Buying Silicon Valley home? Get the sales history!
Looking to buy a Silicon Valley home? If so, you may be seeing properties which were last sold just a few years ago. This often the case with distressed properties (short sales, foreclosures, short sales, and banked owned properties) . If you are working with a Realtor, this is easy information for him or her to obtain for you.
What is the benefit to a homebuyer in knowing that the home sold recently? There are really two advantages: first, if it's a normal sale (not distress), you can get an idea of the sellers' equity. More importantlyly, though, if the current owners bought the home not too long ago, you may be able to read the prior inspections and disclosures.
Sometimes sellers are reluctant to admit that they saved this type of information. But if they hired the same Realtor who assisted them in purchasing this property (also reported on the MLS), that agent would have access to all of the disclosures and reports. California state law demands that brokers save all transaction records for three years. Homeowners and their agents usually save them for many more years than that, though. (Sometimes agents move brokerages and this can make it more challenging to get full and complete records.)
So back to your Silicon Valley real estate issue. Let's say you have found a nice bit of real estate in San Jose (a house, condo, townhouse) which you want to buy, and perhaps there are recent improvements, updating or remodeling, “permits unknown". The best way to get clarity on the situation is to then ask for the prior disclosures, inspections and reports. It is imperative to get everything because clues may turn up in any of these documents. Often the current owner will not recall the story if the work was done by prior owners, and will not think to check the original paperwork. But by reading through it, you may learn what the status really is - whether there are permits and finals or not, for instance.
Particularly when buying a home that sold in recent years, you can leverage your knowledge to improve your ability to purchase wisely.
Please call or email me if you'd like to discuss buying (or selling) a home in Los Gatos, Campbell, Saratoga, Cambrian Park, Almaden Valley, or anywhere in San Jose Santa Clara County.
Comments