Before You Make Your Offer, Consider These 10 Things

Real Estate Tips
Carmel Valley Realtor, crime report, home in Carmel Valley, home inspection in Carmel Valley, Linda Moore, local and neighborhood amenities, real estate in Carmel Valley, researching the neighborhood, school ratings
March 3, 2014

So you’ve found your dream home in Carmel Valley! The eagerness in getting the negotiations started as well as making an offer is probably your number one priority. The market has been on the tighter side in San Diego County, and you may feel pressured to make an offer.

Take a little time to do some research on the neighborhood and investigate the house before your whip out that check book.

That said, by yourself being proactive as well as working closely with your Carmel Valley Realtor, you will need to address these 10 things before making your offer according to an article in realtor.com.

Search online for neighborhood information: If you are moving to a home in Carmel Valley in the same neighborhood, this step could be skipped. But checking newspaper websites, local government sites, community sites and blogs could be worthwhile.

Check the crime report: If you go to crimereports.com, the local police station will have the stats on crime depending on the particular address and/or zip code

School Ratings: The website to figure more information on the school district you’re moving to for your children is greatschools.org. The school district is a key factor when you’re buying a home.

Local Amenities: By going to walkscore.com, or Google Maps at the street view, you could see what is in walking distance from your home in Caramel Valley.

Neighborhood Amenities: You could usually fine online information about community activities, if you’re buying with a homeowners association. However even areas that don’t have an association, you could find out where the community wide gatherings are occurring or sports leagues.

Visit home at different hours and days: Multiple visits will tell you the aura of the neighborhood, but staggering the visits at other times like weeknight or weekend day to gauge how quiet things will be

Find out your commute: You won’t know the pattern of traffic if you only visit the home on the week. Take a day after you leave work and test out how long your commute will take.

Book a Home Inspection: You have to be just a little bit skeptical, because there may be repairs that need to be made that you don’t know about. There may be an opportunity that the person selling the real estate in Carmel Valley to pay for the home improvements. If not, it’s still better that you know what needs to be fixed or not.

Talk to the Sellers: As much as they’re trying to sell you the home, they will be some of the best people to talk to get information about the neighborhood and the community. Ask if you could get the plans for the house and ask them about renovations they’ve done.

Insurance, Bills Etc.: Besides the housing payment, it will include more than interest and principal on your loan. So the home in Carmel Valley is in your budget, find out ahead of time what you owe for utility bills, homeowner association fees, insurance and the taxes.