Thinking of buying your first home in the San Ramon Valley area?

Do you have your sites set on Danville or San Ramon, CA? Maybe you’re thinking of Dublin or Pleasanton. Are you thinking single family home or condo?

Are you considering a zero down purchase or do you have a down payment? Is the market right for you to buy or should you wait?

We follow the local markets closely. You can find local MLS trends here, market details here, and real estate industry news here.

Elizabeth Weintraub over at About.com has an article with a list of links for those thinking of buying their first house. Be prepared to spend some time following links as she does a great job of covering all of the bases:

Guide to Home Buying Step-by-Step - Let's say one morning you wake up and realize that, yes, you should buy a home. You're tired of throwing away money on rent and figure that it's time to get into a home of your own. But you have reservations. Home Buying Guide to Getting Started

Elizabeth Weintraub over at About.com gives us a lesson in contingency contracts in a buyer’s market and how the seller can use it to their advantage. How to Use Contract Contingencies When Buying Before Selling

Over at BusinessWeek we have a couple of interesting posts that got me to wondering how telecommuting will impact the real estate industry in 50 years. A lot of real estate is sold to people relocating for work. What if we see a significant drop in those numbers? Where would you live if you didn’t have to commute to work? What do you think Pat?

Towns Chasing Workers, Not Just Jobs

One Midwestern region wants to attract intellectual capital to replace its shrinking manufacturing base

Working from Home: It's in the Details

The benefits include lower costs and greater productivity, but figuring out how to communicate with off-site employees is crucial

Athol Kay won “Most Passionate Rant” in the latest Carnival of Real Estate for his response to our post over on our Active Rain blog.

Great Tips for Home Sellers from Elizabeth Weintraub over at About.com. 

Selling a House with Pets at Home

Almost everybody loves pets except the home buyer who is buying your house. Don't ask me why, but that's often how it works out. Home sellers who adore their pets — and I count myself as a huge pet lover — have a hard time imagining the negative attitudes others harbor against pets. So, while this might be a bitter pill to swallow, if you want to get top dollar for your house, pay attention to how much you might lose with a dog or cat in residence.

Top 10 Home Showing Tips

How to Show Your Home to Buyers

When you show your home, you want to engage the buyer emotionally because the decision to buy is based more on emotions, and less on logic. Give the buyer permission to say, "Yes, I want to buy this home," by staging, accentuating your home's positive attributes, and do not draw any attention to the negative aspects.

Top 10 Myths About Real Estate Agents - Debunking Real Estate Agent Myths 

The Truth About Agents: What's True and What's Not

Just when you think you've found out everything you need to know about the "dirty, little secrets agents don't want you to know" from a bazillion of misinformed and, in all fairness, probably well meaning Web sites, here's what you really need to know:

Forget the hype. Forget the books you need to buy, the online services you need to subscribe to and start looking at what's really going on. Here's the straight story:

The Harper Team specializes in residential real estate in the communities of San Ramon, Dublin and Pleasanton, CA. We work out of the Danville office of Keller Williams Realty.

You can chat with us in real time through the Instant Messenger widget in the side bar of our blog.

Thanks to Jim Cronin over at The Real Estate Tomato for this introduction to Elizabeth Weintraub

I was so impressed that I have declared this to be Elizabeth Weintraub Day at The Harper Team Blog and am doing two posts to celebrate. This post is for Home Buyers and features some of Elizabeth’s great posts for home buyers.

If you are a looking to buy a home in San Ramon, Dublin or Pleasanton, CA., then you will want to read these posts by Elizabeth:

Buying Strategies for a Slowing Market

Forget the Year of the Boar, which is the Chinese New Year Animal for 2007. This is the Year of the Buyer. Many agents are saying, "If you are a buyer, come sit by me! You can relax on a soft leather chair, and I'll get the title guys to give you a foot massage. Would you like a glass of champagne?"

Yup. You real estate buyers can snap your fingers and everybody in the industry today will snap to attention. You run the show. And I don't mean YOU in a Times Magazine sort of way. The world of real estate, as we know it in 2007, belongs to the buyer. Buyers rule.

Before You Buy Your First Home - Tips for First-time Home Buyers

It's not uncommon for a first-time home buyer to say to me, "Gosh, just last week I called you about buying a home and now I'm in escrow! How did this happen so fast?"

The answer is it didn't. First-time home buyers start the search long before most even realize it.

When is the Best Time to Buy a Home? 

Which Days of the Year Are Buyers More Likely to Get Low-Ball Offers Accepted?

When is the best time of the year to buy a home? There are at least two days of the year that give buyers the edge. Would you like to guess which two days are best for buying a home? 

Buying a Home in a Down Market 

Should You Wait to Buy in a Down Market of Falling Home Prices?

Everybody wants to know how to best time the market when buying a home. It's just natural. Especially if you're thinking about buying in a down market where homes prices are declining. You wonder how low they will go and whether you should wait, right?

I'm also throwing in this post by Kent Palmer @ Realty Blogging as it is also on target.

The real estate market right now is, without a doubt, easier on buyers than it is sellers. There is an over abundance of property on the market, especially in the Denver market. This gives buyers hope that they will be able to find the perfect home, at the right price in no time at all. The problem is that there is an over abundance of crap. Abused, under appreciated, lender owned and abandoned properties. The kind of place nobody wants to call home.

Buyers quickly get frustrated. Viewing, property after property and finding nothing near the perfect home. And don't forget about, the always frustrating… "I'm sorry that just went under contract this morning." call that usually follows your client proclaiming "we finally found it!" All of these things lead buyers to wonder, is it really a buyers market?

The Harper Team specializes in residential real estate in the communities of San Ramon, Dublin and Pleasanton, CA. We work out of the Danville office of Keller Williams Realty.

You can chat with us in real time through the Instant Messenger widget in the side bar of our blog.