Ozzie Garcia Realty

03/30/2018

When you’re selling your home, you want it to look good so it will command the best price. That’s where home staging comes in.

Fortunately, homeowners can get it done for a lot less money.

5 cheap ways to stage your home:

Stash personal items.
Clear away clutter.
Rearrange and neutralize rooms.
Scrub and deodorize.
Enhance curb appeal.

03/03/2018

OPEN HOUSE this Sunday March 4th 1-4pm
2 BED + 2 BATH CONDO
$ 589k
6050 CANTERBURY DR
CULVER CITY CA 90230
Completely updated Condo located in the highly desirable Pines complex in Fox Hills, this top floor corner unit offers expansive city views, a new WiFi controlled A/C window unit and a bright & spacious floor plan.
Come on by !!!!!

02/24/2018

http://ozziegarciahomes.kwrealty.com/media/id/4397480/

01/22/2018

Rent vs. own: Which is right for you?

If you're thinking of buying your first home, you've probably wrestled with the decision to rent or own your home — and for good reason.
Owning a home is a big commitment. With it comes a lot of responsibility and a long-term financial relationship.
But which is right for you? To answer that, let's lean into the facts.
The improving housing market
Good news! Since the depths of the recession, the housing market has made a heroic comeback. That can be attributed to a number of factors, including a drop in unemployment and a stronger economy.
But as the housing market has recovered, it has experienced some growing pains. With a sharp increase in demand, housing supplies are being strained. This means, among other things, that prices are going up.
For families and individuals still recovering financially, finding affordable housing options can be difficult. This applies to home sales and rentals.
Making the decision
With rental and sales markets heading toward record highs, the decision falls back to what is best for you. Specifically, what is financially feasible.
Let's look at the basic numbers. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median gross rent paid from 2012 to 2016 was $949 monthly. Compare that with the median selected monthly owner costs with a mortgage, which was $1,491 over the same time period.
Then there are utilities. The median monthly electricity cost for renters in 2015 was $82, with owners paying $117. For piped gas, the median amount renters pay monthly is $42, while owners pay $58.
For renters, it is wise to carry renter's insurance. Some landlords will also charge maintenance and other fees. Utility costs will also vary depending on the quality of the structure and materials used as well as size of the rental space.
Homeowners will pay property taxes, insurance and an estimated $500 annually for routine maintenance, according to the Census Bureau.
The benefits of homeownership
At a glance, it may seem that renting is the lower cost option. But there are certain benefits to homeownership that may offset the additional regular costs. According to the Tax Policy Center, the primary benefit to owning a home is imputed rental income. Simply put, making a monthly payment on a home that you own is like paying rent to yourself.
While that money is not taxed, it comes with another benefit — potential tax deductions. When you file your federal taxes, you may be able to deduct a portion of the mortgage interest you pay. Talk to a tax professional for more information on the expenses you can deduct and the limits for those deductions.

01/22/2018

Neighborhood Spotlight: Historic South-Central looks toward growth in several directions

From the late 1800s to the 1910s, most newly arrived African American Angelenos took up residence in the historic center of the city, in an area near Spring Street known as the "Brick Block."
There the community organized itself around the landholdings of former slave and L.A. pioneer Biddy Mason, who was one of the co-founders of the First AME church.
Businesses catering to newly arrived migrants sprang up, and a self-sufficient business district was soon thriving in the area.
As the neighborhood grew and prospered, a burgeoning African American middle class arose. The rise of drinking dens and and other disreputable establishments in what is current day skid row led the first businesses and residents to begin to leapfrog to the south and east to the more genteel environs of the nearby South Central Avenue corridor.
By 1915, the California Eagle, the preeminent African American newspaper of the time, was already calling the neighborhood along Central Avenue the "Black belt of the city." The neighborhood's proximity to downtown job centers, affordable single-family homes and L.A.'s extensive streetcar service drew an influx of new residents from other parts of the city and from the South.
It was in the 1940s, however that L.A.'s version of the Great Migration began in earnest, as African Americans from across the country headed west, drawn by jobs created by the war-driven manufacturing boom. Central Avenue was overwhelmed by the sheer number of new residents, as restrictive racial covenants kept the neighborhood boundaries from naturally expanding.
The concentration of African Americans from all backgrounds from Central Avenue and 41st Street all the way to the north in Little Tokyo (whose residents had been interned in detention camps following the outbreak of the war) created a critical mass of talent, energy and optimism that found its expression in one of America's great cultural moments.
Sources: Mapzen, OpenStreetMap
Sources: Mapzen, OpenStreetMap (Ellis Simani / Los Angeles Times)

Jazz was suddenly everywhere, in the countless nightclubs that lined the neon-washed Central Avenue corridor, in recording studios around the city, and in movie theaters and radio stations across the country. In its heyday, the Central Avenue music scene was as influential as any in the country.
With the abolishment of L.A.'s most egregious forms of discriminatory housing laws in 1948, African Americans followed the general movement of the city's population center westward, and Central Avenue's predominance as the nexus of black culture in Los Angeles waned.
The nightclubs are now all gone, but the towering artistic achievements birthed in Historic South-Central live on.

11/18/2017

Five Reasons Why You Still Need A Real Estate Agent

The proliferation of services that help homebuyers and sellers complete their own real estate transactions is relatively recent, and it may have you wondering whether using a real estate agent is becoming a relic of a bygone era. While doing the work yourself can save you the significant commission rates many real estate agents command, for many, flying solo may not be the way to go--and could end up being more costly than a realtor's commission in the long run. Buying or selling a home is a major financial (and emotional) undertaking. Find out why you shouldn't discard the notion of hiring an agent just yet.

1. Better Access/More Convenience

A real estate agent's full-time job is to act as a liaison between buyers and sellers. This means that he or she will have easy access to all other properties listed by other agents. Both the buyer's and seller's agent work full time as real estate agents and they know what needs to be done to get a deal together. For example, if you are looking to buy a home, a real estate agent will track down homes that meet your criteria, get in touch with sellers' agents and make appointments for you to view the homes. If you are buying on your own, you will have to play this telephone tag yourself. This may be especially difficult if you're shopping for homes that are for sale by owner.

Similarly, if you are looking to sell your home yourself, you will have to solicit calls from interested parties, answer questions and make appointments. Keep in mind that potential buyers are likely to move on if you tend to be busy or don't respond quickly enough. Alternatively, you may find yourself making an appointment and rushing home, only to find that no one shows up.

2. Negotiating Is Tricky Business

Many people don't like the idea of doing a real estate deal through an agent and feel that direct negotiation between buyers and sellers is more transparent and allows the parties to better look after their own best interests. This is probably true--assuming that both the buyer and seller in a given transaction are reasonable people who are able to get along. Unfortunately, this isn't always an easy relationship.

What if you, as a buyer, like a home but despise its wood-paneled walls, s**g carpet and lurid orange kitchen? If you are working with an agent, you can express your contempt for the current owner's decorating skills and rant about how much it'll cost you to upgrade the home without insulting the owner. For all you know, the owner's late mother may have lovingly chosen the décor. Your real estate agent can convey your concerns to the sellers' agent. Acting as a messenger, the agent may be in a better position to negotiate a discount without ruffling the homeowner's feathers.

A real estate agent can also play the �bad guy� in a transaction, preventing the bad blood between a buyer and seller that can kill a deal. Keep in mind that a seller can reject a potential buyer's offer for any reason--including just because they hate his or her guts. An agent can help by speaking for you in tough transactions and smoothing things over to keep them from getting too personal. This can put you in a better position to get the house you want. The same is true for the seller, who can benefit from a hard-nosed real estate agent who will represent their interests without turning off potential buyers who want to ni**le about the price.

3. Contracts Can Be Hard To Handle

If you decide to buy or sell a home, the offer to purchase contract is there to protect you and ensure that you are able to back out of the deal if certain conditions aren't met. For example, if you plan to buy a home with a mortgage but you fail to make financing one of the conditions of the sale--and you aren't approved for the mortgage--you can lose your deposit on the home and could even be sued by the seller for failing to fulfill your end of the contract.

An experienced real estate agent deals with the same contracts and conditions on a regular basis, and is familiar with which conditions should be used, when they can safely be removed and how to use the contract to protect you, whether you're buying or selling your home.

4. Real Estate Agents Can't Lie

Well, OK, actually they can. But because they are licensed professionals there are more repercussions if they do than for a private buyer or seller. If you are working with a licensed real estate agent under an agency agreement, (i.e., a conventional, full-service commission agreement in which the agent agrees to represent you), your agent will be bound by common law (in most states) to a fiduciary relationship. In other words, the agent is bound by license law to act in their clients' best interest (not his or her own).

In addition, most realtors rely on referrals and repeat business to build the kind of clientèle base they'll need to survive in the business. This means that doing what's best for their clients should be as important to them as any individual sale.

Finally, if you do find that your agent has gotten away with lying to you, you will have more avenues for recourse, such as through your agent's broker, professional association (such as the National Association Of Realtors) or possibly even in court if you can prove that your agent has failed to uphold his fiduciary duties.

When a buyer and seller work together directly, they can (and should) seek legal counsel, but because each is expected to act in his or her best interest, there isn't much you can do if you find out later that you've been duped about multiple offers or the home's condition. And having a lawyer on retainer any time you want to talk about potentially buying or selling a house could cost far more than an agent's commissions by the time the transaction is complete.

5. Not Everyone Can Save Money

Many people eschew using a real estate agent to save money, but keep in mind that it is unlikely that both the buyer and seller will reap the benefits of not having to pay commissions. For example, if you are selling your home on your own, you will price it based on the sale prices of other comparable properties in your area. Many of these properties will be sold with the help of an agent. This means that the seller gets the keep the percentage of the home's sale price that might otherwise be paid to the real estate agent.

However, buyers who are looking to purchase a home sold by owners may also believe they can save some money on the home by not having an agent involved. They might even expect it and make an offer accordingly. However, unless buyer and seller agree to split the savings, they can't both save the commission.

The Bottom Line

While there are certainly people who are qualified to sell their own homes, taking a quick look at the long list of frequently asked questions on most �for sale by owner� websites suggests the process isn't as simple as many people assume. And when you get into a difficult situation, it can really pay to have a professional on your side.

11/18/2017

http://www.kw.com/kw/mortgagecenter.html

Need to calculate a mortgage payment? Use our free mortgage calculator to determine your monthly payment.

11/18/2017

5 Surprising (and Useful!) Ways to Save for a Down Payment
One of the biggest misconceptions of home buying? The 20% down payment. Here’s how to buy with a lot less down.

Buying your first home conjures up all kinds of warm and fuzzy emotions: pride, joy, contentment. But before you get to the good stuff, you’ve got to cobble together a down payment, a daunting sum if you follow the textbook advice to squirrel away 20% of a home’s cost.

Here are five creative ways to build your down-payment nest egg faster than you may have ever imagined.

1. Crowdsource Your Dream Home
You may have heard of people using sites like Kickstarter to fund creative projects like short films and concert tours. Well, who says you can’t crowdsource your first home? Forget the traditional registry, the fine china, and the 16-speed blender. Use sites like Feather the Nest and Hatch My House to raise your down payment. Hatch My House says it’s helped Americans raise more than $2 million for down payments.

2. Ask the Seller to Help (Really!)
When sellers want to a get a deal done quickly, they might be willing to assist buyers with the closing costs. Fewer closing costs = more money you can apply toward your deposit.

“They’re called seller concessions,” says Ray Rodriguez, regional mortgage sales manager for the New York metro area at TD Bank. Talk with your real estate agent. She might help you negotiate for something like 2% of the overall sales price in concessions to help with the closing costs.

There are limits on concessions depending on the type of mortgage you get. For FHA mortgages, the cap is 6% of the sale price. For Fannie Mae-guaranteed loans, the caps vary between 3% and 9%, depending on the ratio between how much you put down and the amount you finance. Individual banks have varying caps on concessions.

No matter where they net out, concessions must be part of the purchase contract.

Related: New Law Protects You from Surprise Closing Costs

3. Look into Government Options
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, offers a number of homeownership programs, including assistance with down payment and closing costs. These are typically available for people who meet particular income or location requirements. HUD has a list of links by state that direct you to the appropriate page for information about your state.

HUD offers help based on profession as well. If you’re a law enforcement officer, firefighter, teacher, or EMT, you may be eligible under its Good Neighbor Next Door Sales Program for a 50% discount on a house’s HUD-appraised value in “revitalization areas.” Those areas are designated by Congress for homeownership opportunities. And if you qualify for an FHA-insured mortgage under this program, the down payment is only $100; you can even finance the closing costs.

For veterans, the VA will guarantee part of a home loan through commercial lenders. Often, there’s no down payment or private mortgage insurance required, and the program helps borrowers secure a competitive interest rate.

Some cities also offer homeownership help. “The city of Hartford has the HouseHartford Program that gives down payment assistance and closing cost assistance,” says Matthew Carbray, a certified financial planner with Ridgeline Financial Partners and Carbray Staunton Financial Planners in Avon, Conn. The program partners with lenders, real estate attorneys, and homebuyer counseling agencies and has helped 1,200 low-income families.

4. Check with Your Employer
Employer Assisted Housing (EAH) programs help connect low- to moderate-income workers with down payment assistance through their employer. In Pennsylvania, if you work for a participating EAH employer, you can apply for a loan of up to $8,000 for down payment and closing cost assistance. The loan is interest-free and borrowers have 10 years to pay it back.

Washington University in St. Louis offers forgivable loans to qualified employees who want to purchase housing in specific city neighborhoods. University employees receive the lesser of 5% of the purchase price or $6,000 toward down payment or closing costs.

Ask the human resources or benefits personnel at your employer if the company is part of an EAH program.

5. Take Advantage of Special Lender Programs
Finally, many lenders offer programs to help people buy a home with a small down payment. “I would say that the biggest misconception [of homebuying] is that you need 20% for the down payment of a house,” says Rodriguez. “There are a lot of programs out there that need a total of 3% or 3.5% down.”

FHA mortgages, for example, can require as little as 3.5%. But bear in mind that there are both upfront and monthly mortgage insurance payments. “The mortgage insurance could add another $300 to your monthly mortgage payment,” Rodriguez says.

Some lender programs go even further. TD Bank, for example, offers a 3% down payment with no mortgage insurance program, and other banks may have similar offerings. “Check with your regional bank,” Rodriguez says. “Maybe they have their own first-time buyer program.”

Not so daunting after all, is it? There’s actually a lot of help available to many first-time buyers who want to achieve their homeownership dreams. All you need to do is a little research — and start peeking at those home listings!

11/09/2017

Todo lo que necesitas saber sobre
FINANCIAR SU CASA

Osvaldo " Ozzie " Garcia

Aqui comparto informacion para que usted sepa como
financial un hogar.

¿Debo alquilar o comprar?

Muchos inquilinos se sorprenden cuando descubren un pago mensual de la hipoteca podría ser inferior a la renta que actualmente pagan cada mes. La elección de si alquilar o comprar depende en gran medida del tipo de casa que desea vivir, su situación financiera actual, y el tipo de hipoteca.
¿Por qué debo obtener una preaprobación?
Hay muchas razones por las que debe obtener una preaprobación temprano en el proceso de compra de una casa. La razón más importante es que usted conseguirá una idea exacta de cuánto puede permitirse. Esto asegurará que sólo se mira a las casas que están verdaderamente en su rango de precio. Ser precalificado es también beneficioso. Ver más información..

¿Cómo sé si puedo darse el lujo de comprar una casa?

Muchos inquilinos se sorprenden cuando descubren un pago mensual de la hipoteca podría ser inferior a la renta que actualmente pagan cada mes. Hay varios factores que deben ser tomados en consideración para determinar el tamaño de la hipoteca se puede manejar. Desde la crisis financiera de la hipoteca. Ver más información..

¿Cómo puedo encontrar la mejor hipoteca para mi?

Tradicionalmente, buscar la mejor opción para una hipoteca requería analizar una interminable lista de ofertas bancarias y de financiamiento y tener que lidiar con miles de documentos, haciendo el proceso demorado, complicado y poco efectivo para el latino que sueña con tener casa propia en los Estados Unidos. Con YourCasa, este proceso es cosa del pasado. Ver más información..

¿Qué necesito saber acerca de los costos de cierre?

Cuando usted solicita un préstamo para comprar una casa, la mayoría de los prestamistas le cobrará una tarifa (que no será devuelto, incluso si se le niega el préstamo o decide no aceptar el préstamo). Esta cuota se puede aplicar a sus costos finales de cierre de bienes raíces o puede ser pagado por adelantado. Ver más información..

11/01/2017

Hi, this is Ozzie Garcia, your local Realtor with Keller Williams Silicon Beach and here is some helpful information to assist you in getting your home ready to sell. Please contact me with any Real Estate questions you may have.

www.ozziegarciahomes.kwrealty.com

DIY Solutions:

Edge, mow and fertilize the lawn. Reseed sparse areas.

Trim hedges, w**d lawns and flowerbeds, and prune trees. Cut back overgrown shrubbery.

Reseal cracks in foundation, steps, walkways, walls and patios. Power-wash the exterior.

Clean and align gutters and downspouts; clean the chimney.

Remove oil stains from driveway and garage. Keep walks and driveway swept or free of ice.

Wash the windows inside and out.

Hire a cleaning service to thoroughly clean the interior.

Paint the walls and ceilings off white or beige.

Repair cracks, holes and damage to plaster, wallboard, wallpaper, paint, and tiles.

Replace damaged windowpanes, moldings and woodwork.

Repair drippy faucets and showerheads. Unclog slow drains.

Shampoo carpets, scrub and wax linoleum or wood floors.

Clean out the fireplace and lay some logs in it.

Mend torn screens. Clean out all window tracks.

Replace burned-out light bulbs. Use brighter light bulbs.

Renail creaking boards or stairs; lubricate squeaking doors.

Clean all appliances (especially refrigerator and oven).

Replace old toilet seats and shower curtains.

Clear all cobwebs from corners and doorways.

Wash all light switches, handrails and doorknobs.

11/01/2017

I've put together a first time Home Buyers Package with great information for new buyers.

PM me your email and I will send it to you.

Big Hug !!

10/07/2017

Saturday and Sunday 10/7 & 10/8
Come see the open house at
3106 summertime Lane #106
Culver City California 90230

1 bedroom 1 bath 730 soft. Condo

$410,000

Ask for Ozzie Garcia