National Real Estate Websites Take Advantage of Local Agents
It's so unfair!
I don’t have to name any names because we know those big real estate sites that are getting all the Google traffic. Since they are national, they can acquire links from all over the USA, pushing them to the top of the searches and collecting the lion’s share of leads. The fact that this happens makes sense and that’s not my big problem, but what they do next is what is really unfair–they charge real estate agents a lot of money every month to get leads, or to become a featured “trusted agent” member.
On some of these sites, agents can choose their membership level. For each zip code, or number of people in that zip code, agents pay a certain monthly fee. If they want more coverage, they pay a lot more money. I am a strong believer in capitalism, but those clients shouldn’t belong to them in the first place. The national websites aren’t out there to help anybody–their goal is to make a lot of money and they rely on agents to pay up in this already tough market.
What agents can do is work very hard to become an authority site and it can be accomplished to a degree, but it’s difficult. It’s like competing for a brand name product with a company who sells the actual brand. If the national sites were juggernauts, local agents would be toy trains. Maybe we can take over a couple first page results, but we’d either spend thousands of dollars to hire someone to improve our search engine rankings, or surrender countless hours doing it ourselves instead of actually selling homes, which is what we really want to do.
This is a call to action to any website in the Antelope Valley, or wherever you live. If you know of a local company that you really like, please add a link to their website. Let’s keep business to ourselves and not be forced to buy our clients from some big company. This is not only true with real estate, but any other locally bound service online. We can help each other out. It’s free, only takes a couple minutes to do it, and helps more than you may realize.
If you would like to link to AccessAvHomes.com from your site, please use the code below:
Lease with An Option to Buy–The Advantages
If you are interested in buying a house, but don’t have good credit, you may be able to negotiate a rent to own contract with someone who would like to sell their house, but have not been able to and are therefore willing to rent it out while waiting for it to sell. Situations like this are a great opportunity for you to offer to rent the property and also become the home buyer as well.
Sellers often agree to a lease option because they will otherwise have to make mortgage payments on their vacant house while making another payment on the home they are currently living in, which can be expensive. In addition, renters with an option to buy tend to take better care of homes than people who walk away from them when the lease runs out.
A lease with an option to buy is a great way to purchase a home because you can make rental payments on the house go toward the down payment for the property if you choose to buy it. Otherwise, you would have to come up with the whole down out of pocket. Instead, you can negotiate a contract where you completely avoid the down payment.
Another great thing about the lease with option to buy is the word, option. You could have an agreement where you pay rent for two years and then have the option to purchase the house if you choose to do so. At the end of the two years, you may decide that you don’t want to buy that house after all. Maybe you will have a higher income and want a bigger house, or found a different job over the two years and want to move closer to work. The reasons you may not purchase the house are numerous, and you can decide to simply opt out of the purchase without actually breaking any obligations you have with the seller in the contract.
If you do decide that you do want the house, the seller cannot get out of selling the property to you, unless they’ve added some type of contingency that you have to meet before they allow you to purchase the home. Always think about everything a seller/landlord might add onto a contract. Why is it there and what positive or negative affects can it have? A contingency could be just about anything a seller can think of, such as: “Option contingent upon no late payments during the rental period.” So if you are a day late in your rent once, you lose your option to buy. Any such conditions need to be removed from the agreement before you sign it.
The market goes up and down and it’s hard to anticipate what will happen next with the prices of homes. Should you sign a contract to rent with an option to buy and the market crashes, you’ve just avoided an upside down mortgage. For example: Let’s say you started renting a house that was worth $100,000. You’ve been paying $1,000 per month in rent for 2 years. When your option arrives, the house is now only worth $70,000. It would be more advantageous for you to refuse to exercise your option to buy that house and simply look for a similar home that is $70,000. If you’ve taken good care of your credit over that two year period and have some money saved, you could easily walk away and find a better deal.
Want a List of Antelope Valley Homes for Sale Directly in Your Email?
Sample of property portal
The best homes sell the fastest, so being the first buyer to know when a property becomes available is the only way to get one step ahead of the competition, but how can you do that without scouring the internet every waking minute, or having an agent who calls you three times a day? Just ask your agent to send a property portal directly to your email.
The property portal is a high quality, free service that you can access by clicking a link in your email and you do not even have to download it.
You can have a portal set up for your preferred city within the Antelope Valley and choose whatever other criteria you like.
Once you open your portal, not only can you save and reject properties with a click of a button, your agent can see what you’ve saved, so they can print out the list of your favorites for a day of showing.
The original portal isn’t the last thing you get–when a new listing comes on the market, an email is instantly zapped into your inbox. You can open it, decide if you like the property, and then call your agent for a quick showing before anyone else even realizes it’s in the multiple listing service.
The property portal will not be right for you if you aren’t planning to buy a house in the near future because you will receive a lot of emails. However, if you are at the stage of buying where you constantly find yourself surfing the internet trying to track down the perfect house before it goes into escrow, then this is the right service for you.
For a free property portal, call Susan from Palm Realty at 661-305-0385, or you can also elect to view Antelope Valley homes on your own.
Antelope Valley Residents – Save on Electric and Gas Services
I’ve recently become aware of a company that provides energy programs to single family, multi-family and mobile home residents. The services offered are free to homeowners and renters. To qualify, you must meet eligibility guidelines, which include: income, utility provider, household size, and a home assessment.
Proteus’ goal is to help lower income families become more self sufficient and in the case of the Antelope Valley, they hope to help people begin to go green by lowering their costs, or offering other assistance that is free, such as:
- Refrigerator replacement
- Evaporative cooler replacement
- Weatherization
- Pool pump replacement
- Repair or replace a furnace
- Attic insulation
- Weatherstripping
- Replace windows/doors
If you are hot this summer and need your air conditioner or swamp cooler working, call Patricia Brown, a Proteus representative who can help you. Her number is (661) 208-1735.
Antelope Valley Fair 2011
Despite cuts in government funding to help support the Antelope Valley Fair, it will still be coming starting on August 18th at 4:00pm. Many fairs are seeing 32 million dollars in lost support because the state of California is cutting funding in order to save some money. In response, Lancaster would like to take the reigns and continue without the state’s heavy involvement.
Our fair, according to a roller coaster operator I chatted with last summer told me that the AV Fair was so small, the company he worked for decided to do our fair as tax write off and that they didn’t even bother to unpack more than half of the rides they could have used because our lot on Avenue H is much smaller than most. I guess he didn’t remember the smaller one we used to have on Avenue I.
The city of Lancaster has seen some improvements with the new Boulevard, growing college, and additional houses to cover up the fact that this whole area is still desert land. Despite the fact that we are beginning to become a well populated part of Los Angeles county, we don’t have many major activities to look forward to besides the Antelope Valley Fair.
The best way to keep the fair open every year is to come and enjoy it. There’s everything from shopping, to hopping on rides, visiting the livestock barns, seeing concerts, arena events, and eating the delicious food. Whatever you want to do at the fair, there’s something there for you. This year, they have some great musicians, including: Trace Adkins on August 20th, Blue Oyster Cult on August 19th, Goo Goo Dolls on August 24th, and others. To see the full list visit the Antelope Valley Fair Website. The arena events include the ever exciting demolition derby, bull riding, fireworks, and rural olympics.
The last day of the fair arrives on the the 28th of August at 2:00 pm and comes to an end at 11:00pm until next year. As far as what the local government is planning to make the fair financially feasible, I don’t know. I hope that they have a good plan in place that will allow us to enjoy the fair every year in the Antelope Valley.
Palmdale Homes vs. Lancaster Homes
If you talk to anyone who is fairly familiar with the Antelope Valley and ask them where the best place to move is, they will probably tell you Palmdale. Lancaster usually doesn’t get so much praise, except on the west side of town. If both cities are next to each other, why does one get so much hype, while the other is considered second best?
Lancaster isn’t bad at all. It does have the disadvantage of being further from the Antelope Valley Mall and many surrounding convenient stores and restaurants, but there are still fantastic areas in Lancaster to live.
Palmdale and Lancaster both have their share of good areas, but Palmdale has built a reputation by word of mouth and the fact that homeowners in Palmdale have a shorter distance to drive down below creates extra appeal.
There have been some improvements done recently to Lancaster Blvd, which has made it a nice place to go visit with the family for food, entertainment, and a great time. The streets have parking in the center medium and the speed limit is slow, making it a better street to stroll along than drive.
Because so many people choose to live in Palmdale, the homes in Lancaster also tend to be priced lower for the same quality level of home compared to Palmdale. So if you want to find the most home for your money, consider moving into nice, quiet neighborhood in Lancaster.
One main advantage of living in Lancaster, especially on the west side is being close to the Antelope Valley College and university. It is expanding all the time and living nearby will make it much more convenient for your family to expand your education.
All in all, if you are lucky enough to be one of those people who don’t need to drive down the freeway, or don’t mind the short trip to shop at Best Buy and other stores only located in Palmdale, Lancaster is a great place to live in addition to being a bit less expensive and dare I say, just as good as Palmdale.
Why Buyers Should Consider the Resale Value a Home
You’re likely to think about what qualities and comforts you are going to get out of a house when you buy it. The common concerns are usually if each home you consider has the right floor plan for your family, how much work needs to be done on it, and if it will still suite your needs over the years.
How someone else is going to like it is probably the last thing you want to think about. If anything, you are probably hoping nobody else will think it’s nice, so you can get a better deal. However, you might want to consider that the home you buy now might not be your last happily ever after and there is a chance you are going to want to resell it one day.
What will your house be worth compared to a similar home across town? The answer has a lot to do with the location of the property. The more desirable the area is, the greater your chances of reselling the house at a good competing price.
It is much better to buy a fixer upper in a great neighborhood than a gorgeous home sitting in an undesirable area. Sure, the house might look great, but some buyers will refuse to even go see it. A house in a good area will always sell because you can change the way your house looks, but you can’t single handedly improve the location of the property, or pick your home up and move it onto a nice street across town.
So where are the best locations? The best places generally have the lowest crime rates, the most entertainment, the easiest access to the freeways, are close to the college, have schools where kids test higher than other areas, are a short driving distance from large businesses, and most of all–already have a reputation for being a good area.
People tend to want to move into an area that other people boast about and that in itself can make the area better because only people who are serious about living in a good neighborhood try to move there. What you have in the end is a group of neighbors who all want to be in a good neighborhood and because of that reason, it is just that.
Palm Realty–Palmdale Real Estate Office
Since this is a blog and I get to talk about whatever I like, I’ve decided to mention how satisfied I am working at Palm Realty. We are located at 40420 10th Street West in Palmdale, right off of Avenue O, which is a great location just North of Best Buy, Target, and the Antelope Valley Mall.
When I first came to Palm Realty, I noticed how welcoming the office was and that all the people who worked here were very friendly. Now that I’ve been here for a while, I can say that they are always that nice. It reminds me of the Cheers song, “Where everybody knows your name and they’re always glad you came.”
If you’re looking for a great real estate office to hang your license, or are interested in buying or selling a property, you really cannot go wrong with Palm Realty. Yes, I’m bragging, but I am very content here and have only good things to say about this office. For more information, call 661-305-0385 and mention that you’ve read this blog post.
Buying Land in Palmdale and Lancaster, CA
If you live locally, you probably already know there is still quite a bit of land for sale in the Antelope Valley. Many areas, such as Lake Los Angeles, or between Lancaster and Rosamond, can be bought at a fairly good price.
Buying land is a little trickier than purchasing a house because of zoning, what utilities are available on the lot, and how fast the area might grow. All of these factors can affect how much you should pay for a lot and what it will probably be worth as the area you buy in becomes more populated:
Location: What if you were torn between buying one of two pieces of land, but one was about to get a major road next to it, while the other was not? Which one would you want? Unless you don’t care about what the future price of the property, or you are buying for agricultural purposes, you want the land where the area is being gradually built up. If the zoning for your land is commercial, this is even more important. To find out what the future holds for the area you want to buy in, you can call Regional Planning at 661-723-4475.
Zoning: Some zones are reserved for residential use, while others will be agricultural, manufacturing and businesses. Once you know what you want to do with your land, you can work at locating the perfect property. Zoning can also affect what the property is worth.
Each city has it’s own zoning regulations, which means you can’t simply type a zone into Google and get the correct answer. If you try to look it up online in the local website, you might find it frustrating and time consuming, so it’s better and faster to call and speak with someone. If you are looking in Palmdale, call Building and Safety at 661-267-5353; for Building and Safety in Lancaster, call 661-273-6144. For areas where there is a lot of land and not many houses like Llano and Lake Los Angeles, you will need to call Regional Planning: 661-723-4475.
Utilities: Land is more readily built upon and worth more when it is near electrical lines, phone lines, and has access to water. Some lots already have a well, which is great for agricultural land.
Roads: Paved roads make a property more accessible and easier to locate. Plus they are more developed and ready for use.
Price: Once you have all the information on the land, it is time to compare the property you are interested in to those that have sold within the past six months. This can be obtained from a real estate agent. You may also want to take into account how many days the land you want to buy has been listed on the market. Land is currently taking longer to sell than residential property, but if it’s on the market for more than 200 days, you can usually negotiate the price downward.
Buy a Home in the Antelope Valley
The Antelope Valley is a great place to purchase a home, or investment property because the price of homes are lower than most of Los Angeles county. There are a lot of tract homes in the heart of Palmdale and Lancaster, and as you head further east or west, there are more properties with extra land.
Many older areas are less expensive and it’s a good idea to ask a neighbor how much they like living on their particular street and if they’ve had any problems in the past. Newer homes tend to retain their value better in a bad market and gain equity faster in a good market. Whichever you choose, remember that you aren’t just buying a home, you are also going to be in that location, so choose one that meets your standards.
West Palmdale is often where many people moving to the Antelope Valley want to live because the short distance to local entertainment, plus a shorter drive to Simi and San Fernando Valley. West Lancaster is also considered a fairly good place to live because there are many newer homes, especially as you head West of the 14 Freeway.
If you are planning on purchasing a home in an area that is more in demand, there will be a noticably higher listing price than a property in similar shape on the East side. So consider the location and age of the home combined. You can get a better deal on an area that looks great, even though it isn’t in the most competetive area, or pay more for the most sought out location.