What is a Pre-approval Letter and How Important is This in Today’s Market?

February 23rd, 2010

If you are currently looking around at real estate here in Santa Barbara, including Goleta, Hope Ranch, Montecito and Carpinteria, you are going to be asked at some point to show that you have been “pre-approved” for a mortgage. The importance of this letter from your lender jumps significantly if you are looking at bank-owned properties as well as anything that will be considered a “deal”.

Lender's Pre-Approval Letter


The reason is simply that it is normal to present this letter with any type of offer to purchase a property.
If you are also competing with others on a property and you do not have this letter in hand…this is one strike against you and that is often all that is needed to NOT get your offer accepted.

1. What Is A Pre-Approval Letter And Why Is It Important To Me?
In real estate lingo, being “pre-approved” simply means that you have a commitment in writing from a lender to lend you a specific amount of $$ to buy a home under certain conditions (e.g., length of the loan and interest rate). A pre-approval in today’s market is simply a must to have with all our recent history of lending. Sellers will simply not look at your offer without this letter in your hand and presented with the offer. Sellers will not choose a buyer who seems to be a “quality” buyer, but can’t come up with the funds to buy the house (thus presenting a letter from a lender).

2. How Do You Get Pre-Approved?

You should end up talking to a few lenders to search out different loans that will best suit you and your personal financial situation. Often family or your Realtor can suggest a lender to talk with. The lenders will require certain information such as: your income, your employment history, and any debts you may have — e.g., student loans, car loans and credit card debt.

Other items that you might be asked to show are your tax returns, bank statements and W2 forms. The lender(s) will also check your credit report and whether you have funds for the down payment and closing costs.

Looking for a real estate agent in Santa Barbara?

February 21st, 2010

Quintessential Santa Barbara

After having lived in many of Santa Barbara’s, beautiful neighborhoods including Montecito and Carpinteria, I am always extremely happy to introduce new persons to this gorgeous community. With 25 years of experience in helping my clients find the perfect home for their needs, I am committed to providing my clients the utmost in advocacy and unprecedented transparency throughout the sales process.

As your REALTOR®, I always work to maximize the value on your purchase, netting you the best possible result. I provide:

1) Detailed market research
2) Insightful guidance
3) Comprehensive marketing
4) Effective negotiation
5) Unequivocal support

Whether you are a first time buyer or seasoned real estate investor, I work closely with you through every step of the process in a very supportive, no pushy manner.

Please let me know if I can answer any specific questions. Upon contact, I can provide you a very extensive list of referrals from professionals.

All the best in your move to Santa Barbara.

Sincerely,

Sylvia

Sylvia Miller

Senior Realtor® Associate
Cell: 805-448-8882 ~ Toll Free: 877-San-Barb
Broker: Coastal Properties, Inc
Email: sylvia@sanbarb.com
Web: www.santabarbaraconnection.com

Ca. Dept. Real Estate Agent License Number: 00558548
Ca. Dept. Real Estate Broker License Number: 01208634

The golf scene in Santa Barbara is excellent!

February 5th, 2010

SANTA BARBARA
A Golfer's Paradise

It’s so wonderful to golf near the ocean.

The salty breezes across the links make for the most refreshing kind of recreation. Santa Barbara offers six championship golf courses alongside several other nine-hole and private courses for all your golfing desires.

If your dream is to live on a golf course, or within a golf community, with its country club atmosphere and safe, luxury homes, contact me today for the best deals on homes and condominiums in Beautiful Santa Barbara. - Sylvia Miller, Santa Barbara Connection, 805-448-8882, sylvia@sanbarb.com.

Santa Barbara offers the golfer enthusiast some of the most recognizable, award winning and world renowned golf courses in the world. One of the most beautiful courses is Sandpiper. This championship course has been rated by Golf Digest in the top 25 public courses in the country:

Sandpiper Golf Course

Sandpiper Golf Course
(par 72)
The Sandpiper provides breathtaking Ocean views and expert-level play. The only ocean-front course between Los Angeles and Pebble Beach. With breathtaking ocean and mountain views from every hole, Sandpiper is truly a memorable experience.

Website: sandpipergolf.com

Address:
7925 Hollister Avenue
Goleta, CA 93117-2421

Phone:
(805) 968-1541

Pets…growing segment of real estate industry!

February 4th, 2010

Santa Barbara is a very pet friendly community! Pets and their families are a growing segment of the real estate industry and we at Santa Barbara Connection can help you find the best pet friendly real estate available in all of our beautiful locations, including Montecito, Hope Ranch, Goleta, Carpinteria, and …Santa Ynez (home to many world famous horse farms).

Meet our friendly little Chihuahua mascot, ChaCha.

ChaCha, Official Mascot of SBC

ChaCha, Official Mascot of SBC

ChaCha, the best and only official Chihuahua Realtor Assistant in Santa Barbara. Ask her ANYTHING about Pets and Pet Friendly Real Estate and she will retrieve the answers! chacha@santabarbaraconnection.com
.
ChaCha was born into a Santa Barbara family of Real Estate Professionals. ChaCha’s mother, Sylvia Miller is one of Santa Barbara’s most experienced real estate agents. ChaCha’s grandmother, the late Gail Miller Ross, was considered amongst her peers to have been one of the best Realtors in Santa Barbara.

If your family members include the four-legged, furry kind, Sylvia and ChaCha can help you find the perfect pet-friendly home. Contact them today for the best deals on homes and condominiums in beautiful Santa Barbara. Sylvia Miller, 805-448-888, sylvia@sanbarb.com,

SantaBarbaraConnection.com Launches New Santa Barbara Real Estate Portal combining hyper-access to all MLS listings with good old fashion customer service.

November 15th, 2009

Santa Barbara Conntection

WebVIP.com today unveiled SantaBarbaraConnection.com, an innovative real estate web portal specially designed to connect home buyers worldwide to all properties currently for sale in beautiful Santa Barbara, Calif. In addition, the site operates as a virtual office where many of Santa Barbara’s top Realtors® serve as the site’s “Agents-On-Duty”. In this new virtual World Wide Web, these expert Realtors® stand ready to meet your every Real Estate need, including scheduling showing appointments and generally providing good old fashion customer service.

The site, which was built over a period of ten months, gives consumers exactly what they want: hyper-access to all residential listings from the Santa Barbara MLS. The focal point of this extremely user friendly website focuses on providing a speedy one-stop resource for Santa Barbara real estate.

Highlights of the new portal site include:

- Entire MLS inventory is updated hourly each day.
- A 24-hour Hotsheet: A quick update of all the new listings that just came on the market within the last 24 hours.
- Complete Bank Owned (REOs) & Short Sale Property lists.
- Property search results displayed in an easy to read comparative spreadsheet.
- A Google-based Map Search tool allowing users to simply click and zoom in on a particular neighborhood. The map then displays all available listings in that location. What’s really unique and extremely useful with this tool is that all of the results are identified with special, colored coded symbols distinguishing REOs (bank owned) and short sale listings from non-distressed listings.
- In addition, the site serves as a virtual office that benefits both users and Santa Barbara real estate agents.

This new website is the most advanced, most comprehensive and most user-friendly online tool for Santa Barbara real estate. It was designed around Santa Barbara home buyers and sellers to instinctively deliver the content they want in an easy yet powerful fashion,” said Sylvia Miller, President of webVIP, Inc. who is also an accomplished Santa Barbara Realtor®, (sylvia@SantaBarbaraConnection.com). At the same time, the site will also drive business and serve as a valuable marketing resource for many of Santa Barbara’s top real estate agents.

Nancy Stevens, Marketing Manager, SantaBarbaraConnection.com
nancy@santabarbaraconnection.com