What does a circular polarizer do?

If you've ever wondered what a circular polarizer does, and what it looks like before and after, then please read.

 

Combining Filters

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How to Avoid 1st Time Buyer Mistakes, Top 10

FIRST TIME BUYER'S TIPS

photo credit: Giulia Torra/Flickr

We've all heard that, "Buying your first home is like a roaller coaster." Yeah, but does it have to be that way for me? Now if I were in your shoes, I'd want to minimize the roller coaster. And, why can't my home buying process be more like Disney's "It's a small world" where the whole world is really small, people singing everywhere, and the ride is very, very smooth? Let's see if we can be more of a boat ride rather than a roller coaster by giving you the top 10 tips when buying a home for the first time.

Before we give you the "deets", let me first say that buying a home is probably going to be your largest investment. But the initial problem with most first timer buyers is that they don't do enought research. Sure, they'll study every home in their perfect zip code and site homes that sold 5 years ago (thank you Internet!), but ask them about what to expect during escrow, and they look like a deer in headlights. More than often, they'll just give me a blank stare about the word "ESCROW", but I digress. Bottom line, please understand what the process is like when we do go home shopping together, then be sure to bring your excitement, your homework, your documents, and then we can start singing "It's a small world" on our buyer tours.

How to Stop a Foreclosure in San Diego

 

List of Common Short Sale Questions

1. What is a short sale?

2. What type of situation is the short sale best for?

3. Does a homeowner benefit from a short sale?

Military Home Selling Program

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE SELLING PROGRAM  

Homeowners Assistance Program (HAP)

The main purpose of the HAP is to assist eligible service members who face financial loss when selling their primary residence homes in areas where real estate values have declined because of a base closure or realignment announcement. The HAP Program also has provisions for Permanent Change of Stations (PCS) with the following:

Military Home Buyer Program

MILITARY BUYER PROGRAM:  VA LOAN

If you are an active, retired, reserve, or honorably discharged military serviceman, then one of the best loan options are available to you is a VA Loan. A VA Loan is issued by the department of Veterans Affairs and has a set of guidelines in which the following are key benefits:

• ZERO down payment requirement
• Lots of banks offer VA Loan program
• loan guaranteed by the VA on behalf of the service member
• NO PMI payment required (because of VA guarantee)
• virtually ZERO closing costs, appraisal, and origination fees required of servicemember

Because of your military service, commitment, and personal sacrifice, you are entitled to buying your very own home with NO MONEY DOWN, lower overall fees, and lower monthly payments. There is no other mainstream loan program that can come close to the above benefits. Period. Please visit one of our loan experts to go over the easy qualifications or visit the Veterans Affairs website at: http://www.benefits.va.gov/homeloans/

Originally, this program was born out of the 1944 Serviceman's Readjustment Act (aka, GI Bill of rights). The GI Bill provided vets with a federal guaranteed home with NO DOWN PAYMENT. The reason for this measure to was assist returning veterans from WWII transition easily into peacetime by enjoying the benefits of home ownership. Fast forward to today, and that premise is still in place as our American hero’s from Afghanistan and Iraq enjoy the advantage of transforming their military service into the pride and enjoyment of their own home.

Agent619.com 1st Time Buyers Program

Is it worth it to pay for a $100,000 or more for a home instead of rent?

How in the world do I buy a home?

Can I even qualify or find something good for myself or my family?

I’m just starting out, will the bank even approve me?

We know that buying your 1st home is a very “big thing” because we’ve been there too. That's a complete game-changer when it comes to your overall life. You are going to be moving from something temporary (renting) and transforming your world into something concrete, permanent, and meaningful (home ownership). So to start out, we're going to assume that you’re either moving from your parents home, or a small apartment, a shared condo, or even military quarters and now you’ve decided to take-the-plunge!  With a big decision like that, you gotta do your homework and we've broken down the home buying process into 3 easy parts.

Agent619.com 1st Time buyer program:

Prepare

1. Decide on what the 5 year plan is going to be (married/divorced, kids, job transfer, etc.)
2. Plan future mortgage budget to be $500/month payment per $100,000 of sales price
3. Save minimum of 3.5% of sales price for cash down payment
4. Ideally , save 1-3% of sales price for transfer fees, inspections, etc. (closing costs)

Go Shopping

5. Get pre-qualified with a bank on the Federal Housing Administration Loan (FHA)
1. show 2 months of pay-stubs
2. turn in 2 months of bank statements (cover down payment + closing fees)
3. submit 2 years of tax statements
4. submit Social Security Number for FICO credit scoring, minimum 640 rating
6. Setup psychological warfare profile (we will explain at 1st meeting, you’ll love it!)
7. Setup Internet home search on Agent619.com (price, bedrooms, area, etc.)
8. Setup Agent619.com home tours
9. Negotiate paper offer on 2-3 favorite homes

Handle Paperwork

10. Open escrow on best deal
11. run home inspections
12. sign loan documents with notary
13. close escrow and get keys

 

Pretty easy huh? Please remember that the devil is in the details and it's very rare that we will go through the home buying process without some bumps, turbulence, and dips. We will be committed to keeping your first home buying process as smooth as we can by communicating as much as possible and allowing you to ask the same questions over and over again as all first-timers should do. So let's get started, and just call/text/email us at Agent619.com and get you setup fairly easily and quickly into your 1st home.