Advice on finding SFR or Townhomes for sale

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bruingirl_IHB

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I'm a first time poster and first time homebuyer. I was wondering if the veteran OC home shoppers have any advice on how to find good single family homes or townhomes for sale. BTW, I've also called around (besides using realtor.com) and Portola Springs mello roos is a killer! $419/month!





Thanks.
 
<p>Welcome.</p>

<p>If you are still referring to yourself as a(n active) first time homebuyer, you haven't read enough of the blog just yet. </p>

<p>I'll cut right to the ending. Unless you have more money than you know what to do with, start looking at rentals.</p>

<p>SCHB</p>
 
<p>You can find mello roos information from <a href="http://tax.ocgov.com/tcweb/search_page.asp">http://tax.ocgov.com/tcweb/search_page.asp</a> </p>

<p>Often times the listings will have HOA information, but I have found that if there are two association fees, sometimes they only list one. </p>

<p>I personally like ziprealty</p>
 
Hello Bruingirl,





Perhaps if you can give us more info, like what kind of property, price range, rooms, baths, time-frame, etc. that you're looking for, we can better advice you.
 
Thanks.





I'm looking for either a townhome or a single family home up to mid 500's, 2 bed and 1+ bath. I'm not in a hurry but I would really like to buy one in the next 6-12 months.
 
Hello Brunigirl,





I think most posters here would recommend that you wait. But if you have to buy, for that price range you could afford an older 3 bed 2 bath, or a new-ish 2 bed 2 bath. I recommend at least 2 full bathrooms + 2 car garage. Check MLS listings, if you find something interesting, just post it here and you'll get plenty of comments on the neighborhood/HOA.



 
Can't believe there are still people willing to pay half a million for a 2-3 bedroom stucco box. I mean seriously? Half a million dollars?
 
<p>Hey bruingirl, it's safe to say that any new community in Irvine will have high HOA and mello roos. I'm sure you also already know to expand your search in other cities around Irvine. You'll get a lot of people on this blog telling you to wait until the prices go down, for the market to "correct itself," yada yada... but if you're ready in all facets of your life to buy and you can comfortably afford a 30 year fixed mortgage, by all means go for it. </p>
 
"by all means go for it". This is very dangerous advice, since she could potentially lose 200k~300k (or save depending how you look at it).


Even if you are doubtful of the claims made by the housing bears purchasing a home right now is little different than gamble. Buying a home right now


entails large amounts of risk, in this case the risk of losing 200k~300k.What risk is their in renting? Well lets assume they put 20% down on a 500k home on a


fixed 30 year mortage at 6%.The montly PITI will be around $2,800, but you can easily find a nice 2 bedroom apartment/condo for $2000 a month.


Now only $400 out of the $2,800 is principle(at least for the first few years) so the only thing that would cause a loss is appreciation. Depending on the HAO, Mello roos, maintenance costs etc the appreciation rate would have to be more than 2~3% in order to incur a lose.





So if you like gambling then "by all means go for it";. The potential for gain is miminal and the potential of loss is great.





*Note, I'm ignoring the tax savings since by investing the 20% down payment you would either match or beat those savings.
 
200k - 300k loss? So Bruingirl is thinking of purchasing a 500k home, the loss is close to half price? Whoa!! Umm, that's funny I purchased mine during the downturn of the market and I have gained 60k. Go figure.
 
Umm, you don't have to pay half a million for a 2 bedroom stucco box. I recall people saying $1.50 for a gallon of gas is outrageous. Now look at what we are paying for gasoline. The value of the dollar is not worth much these days. Half a million is not a whole lot. But then again, you can probably pay for a $300k stucco box out in San Bernardino?
 
<em>"200k - 300k loss? So Bruingirl is thinking of purchasing a 500k home, the loss is close to half price? Whoa!! Umm, that's funny I purchased mine during the downturn of the market and I have gained 60k. Go figure". </em>

<em></em>

Dude, you are so full of it. Graphrix found the most recent comps for your neighborhood....you are already in a loss position. WAKE UP!
 
Thanks everyone!





So far I've been using Zip Realty and Realtor.com to look at homes in the market. From what I've read in this blog, I'll have to sit tight and keep saving. I'm attending a buying your first home workshop next week. I'm excited to find out where other people are at in this house buying business.
 
There are extreme bears and bulls on this blog. The truth is somewhere in the middle. Don't wait for a home to drop to $200k, wait for a home you want to be affordable by saving up, having no debt and being smart. Do not buy a temporary "move up" condo, since it likely wont appreciate for the next decade - wait until you can afford a home that you would like long term.





Ziprealty is a great resource for looking at homes. We are even using a Ziprealty agent to buy our home right now. The best bet though is to use a friends MLS login info - that way you get to read the juicy private realtor comments. Everyone knows someone who is a realtor these days, getting an MLS login shouldn't be hard.
 
<p>"that way you get to read the juicy private realtor comments"</p>

<p>Do you need some sort of special access to see these comments? Is it like a blog for RE agents to talk about homes?</p>

<p>My agent sends me MLS listings in the area I like, but I dont see any juicy comments.</p>

<p>Thanks</p>
 
I also get MLS listings from my realtor but I don't see the juicy comments you're referring you. The only "juicy" detail I get is whether there has been a price increase or decrease from the time the property was placed on the market.





Boo! I don't have any realtor friends so I can't get access MLS myself.
 
<p>Irvine Native.....will you please let us know how the ZipRealty transaction turns out ? I don't know anyone thats done it yet. I think NIR was interested in knowing as well.</p>

<p>Bruingirl, by careful at that "1st homebuyer seminar"..many times this is just a marketing ploy to try and hook you into buying something, or similar. Don't put your address anywhere, if you do you'll end up on every mortgage companies scam mail list. </p>

<p>Sounds like you have a good head on your shoulders !!! </p>
 
Maybe when escrow closes I'll make a post on using zip. So far so good, I like the agent randomly selected for us. It is just like using a normal buyers agent, the only difference is that you search for the house on your own instead of having them drive you around. The ziprealty "rebate" is 20% of the buyers commission back to you.





Redfin is a little too hands off and they only have 1 agent for all of orange county. Since this is our first time buying, I like having someone hold our hand through it.
 
<p>Hi Bruingirl,</p>

Since you’re a Bruin girl, by all means, buy now at full price! Go Trojans!



Okay, I’m just kidding, I actually like UCLA, my sister went there. But I’m an SC guy, so had to give you some hell. As for the right time to buy, I think you have to be comfortable with the price you are paying for what you are getting. For me personally, I think I will be very tempted to buy at $300/sf in Irvine. That works out to about $450K or so for a decent size 3+2 with 2 garage townhome, and we’re at least a $100K off from that. So I am going to wait another 1-2 years, but if I see a 1600sf TH for $500K, I would be inclined to make an offer at something below that amount. That is somewhere I can live in for 10+ years, so I don’t mind paying that. Anything smaller and I am thinking about resale, and then I’ve just convinced myself out of buying.



Work out your numbers to figure out what you can afford, then look in those websites to see what’s out there for your price range. If you don’t feel comfortable paying your price for the units that are in your price range, then don’t buy it.
 
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