the San Jose real estate market. There are so many driving forces that have come together in the new 2020 Corona Virus era that if you own a home in San Jose’s Silicon Valley now is actually a great time to sell!

GRAPH #1 OF SAN JOSE REAL ESTATE MARKET 2020

GRAPH 1

Both graphs are for the zip code 95121 area showing the real estate market and homes that have sold in the Evergreen Silver Creek neighborhood of San Jose, CA. In the first graph the sales volume for 2019 are much higher than 2020 sales; not as many homes are being sold right now compared to this same time last year.

GRAPH 2

Although in the first graph the inventory for 2020 is much lower compared to 2019, the second graph shows that the medium sales price for San Jose Real Estate in the Silver Creek Evergreen area has increased for 2020 compared to last year. This is due to a much lower supply and higher demand.

The data for San Jose real estate is out! Currently there were only 246 homes that sold between May 1, 2020 and June 1, 2020. This is 71.5% less than what sold at the same time last year. 863 homes sold last year between May 1, 2019 and June 1, 2019. 927 homes sold between May 1, 2018 and June 1, 2018.

Although things are slowly starting to become normal, because many homeowners are still reluctant to sell their San Jose home during Covid-19, those that “DO” decide to sell their home will face less competition, have more control and leverage over all the offers that come in from San Jose home buyers, will have a much greater chance of receiving several multiple offers and bidding wars on their San Jose real estate, and a greater chance of selling their home significantly above their asking price, which can provide greater funds to go towards buying that next home.

Morgan Hill Real Estate

Because interest rates are still very low, 2020 is still a good time for home buyers. Home buyers in the bay area that live inside an apartment building are more motivated right now than ever to move into a house in the suburbs away from it all. Many home buyers are looking to buy real estate in Morgan Hill which is a nice suburb right outside of San Jose. Morgan Hill is only about a 15-20 minute drive from the south end of Santa Teresa neighborhood in San Jose, California. Homes in Morgan Hill are 15-20% less expensive than San Jose, and since it is a suburb the lot sizes are much larger. Many of the homes in Morgan Hill sit on over half an acre. Morgan Hill also offers good high rated schools. Top schools in Morgan Hill are Charter School of Morgan Hill, and Nordstrom Elementary School all within the Morgan Hill Unified School District. For family recreation Morgan Hill has several parks. A top park in Morgan Hill is the Anderson Lake County Park which has over 3,000 tree lined and natural acres, with biking and walking trails, picnic tables, horseback riding, boat riding and a great reservoir.

Another hot spot to take the kids would be the Morgan Hill Community Park which offers sporting activities for the kids such as baseball, soccer, skating, and slides. There’s plenty of space to walk the dog while enjoying the ducks and the lake nearby. It’s also a great spot to have a barbie ques or hold an outdoor birthday party for the kids. By the way, this park is well kept up and clean! I know that’s important to many families especially in these new times we’re in.

What's my home's worth? Looking for a top realtor in San Jose? Capri Ndikum is a top San Jose Real Estate agent & broker/owner of Citi One Realty located in San Jose, CA with over 20 years of real estate experience. The American Institute of Real Estate Professionals listed Capri Ndikum as the 10 Best Real Estate Agents in California.

How To Buy San Jose Real Estate With Zero Down Payment

capri.sellsproperties@gmail.com — Thu, 28 May 2020 05:23:48 GMT

Looking For Zero Down Home Loans for First Time Home Buyers in San Jose?

If you are a first time home buyer looking to buy San Jose real estate, or real estate anywhere in Northern California there are several different types of Down Payment Assistance government programs that are available to you. These programs allow you to purchase a home or a brand new home with zero down payment. Both CalHFA -FHA, Conventional, VA and USDA loan types are available. It can get a little confusing knowing and understanding all the different programs that are available in California and if you qualify. This guide will help give you the information you will need to have a better understanding, and to be better prepared before meeting and sitting down with a lender. The state of California offers these programs to first time home buyers, however with some of these programs you don’t have to be a first time home buyer.

First Time Home Buyer?

So, what is a first time home buyer? A first time home buyer is someone who currently doesn’t own any real property, or someone who used to own real estate but sold it at least 3 years ago. This means that if you used to own real estate in San Jose or anywhere else in California and you sold it three years ago or more you would be a first time homebuyer and you would qualify for these programs.

The Down Payment Assistance Program

Depending on the lender, you would need at least a 640 credit score to qualify for most of the down payment assistance programs. A lot of great new changes have been made for 2020 to help make these programs more available and accessible to home buyers and communities.

These programs are great for first time home buyers and they’re actually put in place to encourage the community to become homeowners, and enjoy all the benefits that come along with home ownership. Down Payment Assistance programs have been around for a long time, but what makes the current program so nice and different from the traditional ones of the past is that you actually don’t have to make any monthly payments on the money you borrow to pay for your down payment and/or closing costs.

Sounds a bit strange? Well, here’s how it works...The “My Home” down payment assistance program is a deferred payment loan offering you assistance on covering your down payment and closing costs by offering you a second mortgage. So, you will have your first mortgage which could be either a regular Conventional Loan or FHA Loan, and then you would have a second mortgage to cover your down payment and/or closing costs. In order to help you keep your monthly mortgage payments down, you would only make monthly payments on the first mortgage loan. You would only pay the second mortgage when you decide to sell your house and pay it off in full, through escrow, or when you decide to refinance your home. That is why the second mortgage is called “silent seconds”. Because it’s sort of like you won’t even know they are there.

The second mortgage needs to be 3.5% of the purchase price, and there is a $10,000 cap unless you're purchasing new construction, or you’re a school employee or a fire department employee.

CalHFA Program

This program is an FHA program offering you a 30 yr fixed interest rate first mortgage loan and 3.5% down payment. To qualify the home you are buying has to be your primary residence, so you do have to live in the home. You also are required to complete a homebuyer education counseling class, obtain and present a certificate of completion. If you prefer to take the course with the online option there is a $99 fee, and it’s 8 hours total. If there are two people on the loan, only one of the borrowers are required to take the course. What’s so nice is, for those needing assistance with their closing costs and down payment this program can be combined with the My Home Second Mortgage.

CalPLUS FHA Program

This is an FHA program with a 30 year fixed rate that has a slightly higher interest rate than the regular FHA Loan. This program is combined together with the CalHFA Zero Interest Rate Program to cover your closing costs. Your new home has to be your primary address, so you must occupy your new home to be eligible and complete the homebuyer education counseling course, and just remember only one of two buyers living in the home will need to take the course.. You must also meet the income limits for the program for example for Santa Clara and Alameda County the new income limit is $236,000, however effective June 1st, 2020 CalHFA will no longer have sales price limits for buyers purchasing single family homes. As of April 2020 the Maximum Debt-to-Income Ratio is now 43% which is good news for first time home buyers because it allows home buyers purchasing real estate in San Jose and throughout California where real estate can be a bit pricey to qualify for a little more.

CalHFA Conventional

This program offers a conventional loan to home buyers, and it doesn’t require you to be a first time home buyer. The minimum down payment is only 3% of the purchase price of the home, so if your purchase price is $700,000 your down payment would be $21,000. With this conventional program a minimum credit score of 680 is required. In most cases since you are putting down such a low down payment you may want to ask your loan officer if there is PMI or Private Mortgage Insurance. Private Mortgage Insurance is a monthly insurance that’s included and added to your monthly mortgage payments. It is generally required for borrowers with an 80% or higher LTV who are putting down less than 20% to purchase their home. Because of the lower investment from the buyer toward their down payment they are deemed as a higher risk to the lender, so PMI protects the lender in case the buyer ever defaults on the loan. The interest rates for this program are generally low, however there are different factors that will be considered by the lender such as your credit scores, and financial circumstances in order to determine your score. Since interest rates can change from day to day, and are pretty low right now it is good to have your loan officer lock you into a good rate once you have been approved.

Cal PLUS Conventional

This is the second mortgage that goes with the CalHFA Conventional if you need help paying for your closing costs and/or down payment. With this loan you will have a zero down payment. Income limits do apply for this program so you will need to check with your loan officer to see if you qualify. However starting June 1 2020 there are no purchase price limits. The new home must be your primary residence, and the first time homebuyer class and certificate is required before close of escrow. This program covers several types of San Jose Real Estate such as single family homes, condominiums, one- unit residences, manufactured homes are ok, and guest houses.

Conventional 97 Mortgage/ Fannie Mae HomeReady Loan/ Freddie Mac Home Possible Loan

If you are wanting to use a lower down payment; these loans are a great product. These programs only require a minimum credit score of 620, and the minimum down payment is just 3% compared to the traditional 5% on a Conventional loan. There is PMI, however it goes away after 10 years of owning your home.

CALHFA USDA

This is a USDA Guaranteed First Mortgage loan that is limited to rural areas, but there are plenty of rural areas outside and around San Jose, the South Bay and the Bay Area. This could be a great option for anyone interested in living in a rural area, and don’t mind the commute. This is a NO DOWN PAYMENT loan, and it has a 30 year fixed rate. The CalHFA USDA could be combined together with the My Home Program mentioned earlier if you need assistance with your down payment and/or closing costs. This loan requires no PMI Private Mortgage Insurance, which helps to reduce your monthly payments, and allows you to qualify for a bit more house. Minimum credit score for this program is 640. It also has income limits that are lower than some of the other programs. The program is for first time home buyers, and you have to take the required first time home buyer education counseling course and receive the certificate to qualify. You could buy a single family home, condominium, or manufactured home with the CalHFA USDA loan. There is of course a 5 acre limit on the land you can buy.

CalHFA- VA Program

This VA insured loan has a CalHFA First Mortgage fixed interest rate with a 30 year fixed rate. With this loan program you must occupy the home as your primary residence and complete the first time home buyer course and obtain the certificate, presenting a valid certificate of eligibility per VA Guidelines. Income limits do apply. Your new home has to be a single family residence, One- unit residence, condominium, guest house, granny units, and in-law units may also qualify.

Items Needed To Qualify

These programs are great and offer zero down payment options to first time home buyers. In order to qualify for these programs you will need to provide some documentation such as your most recent pay stubs, two years of your most recent tax returns, your employment history and two months of your most recent bank statements. CalHFA is not a lending institution and does not lend money to the public. They only work through approved lenders, and it is generally the lender that will decide the qualifying guidelines, and whether your application is approved or not. So it’s important that you work with a San Jose real estate agent, and loan officer that is familiar and has access to these programs. If you are interested in applying or receiving more information about the Down Payment Assistance Programs in the Bay Area, San Jose, Gilroy, Hollister, or it’s surrounding areas including Stockton and the Central Valley please feel free to reach out to us through our chat or by giving us a call, we are happy to help!

What my home's worth? Looking for a top realtor in San Jose? Capri Ndikum is a top San Jose Real Estate agent & broker/owner of Citi One Realty located in San Jose, CA with over 20 years of real estate experience. The American Institute of Real Estate Professionals listed Capri Ndikum as the 10 Best Real Estate Agents in California.

Beautiful San Jose Real Estate Suburb of Los Gatos

capri.sellsproperties@gmail.com — Fri, 01 May 2020 18:03:33 GMT

Searching for San Jose Real Estate? Monte Sereno in Los Gatos is a great place to live

This Video Displays: The Beautiful Monte Sereno Neighborhood of Los Gatos, The Vason Lake County Park, Highway 9 and Mendelsohn Ln, Blossom Hill Elementary School, and the Lexington Reservoir along highway 17

You can ride your bike or go for a stroll on the trail that follow's along highway 9 in the Los Gatos Monte Sereno neighborhood, which is one of the best places to live near San Jose. It's Just 10 minutes from San Jose and has great award winning schools. Los Gatos has some luxury homes for sale, but is in high demand. San Jose real estate agent Capri Ndikum specializes in the

Los Gatos area and can help you find the perfect home of your dreams.

How to Find The Best Homes in San Jose Suburbs?

Fri, 24 Apr 2020 00:47:17 GMT

Best places to live in and around San Jose and its Suburbs

LUXURY REAL ESTATE IN SILVER CREEK SAN JOSE

If you are thinking about moving to San Jose you're in luck because there are so many wonderful options and activities for you and the family to enjoy in and around the suburbs. The city of San Jose is located right in the heart of Silicon Valley. It is the home to Apple, Facebook, Google,YouTube, IBM, HP, Oracle and other giant tech companies. San Jose is a richly populated city with a population of 1,026,658. The average income is $104,234.

The city has several great parks and neighborhoods. If you are looking for San Jose real estate but would like to be away from the busy hussle and bustle of the city; try the southern end of the city. Evergreen and Silver Creek are located close to the south end of San Jose. This 95121 area has great award winning schools such as Carolyn A. Clark Elementary School, Silver Oak Elementary, Tom Matsumoto Elementary, Chaboya Middle School, Evergreen Valley High, and Silver Creek High School. The Silver Creek neighborhood is really in high demand because of it’s high rated schools, beautiful luxury homes, and location.

The area is rich in beauty with views of nature and the hills, several trees and houses built up on the mountain side and near the golf course. For fun, there's of course the Silver Creek Country Club which offers golf, classes, activities, and a sense of community. It's located in San Jose’s main luxury home community and not far from Evergreen Library, and the Evergreen Park. Prices in Evergreen start at around $890,000 for a 3-4 bedroom with apx. 1400 sq. ft in Evergreen . The larger 4-5 bedroom with 2400 sq. ft. and up in Silver Creek Valley Country Club starts at $1,600,000. This part of town offers an easy commute to work because it’s so close to hwy 101 and hwy 85/87.

HOMES FOR SALE IN THE SANTA TERESA FOOTHILLS

Another great neighborhood to live in is the Santa Teresa foothills neighborhood. This area is right off of hwy 101 off the Santa Teresa Blvd exit. Because it's further south the hill scenery is even bolder, more natural and beautiful. This part of town is not as pricey to buy into as the Silver Creek neighborhood which is full of mansions and homes that look like mini palaces, and it offers you that homey cozy feel at a more affordable price. A 3 bedroom 4 bathroom home in this 95119 zip code starts in the $850,000 price range. A 4 bedroom 3.5 bath over 2,000 sq. ft. will cost around $1.1 million dollars. The streets are tree lined with older mature trees, and there's plenty of shopping with Oak ridge mall nearby. Most of the homes are older built in the 80's but well maintained, and lived in by the homeowner. Since you’re so close to the foothills there are views of the mountains from just about every vantage point with homes nearby the foot of the hills. One of the nicest things that I like about the Santa Teresa area is the feel and advantage of living so close to Morgan Hill and Gilroy.

This area offers you access to three cities. It almost feels like you're in your own quiet place. You are in the big city of San Jose but yet you're not in the busi-ness, and you're calmly so next to peace and quiet and nature. On the weekends you can shop at all the designer shops at the Premium Outlet in Gilroy. You will love the fresh aroma of garlic as you're driving through the Garlic City. And if that's not enough why not keep going, and don't stop until you reach the beach. You're only about 30 minutes away after Gilroy.

Traveling with the kids you can go to Santa Cruz Beach BoardWalk, or if it's just you and your love why not Carmel, or Monterey Bay which has so many lovely restaurants to try and don't leave without trying their world renowned clam chowder, or visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium. So delicious!

SAN JOSE REAL ESTATE IN THE ALMADEN VALLEY

The Almaden Valley is a beautiful valley located in South West San Jose. Many of these homes are backed up against the foothills. Highway 101 and the Bailey Ave. exit 373 will take you straight there. This neighborhood is not too far from the previously mentioned Santa Teresa neighborhood. The Almaden Valley is a high middle class luxury home community filled with a mixture of San Jose Real Estate such as luxury townhomes, mid range homes, and high end luxury homes. Hiring a top San Jose real estate agent that deals in luxury homes and knows this neighborhood is key to getting a bargain.

This 95120 neighborhood has several lakes, parks, and the Almaden Golf and Country Club. Almaden Lake Park is a great place for the family to enjoy the outdoors. It's a 30 acre lake along a 60 acre natural wildlife park where there are long trails. One of the trails is approx 4 miles long which leads to Santa Teresa County Park. You can also hike, ride bikes, play and barbie que. Almaden is located next to highway 85 which inter connects to 87, 101 and other major high ways makes it an easy commute to work. There is also an amazing cafe . These high end San Jose luxury homes start at the $1,200,000 price range. A 4 bedroom 2 bath with 1600 sq. ft will cost approximately $1,250,000, and a larger 4-5 bedroom 3-4 bath at 2400 sq. ft. would cost apx $1,670,000. Elementary kids go to Williams Elementary, Graystone Elementary, Los Alamitos Elementary, Simon Elementary, Guadalupe Elementary, middle school is Bret Harte Middle School, and Leland High School for the older kids. All are award winning!

MOVING TO WILLOW GLEN

Ok, so that’s the south end of San Jose, CA. There are still so many nice places to live in San Jose like the Willow Glen area. Willow Glen is like a little city of it’s own that has so much character and charm. San Jose real estate for sale in Willow Glen ranges from $1,200,000 and upward, so it can get a little pricey, and is in high demand. For example a small 2 bedroom 1 bath with apx. 1100 sq. ft. will cost about $900,000, 3 bedroom 2 bath with apx. 1400 sq. ft. will cost around $1,200,000, and a larger 4 bedroom 3 bath with apx. 2500 sq. ft. will cost apx $1,800,000. You won't find a lot of mansions but, what you will find is well manicured green lawns, and beautiful cozy well maintained looking homes that look like they belong in a story book.

Their Award winning schools make it a wonderful place to raise a family. There are plenty of shops, boutiques, restaurants, and sidewalks if you want to go out on a stroll. The Will Street Frank Bramhall Park is a nice place to take the kids. There's plenty of large shaded trees for a pic-nic in the summer, a nice playground for the kids to play, a basketball court, tennis courts and a softball park too. Willow Glen is not far from the awesome and wonderful Valley Fair Mall which has Macy’s, Nordstrom, and just about every shop you’ve ever dreamed of or imagined. Don’t forget there’s Santana Row. This place is a shopper’s delight! Filled with great restaurants, spas, exquisite diamond shops, hotels, entertainment, outside entertainment and bars, and designer shops such as H&M, Gucci, Loft, Chico’s, Kate Spade New York, and Amazon Books just to name a few.

LOS GATOS REAL ESTATE

For all you nature lovers; Los Gatos is the great escape . Or, why the need to escape when you can live in the San Jose suburb of Los Gatos? It’s just a short 10-16 min drive from San Jose depending on where you're at. This city is a magnificently beautiful and a stunning place to live. Many homes sit on large lots in the hills with stunning mountain views, lake views, long driveways and are hidden within the dense forest. There is plenty of fresh air, and privacy here. You'll feel connected with nature and all it has to offer in this beautiful place. If you ever get a chance just drive by and breathe in the fresh air, and I'm sure you'll make this place your home.

The Monte Sereno luxury neighborhood of custom home’s is absolutely fabulous! Their prices are about $1,700,000 plus. Outside of Monte Sereno homes may start below 1 million, and the medium price is $1.7 million. For $1,700,000 you would be able to purchase a 4-5 bedroom 4 baths with at least 3,000 sq. ft. for a large family. Los Gatos is full of nature’s own great natural wonders with lakes, wild parks and trails for the family such as the Vasona Lake County Park, and the Los Gatos Creek Trail. Due to Covid-19 Vason Lake County Park is temporarily closed, and will open back up as soon as its safe. The kids will love Oak Meadow because it has a ferris wheel and train, playgrounds and a nice trail for the whole family, and is currently open. Yes, you can still be close to work and San Jose, connected with the great outdoors, live a healthy lifestyle and get plenty of exercise in Los Gatos.

The Lexington Reservoir is very pretty to see off of the Santa Cruz highway 17; the Santa Cruz beach is only a 20 minute drive away. Average household income is $122,860, and according to the 2018 US Census the population is just 30,680. Their great award winning schools for elementary are Blossom Hill Elementary, Daves Ave. Elementary, and Louise Van Meter. Middle school is Raymond J. Fisher, and for high school it’s the prestigious Los Gatos High School which is part of the Union High School District. Los Gatos High was founded back in 1908 and is recognized as a Nation School of Excellence. In 1923 with new bonds in place the school was later updated and has a beautiful Colonial Style building with several huge columns stretching across its structure. The Beautiful building was designed by the famous school architect William Henry Weeks. The school is also recognized for its outstanding sports program.

For entertainment the family can go shopping or dining at Old Town Los Gatos over off University Ave where there are plenty of shops and restaurants, the Los Gatos Shopping Center or just go for a short drive to Oakridge Mall or Valley Fair Mall in San Jose. There’s also Santa Clara’s Great America which usually opens in the summer, but is temporarily closed due to Covid-19. It will reopen once it's safe and is offering to extend their 2020 season passes into 2021. Great America is just a short drive off of highway 101. With so many options to choose from; finding a home in the city or in San Jose’s suburbs can be a fun and exciting experience, but having the right San Jose real estate agent to guide you is key.

5 Tips To Help Your San Jose Real Estate Sell Fast

capri.sellsproperties@gmail.com — Sun, 05 Apr 2020 01:43:43 GMT

How Can I Sell my San Jose Home Fast!

If you were thinking about selling your San Jose real estate before the Corona virus shutdown occurred and had to put if off ...no problem, because you can now use this free time to do all the things you didn't have the time to do before. Many home sellers ask why hasn't my Los Gatos, or San Jose home sold? A lot of times it's because the home wasn't ready. Now is the perfect time to do or finish those home projects to help get your home ready for a quick sale at a better price once the ban is lifted. These projects can be fun and simple, and shared by the whole family. Here is a list...

#1. Detail Cleaning. This is the time to clean those detailed areas that don't fall into your everyday cleaning. For example, cleaning the dust and debris that have built up on the window blinds, baseboards at the bottom of the walls, windows and window sill. Dusting and getting rid of those spiderwebs you find in corners and high places, dusting ceiling fans, wiping down doors, power washing the exterior of the house, detail cleaning all the knobs and difficult to reach nooks and crannies on your appliances. Replacing hardware on cabinets, and doors, and getting rid of all the clutter in the home and garage too.

#2. Painting. Why not use this time to do some painting? According to statistics, a freshly painted home gives off a clean and newer feel to home buyers, and sells faster and for more money than homes that have not been painted in a long time. Be sure to use light and neutral colors that compliment each other. For example, light grays. creams, beige's and whites.

#3. Flooring. If you're a do it yourself-er; now is a great time to get rid of that old carpet and replace it with some nice, sleek laminate floors. Be sure to choose a style that will go nicely with the fresh paint!

#4. Repairs. This is a great time to repair any holes in the walls, plumbing and anything else needing to be fixed in the house, so you don't have to worry about it coming up as an issue later when the appraiser comes in, or when the buyer does their home inspection.

#5. Gardening. Gardening is last but not least on the list. You would be surprised on how gardening has such a powerful impact on the sale of your home, but is the least costly on the list. Nature is a powerful way to arouse the senses of home buyers before they even step inside your home. Beautiful colors, and greens will stimulate the emotions and natural senses in home buyers making them "Love" your home. If you have an older home with a large tree on the front lawn try planting some colorful flowers around it. You can never have too many, so go at it and plant as many as you can. Try yellows, whites, and reds, and feel free to use your imagination. Don't forget to water them. This is also a good time to fertilize your lawn for that crisp green look. If you have a porch you may need to give it a good power wash or even paint (specific type for porches). Putting a nice bench, chairs, and a small table for flowers would give it a nice finished look.

Being stuck at home during the Stay in Place Order is a good time to let your creative juices flow. It doesn't matter where you live you can have fun with these ideas, and you will be surprised at how many rewards you can reap selling your beautiful San Jose home faster, and for much more money.

Please feel free to reach out on our chat, or give us a call if you have any questions, or just need a free no obligation home evaluation conducted over the phone and online to see where your home stands.

What my home's worth? Looking for a top realtor in San Jose? Capri Ndikum is a top San Jose Real Estate broker and owner of Citi One Realty located in San Jose, CA with over 20 years of real estate experience. The American Institute of Real Estate Professionals listed Capri Ndikum as the 10 Best Real Estate Agents in California.

408-673-SOLD(7653 ) .

San Jose Real Estate VLogs

capri.sellsproperties@gmail.com — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 05:29:09 GMT

Capri shares the latest real estate tips that will help save you a lot of money!

Watch out for these Red Flags!

San Jose Real Estate Tips You Don't Want To Miss!

Affordable Real Estate Near San Jose, CA

Tue, 03 Mar 2020 01:39:16 GMT

Top 3 Most Affordable Cities to live in outside of San Jose

Wanting to buy a home in the San Jose area but can't afford the expensive prices? Before you consider moving completely out of the bay area here is a list of cities to buy that is surprisingly a more affordable option.

Morgan Hill

Morgan Hill is a great place to live with beautiful rolling hills, lakes and reservoirs. It's quite the county setting with beautiful, calming country views of the hillside. It's located on the south end of San Jose and highway 101; with only a 15-20 min commute away from San Jose. You may be able to get there a little quicker by using the back road. If you like the quiet and beautiful scenery of the rolling hills and nature but want to be close to all the action of the big city, then Morgan Hill is a great option. Home prices start in the high 600,000's.

Hollister

Hollister is #2 on the list. Believe it or not you can get a gorgeous and modern brand new house in this lovely ity for a bargain! Prices start in the high 400's. Located about 45 minutes outside of San Jose and Santa Teresa. This lovely cty has the best of both worlds if you love the beach because it's only about 45 minutes away from Monterey Baygoing the opsit direction. Some of the lots are quite spacious allowing for more space and a bigger back yard.

Gilroy

That's right. Gilroy is third on our list. With single family homes starting in the low 700's. Gilroy is about 30 minutes from San Jose. Homes here still allow a much more affordable option. You will enjoy the many great schools, restaurants, shopping outlets, and shopping centers here. You get the awesome smell of fresh garlic at the annual Gilroy garlic Festival, and you can enjoy the country settings while being only a stone throw away from the big city.

We have a list of great deals that come up everyday, but they come and go very quickly. Feel free to reach out; you'll be happy that you did!

What my home's worth? Looking for a top realtor in San Jose? Capri Ndikum is a top San Jose Real Estate broker and owner of Citi One Realty located in San Jose, CA with over 20 years of real estate experience. The American Institute of Real Estate Professionals listed Capri Ndikum as the 10 Best Real Estate Agents in California.

Home Buying Process

Mon, 27 Jan 2020 20:37:24 GMT

Your How To Buy a Home in San Jose Guide

The home buying process can be quite confusing, and daunting without the right guidance and advanced insight of what to expect when purchasing your first home. There are so many things to do and consider from shopping to get the best loan and interest rate to choosing the right San Jose realtor who will fight for you, navigate you through the competitive San Jose real estate market, and ultimately help you land that dream home. Having the right professionals on your team will probably be the most important decision you make towards having a success and pleasant buying experience.

Once you have settled with choosing the right lender, loan officer, and realtor you can begin the home buying process and go shopping! For California, there are a lot of time lines and details that will come into play once you have successfully found the right home and have an accepted offer. It is important that you take time and go over your contract so that you don't miss timely inspections and contingency removal periods that will be stipulated in the contract.

Earnest Money Deposit

Your earnest money deposit is a good faith deposit that will be deposited into an escrow account; and will go towards your down payment. It demonstrates to the seller that you are going into the transaction with good faith of purchasing the property; and in exchange the seller agrees to remove their home from the market and not sell it to anyone else (so you've tied it up). In California, you only have three days to deposit this money into escrow. The earnest money deposit is usually 1-2% of the purchase price if your financing the property, and 10% for all cash purchases. There will be opportunity for you to do all your inspections of your new home, generally a home inspection can run $300-$400, and a termite inspection will set you back about $125.

It's so important to get those inspections done, so that you're more informed and know what your buying...Once your inspection period is over you (with the help of your real estate agent) will need to make a choice to remove the inspection contingency in order to go forward with the deal; request seller to make any needed or appraisal required repairs, or walk away. Keep in mind that your earnest money deposit is no longer refundable if you decide to cancel after you have removed all your contingencies in writing.

Appraisal

As soon as your offer has been signed by the seller; your loan officer will move quickly to order an appraisal to be done on the property. Appraisals are usually paid for by the buyer and can cost you from $300 to $500 depending what area you live in. Appraisals are required by your lender because they want to make sure that they are making a good investment with the money they are lending you; this is their way of qualifying the property. Some lenders are willing to pay for the appraisal; so check with your loan officer.

Now you have done all your inspections, appraisal, turned in all your paperwork to the loan officer, and decided that you want the house. What next? This is where the loan officer does his/her magic. Remember, where I said to be sure to pick the right lender and loan officer? Hopefully, at this point all the i's have been dotted and t's have been crossed by the loan officer and your loan is fully approved. You will be asked to electronically sign a few documents confirming that you agree and understand the loan type and terms you are getting before you are asked to sign the actual loan documents.

This signing will take place at the title company, lender's office, or in some cases with a notary.

Final Walk Thru

Remember to have a final walk thru of your new home before signing the final loan documents. It's not an inspection but it helps to ensure that it's still in the same shape and condition as it was in when you first saw it. A lot of vacant homes get vandalized before close of escrow. Once the rest of your deposit is deposited in escrow, and the loan has funded. The new title gets recorded in a day or so, and you become a new home owner. The process can be quite emotional, and nerve racking but it's all worth it in the end. Remember, this will be the place where YOUR story begins...

What my home's worth? Looking for a top realtor in San Jose? Capri Ndikum is a top San Jose Real Estate broker and owner of Citi One Realty located in San Jose, CA with over 20 years of real estate experience. She's also in Feedspot's Top 40 Realtor Website & Blogs List

San Jose Real Estate Market Forecast for 2020

Tue, 07 Jan 2020 12:31:20 GMT

San Jose Real Estate Market in 2020

If you're thinking about selling your home in 2020, fortunately, for the San Jose real estate market, 2020 is expected to be another good year. Although, according to Realtor.com the San Francisco real estate market is expected to see a 0.4 decline in home prices; nationwide will see a 0.8 increase; while the San Jose market is expected to increase by 2.1%.

According to the forecast, home sales are expected to slightly flatten by 3% in the South Bay Area, and 4.5% in the San Francisco Bay Area due to millennial's coming of age to curtail spending because of economic uncertainty, and inventory shortages especially for entry level buyers.

Although the report covers the nation as a whole, it is very difficult to predict sub and micro markets. Contrary to the report, I don't believe the San Jose real estate market will soften. The local economy is still strong, and the San Jose market for 2020 will be a unique market and year where Baby Boomers, Millennials, and Generation X will all be entering the market at the same time.

The Baby Boomers will be moving out, and down into smaller homes because they have recovered from the 2008 recession and have the equity to do that now. Millennials will be buying their first home, and Generation X (which is me) will be moving up. Homes that are in the low million dollar price range are expected to spend less days on the market because there are more buyers for this market, and homes in the higher price range will still move. This added to the already low supply and high demand for homes in metro San Jose means that the San Jose market and it's home prices are expected to still climb in 2020.

Although there is the great supply and demand factor for this market; homes will need to be priced correctly in the very beginning, and not even be slightly over priced to see positive and timely results. Since a vast majority of the homes that are on the market in the metro San Jose area are prepped and staged; home owners entering the market will need to prep and stage their homes in order to successfully compete in the 2020 market.

Want to know where you stand? Feel free to gives us a call or chat for a free no obligation report and home evaluation.

Capri Ndikum is a San Jose Real Estate broker owner of Citi One Realty located in San Jose, CA with over 20 years of experience in the field.

How to Sell Your Home in a Competitive Real Estate Market?

Wed, 11 Dec 2019 08:07:34 GMT

I Want To Sell My Home Fast. Where do I start?

Getting your home ready to sell can be a daunting task without the right guidance and advice. I've seen some home owners spend too much money on remodeling their homes, only to lose out in the end when they don't get that money back from the sale of their home. Sometimes the home won't sell at all because the home owner over priced it in the beginning to try and recoup expenses from an over expended remodel. Don't let that happen to you. The question I hear often is do I need to remodel to sell my home ? My answer is in most cases yes, to some degree...

First you will need a professional eye; someone who has never been in your home to meticulously walk through it. In many cases where I have conducted my walk thru, only a little touch up paint was required. It will also depend on how competitive your market is. If you are in a very competitive market like the San Jose Evergreen Silver Creek real estate market; you will more than likely need to do some work in updating your home if you haven't already. Before we discuss remodeling let's start with the basics...A great place to start is outside the home. Does your home have curb appeal? Home buyers are looking for a place to call home; an emotional experience. You want them to feel good when they first drive up into your drive way. You won't need to paint outside; unless it's obviously needed.

Start with an open mind and look at your front yard from a buyer's perspective. Is the grass green? How does it feel when you look at your home and front yard from across the street? Plant colorful flowers along the porch or use some nice flower pots. If there's a porch, place a nice bench on it with a few flower pots nearby. Pick up any garbage or debris nearby, and keep the garbage containers out of sight. Going into the home it should be free of clutter. In fact, less is more in this case. If possible, hire a staging company. You will thank yourself in the end because studies have shown that staging really helps your home to sell a lot faster and for more money.

Next, look at the interior walls and floors. Check for wear and tear in the carpet and flooring. If you have a different color for every room in the house I'd suggest a repaint. If not, maybe only a little touching up is needed. But, if you want to ring in the big dollars and get multiple offers on the sale of your home; you'll need to paint the entire inside, so that your home has a fresh and modern look to it; and not just with any color. You're not just selling a house; you're selling a feeling, so be careful on what color paint you choose.

I've been selling homes for about 20 years and have seen how buyers are more aware, and educated on purchasing a home than ever before; and they know what they want. The more your home is turn key the better. If you decide to remodel you will need an experienced realtor and contractor to go over your home with you. You're lucky if you can find a pair that work together as a team, so you can get a good estimate from a regularly used and trusted contractor. Plus, you'll have someone (the realtor) to watch over the project for you.

Unfortunately, there are some shady contractors out there that can abandon you and leave you standing in the middle of a project when it's not done. This is why it's important to choose the right contractor. A top and experienced realtor in remodeling projects in your area should be able to recommend a trusted contractor and handyman for your remodeling project.

When on a budget, and choosing where to spend yours dollars; go with projects that will help increase the value on your home. For example, if most of the homes in your neighborhood have updated kitchens and baths and yours hasn't been updated in decades; it is important that you spend your remodeling dollars in this area as it will help to increase the value in a home appraisal. A great tip is to look up and visit a few of the open houses in your neighborhood; so you can see what your neighbor (competitor) has. If you live in a competitive or luxury community like Silver Creek, San Jose; your home will need to be turn key.

In most cases, It's better to do a little updating and staging to match the market and compete in your neighborhood, than to price a home that hasn't been updated low enough to receive an offer. For example, a buyer may offer $100,000 or more below market value for a home that has not been updated at all in some neighborhoods. This low ball offer could have been completely avoided by the seller if they'd only invested as little as $20,000 (or less) in updating the home from the very beginning. This strategy doesn't work very well if you decide to update after it's been on the market; because everyone has already seen the home and the emotional experience for the buyer is weakened. The first 15 days a home is on the market is critical.

Unfortunately, there is no one size fits all when it comes to selling your home. Because of the amount of money you can gain or lose from a big transaction like the sell of your house; it's really important that you get the best realtor that specializes in your area. A seasoned vet for this profession is someone with more than 10 years experience because of the great learning curve real estate provides.

Capri Ndikum is a San Jose Real Estate broker owner of Citi One Realty located in San Jose, CA with over 20 years of experience in the field.

Renovations That Don't Add Much Value

Thu, 17 Oct 2019 01:57:49 GMT

Wanting to sell your home sooner rather than later? Maintain a good distance from these remodeling don'ts to increment your odds of making a fast and beneficial sale.

Pool and Spa

The expenses of structure and keeping up water facilities are difficult to recover. Numerous purchasers would prefer not to manage the upkeep of a private pool, while others consider it to be a well-being risk, especially the individuals who have little kids. Truth be told, numerous purchasers will request that you remove the pool or tub during arrangements.

On the off chance that you truly should have a pool or hot tub introduced, possibly do it on the off chance that you truly need them, and in the event that you accept you'll get a great deal of utilization out of those conveniences.

Dated Stylistic Layout

Regardless of the amount you like popcorn roofs, tile counters, and every single white apparatus, remember that these stylistic theme thoughts are miserably dated, and may not speak to the present more youthful purchasers.

The equivalent goes for the most recent structure patterns. These patterns travel every which way genuine quick, which means what's hot today could be out of vogue in a year or two.

To keep up your home's resale esteem, stay with an unbiased palette and ageless structure thoughts that put the accentuation on scale, extent, and usefulness.

Your Realtor will give tips on the most proficient method to keep your stylistic theme impartial and as speaking to the same number of individuals conceivable.

Paint Jobs

Repainting the outside and inside dividers is perhaps the most practical home improvement you can make, however it won't return a higher benefit except if you do the canvas yourself, which is repetitive work.

A crisp layer of paint can make the property increasingly sell able, however appraisers won't put the estimation of your home higher as a result of it.

New Roofs and HVAC Systems

A home with another HVAC framework may get more enthusiasm from purchasers, yet not many of them will pay a premium for it. The equivalent goes for a fresh out of the box new rooftop.

Remember that supplanting a rooftop close or past the normal time span of usability of 30 years is a piece of support and upkeep. It is commonly not thought about an update, and in this manner won't get a more significant expense for your home.

Utility Overhauls

As with getting another rooftop or HVAC framework, paying thousands for copper pipes and Romex electrical wiring is part viewed as support, not home improvement, and are probably not going to direction a more significant expense for your home.

Making these overhauls isn't terrible, fundamentally – a few purchasers should seriously mull over these highlights standard in the present lodging market, and without them, the attractiveness of your home may endure. Be that as it may, these progressions alone won't legitimize a higher approaching cost for your home.

Sun Powered Boards aka Solar Panels

Vitality effectiveness and green innovation may be popular, and positively useful for the earth, yet introducing sunlight based boards are not known to expand the estimation of our home. Additionally, on the off chance that you financed the buy and establishment yourself, you may be required to settle the rest of the equalization before bringing a deal to a close.

Major Landscaping

Finishing is an individual inclination. Including counterfeit cascades, koi lakes, and open air figures to your yard can be expensive, however it won't really acquire more benefit during a deal. It may even debilitate ardent nursery workers who need to get their very own plants.

Sell your home fast. Contact Capri Ndikum at cell (925) 434-8684 and info@caprisellshomes.com to find qualified buyers.