[schema type="organization" orgtype="LocalBusiness" url="http://4salebydonna.com" name="Real Estate Agent Donna Baker" description="Real Estate Agent showing homes for sale and available real estate in Monrovia, Pasadena, Arcadia the San Gabriel Valley in Southern California." city="Monrovia" state="Ca" postalcode="91016" email="donna@4salebydonna.com " phone="(626) 408-7766 "]

House Hunting using a Zip Code search

When House Hunting by Zip Code, Assume Nothing!

If you ask anyone doing serious house hunting in Monrovia how they are going about it, there are few who won’t point to the web (nationally, 88% use it) as at least one of the top two most useful tools (their San Gabriel Valley Realtor® is the other one: 87%).

Yes, yard signs are helpful, and its first cousin, the Open House, is another (they’re related since it’s hard to imagine an Open House without a yard sign or two). Both come into the house-hunting picture a little less than half the time, according to NAR® statistics. A quarter of house-hunting expeditions also rely on one or more online video sites, but I think that’s just because online listings frequently link to those to display virtual tours. To a prospective buyer, it may not even be evident that a different site has been used. In fact, who cares?

What is important—and what shoppers who are actively embarked on a house hunting foray do care about—is what is the best way to utilize online search tools that let you enter location in a form that allows “city, state, neighborhood, or zip code.” Sometimes, “county” is allowed.

Especially for anyone planning to move to an area that is largely unfamiliar, it’s here that assumptions can be misleading. Of course, house hunting using a sizeable “City” is likely to deliver unwieldy results. If you entered “Los Angeles,” for instance, the difference between a nice little parcel on Mount Lukens (elevation 5,000+ feet) and one by Point Dume (elevation zero) makes such an entry all but useless. “Neighborhood” will usually yield much more meaningful results—but only for those who are already familiar with the area.

This is where entering a “Zip Code” might seem to be the most likely way to get the house hunting results you’re looking for. Sometimes it might. Yet a word of caution is in order—this is where a little practical zip code knowledge could come in handy. A zip isn’t always as cozy an area as you might think. For instance:

  • Towns and cities sport different zip code “overlays.” More than one town name may be in a single zip (but that zip might not cover the entirety of any of them).
  • Many zips can share the same town name (for instance, Austin has 78).
  • If commute time and/or fuel economy is an issue, entering 89049 (Tonopah, NV) might not be helpful. It covers 10,000 square miles, which makes it slightly larger than Maryland.
  • On the other hand, some zips cover just one building.

But if you do decide to use the zip code to specify a search area, steer clear of “48222.” It’s the one that delivers mail to passing ships. Also, if you’re interested in Centralia PA, don’t bother looking for its zip; just enter ‘Centralia.’ (It’s the only town that has no zip code).

No matter what online search method you use, when the house hunting destination is in the City of Monrovia, zip code 91016, there won’t be any more foolproof way to locate the home you’re looking for than to give me a call. I’ll put together a list that takes all your specifications into account…after which we can set out for a real-life, non-virtual tour!

Donna

Title – Prevent costly surprises

AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION!

By Donna Baker

 What does the phrase “title search” mean to you?  Aside from an activity at the local library, its purpose is critical to the successful sale of a home.  A title search is performed by the title company involved in a transaction in order to guarantee that there are no unknown liens on or claims to a property.

Because title searches are often ordered only after a purchase contract is on the table, problems can suddenly turn up at the eleventh hour, causing delays in the closing.  That’s why it may be advisable for the sellers to request a title search before even listing their property for sale.CJC_7853A - Copy

What sort of problems might a title search unearth?  There might be an “unreleased mortgage,” which happens when a previous refinance is paid off, but the lender fails to file a release on the old mortgage.  Property taxes may appear to be unpaid until filing errors are discovered.  A divorce or death in the family may not be properly reflected in the ownership structure.  Sometimes property records are fraudulently used to commit identity theft.

This is not to say that these errors are common, but they are increasingly prevalent among properties that have changed hands several times over these last few years of frenzied real estate activity.  Speak with an agent before listing your home to determine whether a title search is appropriate.

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