If you are planning on buying a home with less than 20% down, you will be required to pay for Mortgage Insurance (MI). Many lenders are ow offering an upfront MI program that you may want to consider. This type of MI allows you to pay one upfront MI fee in lieu of monthly payments. This is a great option and can save a tremendous amount of money. I recently saw an example based on a $500K loan amount and the savings over a 5-year period was over $8,600! The upfront fee was about $7,400. The standard monthly payment would have been approximately $266/month, so the brek even period was only about 2.3 months. Everything thereafter is money in your pocket. Aside from the great savings potential, there are a couple of other benefits to consider. By not having a monthly premium in your payment, it allows buyers to qualify for a highr priced home. The upfront feecan also be paid for by a seller in the form of a credit at closing, so it is something that your Realtor can negotiate for on your behalf.

The mortgage process continues to be a very time consuming and frustrating experience for most buyers. Financing delays are the most common hold-ups in today’s real estate transactions. We have gone from one to extreme to the other in terms of underwriting and documentation requirements. As frustrating as the process is, it is a necessary evil and can be made easier by spending a little time and gathering all of your paperwork ahead of time and choosing the right person to work with.

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Inventory inched up this week to 110 available properties, as we saw 19 new homes come one the market, 18 properties go pending and 8 homes close escrow.  Despite the increase in the available inventory, there is still a shortage of listings, which is keeping the market very competitive for buyers and many sellers are receiving multiple offers as a result.

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This home is a must see! Bright and open floor plan sitting on a large pie shaped lot at the end of a quiet court in oneof Pleasanton’s most desirable neighborhoods. Access to the Pleasanton Sports Park from your own backyard! Too many upgrades to list. You won’t believe the garage!

This beautiful home in The Gates sits on a large 1/4 acre lot at the end of a quiet court and is one of only a few homes that backs up to the Pleasanton Sports Park. Direct access to the park through the back gate! Join us for an Open House this Saturday from 1-4!

4848 Smith Gate Ct, Pleasanton

Summer is quickly approaching and now is a good time to think about getting your home ready for the hot weather.

Read about May maintenance tips here 

We continue to see a very low inventory of available homes in Pleasanton this week with only 103 available properties. Over the course of the last week, 25 new homes came on the market, 33 went pending sale and 20 homes closed escrow. Properties continue to sell very quickly and many with multiple offers over asking price.

Click here to see new listings

Click here to see new homes 

With the upcoming and much anticipated Facebook IPO, the Silicon Valley is already seeing the effects. Will the newly created wealth have a major effect on our market? Only time will tell.

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