Terri Linnell's Q&A

Poway is the #1 school district and it's close. It has mostly white collar workers. The pluses to the school district is that they work hard to make their kids excel in school. If you are willing to work with your kids daily doing homework, etc., that is the place for you. They do it by adding pressure to the kids to learn about a year ahead on concepts, so the basics need to be picked up by you. (My sister's kids still go there, it is a good area) If one of your kids are high strung, etc, think before buying in a #1 school district. They weed out kids that don't excel. Poway kids are entitled and don't rush across the street if you are waiting on them. Tierra Bonita Elementary has NO apartments feeding into the school, so a lot of active parents are in the classrooms volunteering. The small houses at the end of Midland on the left has great starter homes and long term neighbors. Billy Lane, and streets parallel on that side of the hill on the map are great for kids, because they can play outside. Johnathon Park has some newer, larger homes nestled in there you may like.  I would definitely focus on those neighborhoods. Higher on the hill are bigger, older homes, and even higher are bigger, newer homes. If you check realtytrac.com you will see it's currently in the crosshairs for a price drop, so a little patience will serve you well. My cousin moved to Temecula and hated the commute to Escondido. She got a closer job after commuting for 2 years, but jobs stink at the moment, so expect to do this for a long time.** If you don't like Poway's profile, Temecula is about the same. I can name other places that are different. (Can you tell I've lived in Poway for 30 years?) lol We moved from there because we didn't want to buy in suburbia. We 'fit' better here since it's more blue collar and country. :-)

'Habitable' is pretty easy for a home to meet. No bare wires, a leaky roof, etc. But it doesn't need to have carpet, it could be cement. It must have running water, working heat source, and kitchen/ba... but inside water leaks are fine. Holes in walls, no closet doors, all that is habitable. Not even sure the sink has to hold water! lolYour agent should have put in an end date. Your agent should also give you as many 'outs' in the contract in case you change your mind. Your agent should get this 'counter offer' in writing, since no real estate contract is legal in the verbal form and all written contracts override verbal ones. Good luck. You may back out of your first few offers until you figure out what's 'normal'. lol :-)

No problem with that as long as the price is reasonable. The IRS might not like it if you're buying it for substantially less --as gifts over $12,500 are taxable. --But has far as I know, she can set the interest rate from 0% to 10% by law.0% interest, great one. Do get it in writing because all real estate contracts must be in writing.

Pay off the highest interest rate first.

My family absolutely considers lot size. Land has value, whereas the house can burn to the ground.  Especially in Calif... if you look at an appraisal the land will have more value than the house. (although in the last 5 or so years I'm not sure that it didn't go wierd) ... but in the last 40 years in socal, it has been true.Plus, choice B has HOA's, which FOREVER are going up. So you're not truely locked into a fixed price.

Your agent should be able to get the info if it was listed on the MLS.

There is no divorce court when buying with a boyfriend, so you, and your baby can be put out on the street at a moment's notice. I personally wouldn't do it w/o a marriage license. Plus, why avoid the commitment? Raising children is hard work and without clear commitment to each other AND THE KIDS, and sometimes ONLY FOR the kids, it's too easy to walk. It's hard work to stay married! Trust me on that one. Some days, even months, even years, we are only there for the kids. On the other hand, other times we are only there for each other, cuz the kids are teens! lol

The seller will try to get the buyer to pay the difference in CASH. The buyer will say (or should say) NO. Price SHOULD eventually be negociated down to the appraisal price. As long as the contract was written up with the correct loan contingency, the buyer can back out of the agreement without spending a dime, since the house didn't appraise high enough for the loan. Buyer holds the power in this position.

roflmao! The banks aren't stupid enough to crash the market prices, so they aren't listing them on the mls, BUT they are for sale on realtytrac.com and banks are selling them. Congrats to Chula Vista Little League! I watched them return on tv last night (KUSI carried it live). They sure did awesome!

"Hard Money" means cash. Congrats!