3747 Berry, Studio City - sold! With challenges, of course

Although you can't see the house well, this is 3747 Berry in Studio City and it just sold to my friends and clients, Josh and Mac.  Josh and Mac have been looking for a home in the hills for several months now.  You know the drill: find the house, make an offer, get excited, only to find out that you are one of 18 other offers, don't get the house.  Our number must have come up this time because we got lucky and got into escrow at our offering price.

It was a challenge for a couple of reasons.  I won't go into detail here, but if you buy a house on a hill, please get a geologic inspection.  Also, please use a direct lender for your loan and not an investment company.  The investment company is very reputable and came through at the end, but the buyers had to jump through higher and higher hoops and the communication from the company was just plain bad.

Obviously, the story has a happy ending.  Josh and Mac intend to build an addition and are in the fun process of getting started on that now. 

Ask me anything: do cash offers ALWAYS prevail over financed offers for a house?

No, a home buyer's all cash offer DOES NOT always win out over an offer with a loan.  These days, it seems like many buyers are wonderfully qualified by truly talented direct lenders. (I will be blogging about this when my 848 N. Avon property in Burbank closes next week.)  If you are a property buyer out there in Burbank, Studio City or anywhere else in the east San Fernando Valley or Northern Los Angeles area, and you need a loan in order to purchase a home, here's what you can do:
- Get pre-approved by a direct lender, such as Prospect, Wintrust, or Madison Lending. You can also go to property lenders at Chase or Wells Fargo. And by all means, check with your credit union.  That means, yes, filling out all of the paperwork and turning in all your needed financial documents.
- Please stay away from "middle-men" lenders who just take your paperwork and then push it out to a random lender.
- Do this in advance.  Please don't wait until you've already found the house.  You'll have to get the paperwork together eventually anyway.
- Clean up any credit issues.  Your lender can help you with identifying what these may be.
- Save as much money as possible.  I know this is hard, but perhaps you can defer big purchases for one more year.
- Gifts from family members are good, but please make sure they are indeed gifts and there is no expectation of a payback.
As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns re home buying!

Ask me anything: can student loan debt affect your ability to get a home mortgage?

Can student loan debt affect your ability to get a home mortgage?  Yes, because it's part of your entire financial picture.  And it seems that most people's student loan debt is soaring.  However, only your lender can tell you for sure.  Other factors about your income and finances may outweigh your debt.  Remember, when you choose a lender, go local and go for a direct lender.

Ask me anything! First up: what size mortgage loan can I qualify for?

What can you qualify for? I don't know.  How's that? Only a local mortgage person can tell you that after looking at your income (and how you earn it), your credit score, and your debt-to-income ratios.  I highly recommend selecting a local, direct lender or credit union.  Many online-only lenders will promise the moon and then not deliver.  You'll want somebody that you can go "live" with, who will be responsive to your calls and answer all of your questions.  If you'd like some lender recommendations, please visit the "Local Partners" page on my website at JudyGraff.com.  It's under the "Resources" tab.