Santa Cruz Real Estate Blog - mortgage

What is a Good Credit Score When Buying a Home?

Posted by Paul Burrowes on January 4th, 2025

“Homes for sale in cities within California,” “Santa Cruz homes for sale with a low credit score,” or “Best homes for sale in Soquel, CA"—sound familiar? If you're residing in California, you'll often come across these targeted ads, making the home-buying process seem like a breeze. Finding your dream home in Santa Cruz can be more challenging than it seems, especially without expert guidance. Finding the ideal house is only part of the process; you must also grasp credit ratings, mortgage regulations, and real estate lingo, among other things. To handle these complications, you must seek appropriate guidance. While tempting loan and home advertisements might promise financing for buyers with poor credit, the truth is that navigating the Santa Cruz…

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Preparation and Guidance: A Guide for First-Time Home Buyers

Posted by Paul Burrowes on November 19th, 2024

Buying your first home is a monumental milestone that comes with a mix of excitement and trepidation. The prospect of homeownership can feel both thrilling and totally overwhelming, especially when you're navigating the process for the very first time. Where do you even begin? How much house can you realistically afford? What type of mortgage is the best fit? It's enough to make any prospective first-time buyer's head spin.

However, with the right preparation and guidance, the journey to homeownership is completely achievable. The government offers a variety of programs specifically designed to support and empower first-time buyers, providing more lenient credit and down payment requirements, subsidized interest rates, and even grants and loans to…

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How Long Are Appraisals Good for?

Posted by Paul Burrowes on October 23rd, 2024

If you've ever taken a keen interest in Santa Cruz, CA and you noticed the pivotal role that appraisals play in shaping this dynamic real estate landscape. A home appraisal is a process that determines the real market value of a property, similar to how a valuation for jewelry or a vehicle or boat is done. It is a gold mine of information for anybody in the market to purchase or sell a property.

The value of a house may and will fluctuate over time, so it's reasonable to assume that appraisals for homes for sale will also expire, sometimes even before they find buyers. It will become "old news" and need a fresh evaluation at some point. Then, what duration are appraisals good for? In considering this, keep the following in mind:

Inside this…

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