The Best Ways to Reduce the Risk of Fire in your Home

Once you finally move into your new home from being a renter for a while, there's plenty to consider.  If you had renter's insurance in your rental, you most likely transferred your policy to your new home. Now that you're in your new digs, you probably bought some new furniture for the rooms along with decorative items.  Naturally, your homeowner's insurance will increase with more space and more valuables.  Additionally, you should become familiar with the potential risks of fire and learning how to protect yourself, your family and your property.

Nationally each year, residential fires result in an average of $7 billion in property damage based on reports by the American Red Cross. In California, wildfires are the norm in the summer and dry months.  In September of 2015, more than 1,000 homes burned from two large wildfires in Northern California.  Wildfire or not, the following are a few safety measures to lessen the risk of fire in your home.

A vital part of reducing the risk of fire is prevention. Have fire extinguishers and smoke detectors all through your residence, especially in the kitchen. If you have a two or three-story home, have a fire extinguisher on all floors. Each of these items only need standard servicing in order to work right. For smoke detectors, just replace the batteries two times each year, and monitor the date of expiration on your extinguishers so they can be swapped out too.

With many historical homes built in the early to mid-1900s, it's crucial for homeowners to make sure the existing electrical wiring is safe, because poor wiring is among the top causes of home fires. Some of the indicators of defective circuits are walls that are hot if you touch them or breakers that regularly go off. Look out for flickering lights or sparking, electrical outlets that are charred. During escrow on the home you bought, hopefully, you did a home inspection and the wiring is not an issue per the report.  You don't want to move into a home that has prominent signs of malfunctioning or old wiring.

Q & A Regarding Simultaneous Home Purchase & Sale

Q - When selling a home "as is", is a Transfer Disclosure Statement still mandatory in California?

A - In a Standard sale, the seller is required to provide the buyer with a detailed Transfer Disclosure Statement even when the sale has an "as is" clause. If the seller fails to disclose any material fact affecting the value of the house or desirability of the property which are known to him or her, as well as knowing of any previous lawsuits against the property, the buyer has a legal remedy.

Q -  I'm selling my house and at the same time , I'm buying a new one. I already received an offer for my house and I accepted it and I got my asking price and the buyer gave me a pre-approval letter. What's Next?

 A - Ask the escrow company to schedule a concurrent closing, taking the money for the sale of your home and paying your down payment on the new property.

Another tip is to get all the information about the buyer, ask your agent to ask the buyers agent to allow authorization to speak with their lender. By doing so, the lender can talk to you and give you some assurance that the buyers are strong.

If you are able to request using the same Title and Escrow company, especially the same Escrow officer, it will make the transaction so much easier.

Another tip is to make sure you receive a signed release of all contingencies from your buyers and from the Sellers approving any inspections and repair costs in your purchase BEFORE you pay for an appraisal; that way you won't pay out any appraisal fees if anything goes "south" in the transaction. Find your next property at HomeFinderOC.com

Recommendation for Home Buyers in Orange County

If you are a tired of renting for the last few years and want to own your home instead? The following are some great tips to prepare for the home buying process.

1. Get familiar with the prices of homes in the neighborhood you want to live in. Get in touch with a local realtor and get listing alerts and recent sales data. All they need is your email and you can view it at your leisure.

View of Mission Viejo

2. Make use of online mortgage calculators to know how much your approximate mortgage payment will be every month should you buy a home in the next 30-60 days. The calculated figure will show you the total housing payment, which includes principal, interest, property taxes and homeowners insurance. In certain locations, you'll have to pay an HOA fee and/or Mello Roos taxes which can increase your monthly payment substantially.  There are many single family homes, townhomes, and condos in Aliso Viejo, Mission Viejo, Lake Forest, Laguna Hills and nearby areas that require an HOA fee.

3. Determine the amount you'll pay for closing costs. This is not an area to forget about as closing costs can change a lot of home appliance or upgrades you were going to do upon move-in. Closing cost fees are typically lender's origination, title insurance and settlement/escrow, and monthly recurring expenses such as property taxes, homeowners insurance, and HOA.

4. Is your monthly income adequate to cope with owning a home. Lenders recommend that buyers pay out a maximum of 28% of their monthly income on housing expenses and 43% for all combined monthly expenses.

5. If you're not truly approved by a lender? Find a local OC lender and get pre-approved. The realtor you talk to should have a good referral to get it done. Once you're pre-approved for a mortgage, it'll help you negotiate from a position of strength when you are searching for a home to buy.

Will El Niño Impac Orange County Real Estate Sales?

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted the strongest El Niño ever recorded and property owners hope to be prepared before the storms make their imprint.

Demand has risen to get roofs repaired so much that monthly backlogs are on the rise.
It is not only the coastal and canyon areas that are going to get hit warns real estate agents in Orange County.

Numerous homeowners seeking to sell their home typically put those plans on pause during the holidays and some even delay it until the Super Bowl passes to list  their home on the Multiple Listing Service.  Flooding and fatal mudslides predicted to be far worse than recent severe than megastorms which have pummeled Orange County may bring on even more delays in the high demand OC housing market.

Huntington Beach Pier

El Niño should not have a lasting effect on n Orange County home sales in 2016 based on information from a group of real estate industry forecasters. This claim is contradictory to the current seasonal slump from data firm CoreLogic.

2015 marks the first year-over-year sales since January and was the smallest amount of transactions closings for October since the housing market recovery started back in 2012.

The median price of all Orange County homes fell to $600,000, which signals a decline of 2.4 percent for the month. It was the second biggest September-to-October percentage drop going as far back to 1988.

Housing experts recall that the El Niño in 1997-1998, actually did not have a detrimental effect on the real estate market. Presently, there is plenty of strength in the housing market due to the limited inventory of resale homes so buyers do not have a large number of choices.

So, no matter the case, wet weather, buyers will certainly be ready to act on new and resale homes that come on the MLS and are priced appropriately.

Laguna Beach Overview

Laguna Beach is a really expensive area. Their are numerous laid-back people living in Laguna that are very caring and have lived there for years prior to the TV shows. From the time when MTV got here to the city I feel it has gotten a tad more uppity among the many youngsters who realized "Hey, everybody across the country is watching us on TV, so we have to become more cool, and so on."

People, who don't come here to reside, come here to vacation. They arrive here in search of calm and to enjoy the surroundings. If you want a more everlasting trip to thearea, then you should give some thought about buying a home in South Orange County.

If you're relocating to Laguna Beach, prices today will help you become more financially secure and fit in. Understand that you will be encircled by some people with lots of cash and most of the youngsters will probably be driving late model cars to high school, have custom made garments and things. It will not be a rare occurrence to view a 16-yr old get out of a brand new BMW or Lexus. Is that a dangerous thing, not essentially, however some folks that do not have as much cash could really feel left behind in the crowd and forgotten.

The real estate industry, particularly short sale properties are one that have undergone some major modifications within the preceding 4 years. While many people have had the opportunity to "buy in" at below market worth prices as a consequence of some fairly distressed homeowners, the trends have gone up and down. Today, in what might be a last night stand for the short sale market, there are several Laguna Beach properties still to be had around the $700,000 price range which is an utter steal if you are familiar with the location itself. As you consider whether or not to purchase a house within the coming months, it's worthwhile to keep one ear to the ground to the developments in this region. The openings are less by the day, and as America readies itself for one of its most heavily contested elections in years, the advantageous time to do something for purchasing at a low price and selling at a good profit could be quickly dwindling away within the Laguna Beach area.