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Santa Maria Real Estate: Tips for Buying Santa Maria Short Sales

1) Be prepared for an “as-is” purchase. Many times there is deferred maintenance on short sale listings. Often owners in financial distress stop performing maintenance on the home either willfully and because they lack the funds. You can ask a short sale seller to make repairs, but often they are unable or unwilling to do so since they are losing their home. You can also approach the short sale lender and ask that they allow the cost of the repairs to be deducted from their “net” but often the answer will be no, even if the repairs are required by your lender in order to originate your new loan.
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Santa Maria Homes Report – First Half of 2010

The first half of 2010 has been pretty dramatic with the $8000 federal tax credit extension and the introuction of the $10,000 California new home and first time home buyer credit. Buyers were on a roller coaster with the first two months having moderate activity, then a blaze of acvtivity in March and April followed by low activity in May and June. Overall sales for the 6 month period were high with 553 properties being sold in the Santa Maria Orcutt area.
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Santa Maria Real Estate Alert: Beware of Rental Scams on Craig’s’ List

There is a common scam run on websites (Craig’s List in particular, but not exclusively) whereby properties that are listed for sale with an agent are fraudulently advertised for rent. Typically, the person running the rental ad tells potential renters that they are overseas working (in the armed services or as a missionary, etc.) and they advertise very cheap rent. They ask the potential tenant to send a cashier’s check for the first and last month’s rent and/or a prepayment of several months of rent in exchange for them mailing the keys at a later date. Unfortunately, once your money goes out of the country, there is very little you can do to recover it. These people are very clever; they will access property records and create fake email accounts with the real property owner’s name.
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Santa Maria Real Estate For Sale

Now that the housing boom has busted the average price for homes within Santa Maria hovers around $200,000, homes in Orcutt average higher around $300,000. Are you searching for real estate in Santa Maria market? Check out the search links before for current listings. Are you looking to sell your Santa Maria or Orcutt home?
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Santa Maria and Lompoc First Time Buyers, FHA Loan Info

What is an FHA loan? -- Essentially a FHA loan is a loan that is guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration. Lenders typically do not want to lend unless on a home unless a buyer has a 20% down payment. If there is less than a 20% down payment, mortgage insurance is required. And, in today's market unless you have a credit score at least 720 or above you won't be able to get mortgage insurance.
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#1 Agent in Number of Residential Sales Transactions (2016)
in Santa Maria (per CCRMLS)

$125 Million in Career Sales

REALTOR® of the Year (2014)
(voted by Santa Maria Association of REALTORS®)



Tni LeBlanc, REALTOR®, J.D.
Mint Properties
(805) 878-9879 (mobile/text)
Contact Us Online

Lic #01871795





Certified Military Housing Specialist

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