L.A. real estate news and insights.
The shortage of homes that are for sale in Los Angeles is accelerating.
Inventories in November dropped 11.2% annually.
This comes at a time when low-interest rates are increasing buyer demand.
The housing shortage is felt most at the entry-level of the market.
Traditionally, housing inventory goes down in the 4th quarter of the year... but 11.2% is a big drop.
Inventory should pick up slightly in the first quarter of 2020.
Was your home professionally cleaned just hours before you officially accepted a buyers offer on your home?
If so, make sure to get your home professionally cleaned right before you deliver your sold home to that new buyer.
Was your home in need of a deep clean at the time the buyer’s offer was accepted? Good!
No need to get a professional cleaning company to come out and clean the home.
The point here is to deliver the home to the buyer in substantially the same condition that it was in when you accepted the buyer’s offer to purchase your home.
When selling your home, the purchase contract says that throughout the escrow process, the home has to be "maintained in substantially the same condition as on the date of acceptance.”
That means whatever condition the home was in at the time the buyer’s offer was accepted, good or bad, is how the home should stay throughout escrow and is how the property should be delivered to the buyer.
There is no need to go above and beyond when it comes to cleaning the home before moving out.
Although getting the home professionally cleaned before vacating is a nice gesture to the buyer, simply keeping it in the same condition that it was in when the home went into escrow is good enough
If you are a buyer, the best strategy is to close escrow on any day Tuesday - Friday.
For example, have the lender fund your mortgage loan on Monday, close on Tuesday.
Or have the loan fund on Thursday, close on Friday.
Avoid having the lender fund on Friday, pay interest on the loan over the weekend, then close escrow on Monday.
There is no point to pay interest over the weekend on a home you technically don't own yet!
You usually don't close escrow the same day your lender funds your mortgage loan.
Normally the lender funds the loan, then you close escrow the next day.
Also, keep in mind you can't close escrow over the weekend, the county recorder office is closed.
Therefore, if you are scheduled to close escrow on a Monday, the lender must fund the loan the Friday before.
This should be avoided if possible. Why?
Because once the loan is funded, you start to pay interest on that loan.
It's not the best idea to pay interest on a home you technically do not own yet (it's not your home until you close escrow on Monday).
The best thing to do would be to wait and have the lender fund the loan on Monday, then close escrow on Tuesday.
That way you are not wasting money and putting more money into your lender's pockets.
