Information For You - Bay Area Home Buyer Guide

Hi, I'm Rebecca Brooks. I've been representing Sellers & Buyers in the San Francisco Bay Area for 25+ years. During that time, I've helped hundreds of clients successfully close transactions in the City, Marin County, the East Bay (Oakland/Berkeley, etc), as well as Sonoma and Napa counties. Not only do I have experience as a full-time seasoned Broker, I've also been in management positions at several top companies. If you click through this quick Buyer's Guide, you'll see some pretty basic information regarding your timeframe, your 'Buying Power' and tips regarding your purchase budget and financing reminders. Even if you've purchased before, it's a good idea to refresh your knowledge about some of the basics.

Shopping for a home or condo in San Francisco or Marin? It's a fast, complicated and competitive market out there. But we’ve got you covered! We will help you evaluate your needs & wants, point you towards the perfect lenders & vendors, guide you in your search, assist in evaluating properties, help you write a winning offer and facilitate a smooth transaction. At the end, we will hand you the keys to your new home!

Here's a quick glimpse of the steps required when you are shopping for a new home - from the initial Buyer Consultation, where we talk about your wants and needs, to viewing properties, working with your lender, reviewing disclosures, deciding on offer price and terms...I'm helping you with every step throughout the entire process, all the way to the successful closing when I hand you your keys.

A Buyer's agent will help you view listings, evaluate disclosures and reports, write & present your offer and communicate with the listing agent. Unless you are a cash buyer, you will also need to affiliate with/choose a lender to provide financing. Your REALTOR© and your lender work closely together to get the deal to the closing table. 

Most Buyers don't realize how important it is to start with this step. Understanding your budget is going to help you narrow down your options. Unless you're a cash buyer, you'll want to be pre-approved for a loan. Need advice about your financing options? Your mortgage lender and your real estate agent work together as a team to guide you to a successful close of escrow. Be sure to choose a lender that is local and understands our market. Here's a list of amazing mortgage professionals that I've worked with in the past. You can call or email any of them to get started with the pre-approval process. Make sure you mention to them that I referred you, you just might get a faster response.

Understanding the difference between pre-approval and pre-qualification is crucial for home buyers. Equip yourself with the knowledge to make informed decisions. Taking the time to get fully pre-approved will be to your benefit as you navigate the home buying process. Watch this video for more information. 

I belong to multiple MLS's (multiple listing services) in the City, North Bay, East Bay and Peninsula areas. Realtors use the MLS to search for home listings posted by all local brokerages; once we know your search criteria: neighborhood, size of home, budget, etc. I will set up a listing alert so that you are sent new listings as soon as they come on the market. Often I might also recommend expanding your search into some surrounding neighborhoods because it's good to know your options. My MLS accounts give me access to ALL local property listings in these counties: San Francisco, Marin, Alameda, San Mateo, Napa, Sonoma, Contra Costa etc. I also network with and have referral agent contacts throughout the entire state; so if you are searching elsewhere in CA or the USA, just let me know and I will help you get the information you need.

There are lots of different ways that we find property listings, the most common being the Multiple Listing Service (MLS); we also use on-line groups and local Realtor networks where lots of 'pocket' & 'coming soon' notifications are shared between agents. I will set you up on a listing alert system named 'Real Scout' which will email you when new prospects hit the market. I preview new listings during Broker's Tours, recommend Open Houses for you to attend, and arrange private showings for you. If you are surfing the web and find a property listing that looks interesting, send me a link and I will investigate. Same thing goes for any 'For Sale' signs that you see around town - note the address and I'll find out more for you. I can ALWAYS find out more information about a property via tax records, past MLS history and county/city websites.

Here's a quick way to search our local property listings that match your search criteria. Just go ahead and enter your search parameters: area, size, price. This system will show you current listings. I can always give you more information than you will fill find on-line; the public only sees the marketing remarks. There's also 'agent only' remarks that apply to each property, and your agent needs to tell you what those are. Please reach out to me if you'd like me to get you more information on available listings and/or set up a more detailed customized listing alert that will send you the new listings every few days. Check out the search portal - copy and paste this link:

https://rebeccabrooks.realscout.com/homesearch/map?for_sale=1&for_rent=0

This is a great e-book courtesy of one of our local title companies. If you are new to buying in CA, there's tons of information here, mostly about how the escrow and closing process works. If you have any questions about anything you read in here, let me know so I can provide answers, details or explanations.

When it comes to writing an offer, you'll need to make some big decisions. Obviously, the purchase price is a major one; but you'll also have to think about other terms such as inspections, and length of time necessary to work through contingencies, finalizing your financing, your closing & move-in dates, etc. I'll help you guide you when it comes to writing up a contract; here's a sample California Purchase Agreement, which is used in most of the state of CA, except for San Francisco, which has it's own contract and required forms. Don't worry, when it's time to write an offer, I prepare a draft contract for us to review together prior to any signature requests. It's easy to get overwhelmed by the paperwork, but as a Buyer you should know that we have boilerplate state forms for every aspect of a transaction. It's my job to generate and explain all of the necessary documents to you. I will never ask you to sign anything that we haven't already discussed!

What happens if you get an accepted offer and then find out something negative during your inspection timeframe? Can you cancel the contract? What happens to your deposit? These types of questions are very common and important. Buyers should read and understand the "Liquidated Damages" and "Arbitration/Mediation" paragraphs in the Purchase Agreement. Before you make any offers, I will explain all of the contract paragraphs to you and you will have a chance to ask any questions you may have. Most Buyers have tons of questions, and that's OK and entirely typical - there's a lot to understand. I will never pressure you to make any decisions, and am always happy to explain and discuss your options in all circumstances. 

State and city laws require specific seller disclosures to be part of every property transfer. All of them are important to read, although many of them are generic advisories that are used statewide for all types of listings and may not be 'property specific'. Sellers provide their knowledge of the property by filling out a Transfer Disclosure Statement and other supporting forms; they may also choose to provide various inspections, such as a pest/termite inspection or a home inspection, or for a condo property, the HOA documents. It's my job to help guide you through the seller disclosures and to advise you on how to best complete your due diligence by hiring any necessary inspectors or reports. Here's an example of what a Disclosure Package Cover Sheet will look like; you and I will review each disclosure document together.

The term 'closing costs' basically means how much it costs a buyer to do the deal. Bulked into this term are: lender fees, escrow fees, title insurance, prorated property taxes, homeowner's insurance and prorated HOA dues (if applicable). Here's an example of what an Estimated Buyer's Settlement Statement looks like. Of course, each estimate is different based on the property details, down payment amount, and date/month of closing (for property tax proration purposes). Upon acceptance, you will put your initial deposit funds into escrow, and then just before the close date, you'll need to come up with the remaining balance due, which includes the rest of your down payment and all of the fees. I explain all of this as we go - but as an example, I've added a mock Buyer's Settlement Statement here for your review.

In California, your yearly property taxes are going to be calculated based on the value of your home. For Buyers, this is going to mean that they are based on the price that you paid. We typically use a rate of 1.2% of your purchase price to estimate your yearly taxes. A good way to think about this is that if you buy a property for $1M, then your yearly taxes are approximately $12K, or $1K per month. If you're not already familiar with how the fiscal year works in terms of property taxes, here's a handy chart. Some lenders may require that the borrower/Buyer set up "impound accounts" at the close of escrow, which means that a monthly amount is added to your mortgage payment to cover your yearly property tax bill. Some Buyers like this arrangement because it breaks up the tax payments into monthly amounts and the lender sends the funds to the assessor; but if you choose to decline impound accounts, then your tax bill is mailed you directly, and it's due twice a year. Don't be late, because there are stiff penalties for delinquent property tax payments. I like to say that there's 'No Darn Fooling Around' with your property taxes - the first installment is due November 10th, late December 10th and the second installment is due February 10th and late April 10th.

Single? Married? Sole ownership? Joint tenants? Community property? Right of Survivorship? What does it all mean? Your type of ownership taken, also known as 'vesting of title' will dictate how you sign your closing papers and how the transaction is recorded at the county offic Here's a great informational brochure explaining the common ways to hold title in California.

I am PSA certified! There’s a great deal to consider when buying a house. Understanding how the price of your potential home is determined will help you make the smartest (and best) investment. That’s why you need a REALTOR® who is a Pricing Strategy Advisor (PSA). Working with a PSA adds valuable perspective to your transaction while taking the guesswork out of pricing. Gain the confidence that the home you plan to buy has the most accurate price. A PSA strategically finds this number through a Comparative Market Analysis, also called a CMA. I will prepare a CMA using the most recent sales and we will analyize the data, review the disclosures, and come up with the most strategic offer-price-plan possible. 

The real estate industry is constantly changing. The agent that you choose to represent you should not only have extensive local knowledge and experience, but they should also be open to learning new tech, new business tools and stay on top of emerging trends. Look for an agent who holds multiple designations or who has taken advanced training in their field.

Buyer clients often ask me "how long will this take?" and my answer is that every deal is different. Some Buyers shop for a few months while others find something right away. My best advice would be to shop around enough to feel confident about your decision; and then once you find something you want, write a compelling offer. In this market, you might have to write a few offers until you get an acceptance; so try not to get discouraged, because there's always more inventory coming. You can read some comments from a few of my past clients here or click the Zillow link below.

If you would like to read some recent client reviews and testimonials, please click on this link: https://www.zillow.com/profile/Rebecca%20Brooks

Here's a quick video testimonial from some past clients whom I helped to purchase a condo in San Francisco. They were so pleased with the process that they wanted to create this recommendation video. We do love Five Star Reviews!!

It is important to me that we work together as a team. Once I take you on as a client, I will work diligently to find you the property that best meets your needs and wants. This involves much 'behind the scenes' work such as networking with my local colleagues, previewing listings and sometimes reaching out directly to potential Sellers. Please read the details about my "Purchase Concierge Program" to understand the way I work with my clients.

I think it's important for us to take some time to sit down together and talk about your search. This is where I'll ask you to describe your future new home. What neighborhoods do you like? How much space do you need? Do you work from home? Do you require parking? Any pets? What's your price range? And so forth. I'll explain my home searching resources and we talk about your purchase timeframe and how we'll view properties together. I prefer to do this initial meeting in person, but Zoom works, if necessary.