Buyers Resources

The California Residential Purchase Agreement (California Association of Realtors form RPA-CA) is a standard form purchase contract There were significant changes made in the revised forms released in 11/14 and 12/15 , with changes in language in many paragraphs. Initial Offer: The initial offer that a buyer makes to acquire a property is made on the RPA-CA standard form Residential Purchase Contract. Some of the important items which must be included in the contract are the following: 1. Purchase Price, Financing, [...]

Closing Costs Paid by Either Buyer or Seller: Allocation of costs associated with ownership of the home: These costs include the following: Property Taxes: Property Taxes in California are placed as a lien on a property July 1st of each year, and are for taxes for the period 7/1 through 6/30. These taxes are due and payable by 12/15 and 4/15 of the taxable year. At closing, property taxes are either allocated to the buyer or seller depending on the date [...]

General Home Inspection: A home inspection, conducted by a professional home inspection company, is a necessity when purchasing a home, town home, or a condo. This inspection provides comfort to the buyer that the home is in generally good condition, and that the home's main systems are in good operational order, or will disclose to the buyer what repairs may be needed. The inspection report serves as the basis for the home buyers request for repairs to be conducted by the [...]

Property Taxes in the South Bay of Los Angeles County are computed by the standard 1.0% of the property's assessed valuation (in accordance with Proposition 13, a property's assessed valuation is the original purchase price, plus the cost of improvements, based on the value of permits pulled, plus an increase in valuation of 2% per year) plus additional tax rates for voted bonded indebtedness, plus direct assessments such as school parcel taxes. Copies of building permits are sent to the Assessor. [...]

RESIDENTIAL HOME FINANCING With a fixed rate mortgage (FRM), your monthly payments will be steady. In contrast, with an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM), your payments will vary over time. Adjustable rate mortgages typically have an initial fixed rate lower than the rate of a comparable fixed rate mortgage. The initial fixed rate period is followed by adjustment intervals. For example, a "3/1 ARM" is fixed at an initial low rate for the first 3 years, and then adjusts every year based [...]

It is common for buyers to request that the sellers provide a home warranty. Standard Home Warranty packages includes protection against breakdowns in numerous systems of the home, including the following: Plumbing System, Plumbing Stoppages, Water Heater, Heating System/Heat Pump, Ductwork, Electrical System, Garage Door Opener, Central Vacuum System, Ceiling Fans, Doorbells, Pest Control, Dishwasher, Garbage Disposal, Built-In Microwave Oven, Range/Oven/Cooktop, Trash Compactor A trade service call fee per repair visit (usually about $55) or the actual cost of service, whichever [...]

A recent article in Fortune Magazine (2/7/07 edition) talked about the explosive growth in the use of Zillow.com by both buyers and sellers of real estate to estimate the market value of homes in their community The problem is that Zillow.com completely ignores the fact that you simply can not estimate a propertys market value given the limited public information available, such as the age of the home, location, number of bedrooms or bathrooms, or square footage. Many factors such as [...]