Jessica's Humboldt County Voice

I've read incredible stories about many different businesses who either started their business in a recession successfully or not only survived during one, but thrived in it.  Women Entrepreneurs Institute wants to encourage local women entrepreneurs who have a business or are thinking about starting a business to know that there are always opportunities and resources to help you not only start your business but grow a successful business here locally.  WEI's mission has always been to encourage a diverse and healthy economy not only in Eureka CA, but throughout Humboldt County California as well.  And WEI has found, as an organization, that bringing women entrepreneurs together creates a powerful support system towards this very goal. 

WEI usually partners up with several local organizations to put on 2 events per year.  A smaller networking and inspirational event in the Fall and a larger resource and inspirationally packed all day event in the Spring to not only inspire women entrepreneurs but to motivate them to be successful.

Last Year's Educational Summit - Photo of Me and Rhonda Abrams

So this year, WEI is hosting along with the North Coast Small Business Development Center, it's 3rd annual Educational Summit:  Innovate: Find Opportunity in Challenge.  Sponsored by Wells Fargo.  The event will be on Saturday, April 25th at the Wharfinger Building in Eureka CA from 9:30am to 4:00pm.

This year's inspirational keynote speaker will be Sunny Kobe Cook,  founder of Sleep Country USA, award winning entrepreneur, author and speaker. Sunny will also provide a workshop on customer loyalty. 

Also back by popular demand will be Rhonda Abrams, nationally syndicated small business columnist and best-selling author. Rhonda will conduct an interactive marketing workshop, as well as hold short, one-on-one "speed" consultations with several selected attendees.  Plus several resourceful business workshops in finance, organization and marketing to help you in your business.

So please join us for this fabulous day of inspired business insights, innovative advice, and networking.

You can visit Women Entrepreneurs Institute for further details.

I volunteer for this organization and attended last years event and had a wonderful time.  Met some incredible and inspirational women entrepreneurs and found the workshops to be very helpful to my business.  I hope I'll be seeing you at this years event.  I'm definitely looking forward to it.

Copyright 2009 Jessica Bigger.  All Rights Reserved. *Innovate: Find Opportunity in Challenge Topic for WEI Educational Summit in Eureka CA*

My husband bought our first Humboldt County CA Home 4 years ago.  We were living in a small Eureka CA apartment in a really cool original Victorian Duplex that had been chopped up into 3 units.  We weren't married at the time, heck he didn't even propose to me yet.

I was still working as a Promotions Director for a local radio station at the time and the thing you learn about working in radio is, there's no money in radio - just fun, and experience that can lead you to bigger and better opportunities down the road. 

But as we started to watch the prices slowly increase and we knew we planned on getting married Dave decided it was time to bite the bullet and buy a house.  A year before we started to talk about the idea of owning a home, we had already started to do our homework.  We rode our bicycles everywhere in Eureka CA so we could narrow down the neighborhoods we would enjoy living in.  We hadn't quite figured out the houses we would be ok living in, but we knew that we had to be comfortable with the neighborhood.  Very important for us.

When we finally made the decision to get serious about finding the right house, I asked a co-worker for a good real estate agent and he referred me to his agent.  When we met with her, the first item on our to do list was to sit down with a lender and get pre-approved so we absolutely knew what our price range would be.  Then we set up some time and looked at a few homes with our agent. Like most First Time Homebuyers - we realized quickly that most of the homes available in our price range didn't quite fit our criteria.

We could at the time afford a home more in the country.  So we really needed to do some soul searching to decide where we wanted to live and what type of house we wanted to live in.  We quickly determined that living in the country wasn't a feasible option for us.  We didn't want to have to drive everywhere to buy the basics.  We really enjoyed living in the neighborhood we rented in, because we could easily ride our bicylces around, walk the dog down to Old Town Eureka to buy some groceries at the Co-op or just to meander around and enjoy the old architecture and our lovely Humboldt Bay.

We loved old houses.  So we were hoping we could find a Victorian, Craftsman or California Bungalow in our price range.  Dave had been eyeing this Purple Victorian that was literally a few blocks away from our apartment.  It had been sitting on the market for a couple of months.  Apparently it went pending the first week it was on the market, but the buyers backed out at the last minute because they found something that suited them better.  So the house had an artificial stigma on it after the fact.  Lucky for us!  Before we made an offer we walked by the house several nights at different times to make sure we were comfortable with the neighborhood.  Then we proceeded to do some pre-due diligence before making the offer.

 So we called our agent to show us the house.  There was a hump in the dining room floor - not major, but obvious enough for concern.  To ease our concerns we called a contractor to take a look and he felt the home was in pretty good shape.  The hump was due to settling. So we made an offer - even though my parents were not happy about it at the time, since again Dave and I weren't married, and no proposal on the horizon.  Dave made and offer and 30 days later the house was ours, despite the fact that I had a hissy fit about the back yard - which is landscaped with river rock - literally.  I envisioned grass and fruit trees.  Not in this house.  No garage either.  And the upstairs floors were painted grape purple - YUCK!  So it wasn't 100% perfect but it met most of our needs at the time and I have since grown to love the back yard. 

The house overall was in good shape - the guts that is - good plumbing, decent enough electrical, our pier and post foundation was good, just needed a few minor upgrades, interior paint job and we were good to go.

Looking back 4 years later,  I'm glad we took the plunge.  It was tough - mind you I did not contribute or help pay the mortgage - and we've done some esthetic work on the house since - paint job, stripping the grape paint off the floors and refinishing them (Beautiful Old Growth Redwood Floors) - so yes we did put in a little sweat equity to make it feel warm and wonderful.

If we hadn't taken the plunge 4 years ago, then we would still be renters today in a tiny apartment with a hairy stinky big old dog.  We were riding up the big bubble here.  We also wanted something specific.  Finding an older house in Humboldt County CA that is in decent shape is a rare thing here - ie: has good electrical, plumbing is good, and doesn't need major updating because someone in the 70's thought is was a fabulous idea to "improve the old house look" to a 70's hip style (how horrid can you get).

In the past 4 years, I have not seen 1 Victorian or Craftsman in as good condition as ours sell for the price we paid 4 years ago - $283,000. Our house is worth about the same today as it was 4 years ago.  I sold a Victorian around the block for almost $100,000 more just last year.  Even in today's market where prices have really come down I rarely see a good Victorian or Craftsman come on the market in this price range, even in a higher price range.  And when they do, they sell very very quickly.  Even in this "buyers market".

I don't regret buying our house.  I'm much happier owning my own home than paying rent to my landlord and living in a tiny apartment.   But see we were ready to buy.  Trust me, we played the woulda coulda shoulda game for a while.  This same house sold for $130,000 back in the later 90's early 2000's.  But I had just gotten out of college, was in debt from school, trying to figure out my life, had very little savings and Dave was not in my life then.  So yes the home sold for more than we wanted to pay for it, but in 2004, that's when Dave and I were ready to buy a house.  We had the savings, we had jobs, and we were ready to start our life together in our own home, not someone else's investment dream.

Sometimes we want something that is just out of reach for us.  So did I when Dave and I bought the house we did.  It wasn't perfect, but I could see myself living there for several years until we could build up enough equity to upgrade.  For me, I've grown to love this house and could live here for 20 years no problem.  But most buyers want something better than what is available.  So buy something you can be comfortable with, improve it, live in it, build the equity and then sell and upgrade to a home that meets more of your desires.  If you don't you'll continue contibute to your landlords investment dreams, not your own.

Copyright 2009 Jessica Bigger. All Rights Reserved.  *Are You Ready to Be a Homeowner in Humboldt County California? My First Time Homebuying Experience*

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If you're looking to buy your first or next home in Humboldt County CA I'd be happy to discuss your situation.  Call me anytime.  Jessica Bigger 707-496-5770

Sometimes I think the most inspiring thing about buying your first home is reading about other people's experiences.  So I thought I would share Janet's story about her first time home buying experience.

There Will Always Be Something Bigger, Better and Hopefully Cheaper Around the Corner

If you wait long enough those PLASMA big screen TV’s will be cheap enough to buy, but once that happens some bigger and better TV will come out so why not wait.  A former colleague of mine told me a story about his dad waiting for the next best TV to come on the market to be cheap enough to buy, but every time that TV was cheap enough technology produced something better so he waited.  Decades later, he still doesn’t own a TV.

Do you see where I’m going with this? There will always be something bigger and better around the corner and you could wait for bigger and better, in hopes that someday bigger and better will be cheap enough to buy.

There are probably times I wouldn’t recommend buying a house if home prices are increasing by leaps and bounds in an artificial trend that doesn’t follow the normal trends we have seen for the past several decades.  But it always puzzles me to watch people try to time the market to reach the very bottom before buying a house and pass up homes that were perfect for them, in hopes that if they wait a few more months that same house or something similar will cost a lot less, or there will be more homes available to choose from.

Now if you’re a first time home-buyer and you aren’t buying a house, because you aren’t sure you’re job will be around next year, that’s one thing.  But if you sit and wait for a better home than the one you're considering that better home may not go on the market in the next few months.  And the one you were considering is now under contract with another buyer.  Just because we think there will be something better around the corner may or may not actually be available down the road.

And as for the market – well it might go down a bit, it might not.  It might go down a lot. It might go down a little, where you hardly notice the difference.  It's easier said than done to time the bottom.  Only a selected few ever win this game.  Most of us miss it.  The bottom that is.  Nothing goes up forever and nothing goes down forever.  Markets are cyclical.  A lot of people have a hard time moving forward.  It’s hard to leave the gate and move into something new.  Becoming a homeowner is exciting, but can be scary too.

It would be better to look at buying your first home by how much you can afford to pay for every month, comfortably.  So if one of you loses your job you're not in such a bind that the only option you have is to hand the keys back to bank and walk away.  Because yes your home you just bought may be worth less next year.  But any investment you get into takes time.  Rarely is any investment strategy a short term one.  You usually have to be in it for the long term to gain.

And it’s worth being realistic about it.  If all you can afford is a $175,000 home and homes are selling for $250,000 this might not be the right time to buy a home.  The best time to have bought a home in Humboldt County CA, was when homes were selling for $150,000.  I wish I could have afforded to buy a home then.  Unfortunately I wasn't in a good position to buy.  I could however afford a home when they were worth $280,000 4 years ago and my now husband and I did buy then.  I would have rather paid $150,000 but it wasn't the right time for me to be a homeowner when homes were less.  I don't regret the decision, because I've enjoyed being a homeowner for the past 4 years.

For those who can afford to buy a house today, you have to decide when you are ready to be a homeowner because yes there may be a bigger and better house around the corner and then again there may not.  Home ownership is an incredibly wonderful thing.  But it comes down to being comfortable and ready to become a homeowner.  Is this the right time for you?

Copyright 2009 Jessica Bigger.  All Rights Reserved. *There Will Always Be Something Bigger, Better and Hopefully Cheaper Around the Corner*

If you are thinking about buying in the California Coast area,  I'd be happy to sit down and chat with you about your situation.  Call Today!  Jessica Bigger 707-496-5770.

Buying a Humboldt County Short Sale or Foreclosure as a First Time Homebuyer takes patience, preparation and a little taste for risk.  Most of the first time homebuyers I have been actively working with can afford a home between $199,000 to $240,000. Folks this is the lower end of the Humboldt County Real Estate market and most homes that are for sale in this price range tend to be in Eureka CA or Fortuna CA.  Not to mention, most are either under 1000 square feet in very good to excellent condition or they need work quite a bit of work.

Although there are loan products available to Humboldt County First Time Homebuyers who haven't saved 10 to 20% downpayment, like the CA Rural Housing Loan, FHA loan, or 95% financing (where you put 5% cash down towards your home) it is challenging to buy a short sale or Bank Owned home (a home that the bank has already foreclosed on and is trying to sell on the market).  And in most circumstances I wouldn't recommend a First Time Homebuyer to buy one of these homes for their first real estate buying experience.  Most of these situations are frustrating for new homebuyers. There are a lot more hoops to jump in these deals and there is some risk involved.  Short Sales can take months to close and there is no guarantee the short sale will close.  And most of my first time homebuyers aren't willing to wait.  So we keep looking.

Unfortunately most of the homes I'm seeing in our Humboldt County Real Estate market in the $199,000 to $240,000 price range these days are short sales or bank owned properties.  Not all , but many are.  And there are definitely some homes that sell for "Good Value."  But you have to be ready to jump on them and be prepared to compete with other buyers who are also looking for the best home possible in this price range.  Just expect that there will be buyer competition.  So how do you as a Humboldt County First Time Homebuyer prepare yourself so you're ready to jump on that "Hot" Humboldt County Short Sale or Foreclosure home?

1) Find an agent who you can trust and work with - if you want a shot at some of the good homes that come up in this price range in our Humboldt County Real Estate market, then you want to work with an agent you can trust, who can guide you through the sale.   Remember, you are not the only buyer wanting a fabulous house in this price range.  So when one pops up and they do from time to time having a good agent by your side can really make a difference.   Because these homes will get offers within days if not the same day they go on the market.

I've had clients who waited a day or two to decide to write an offer and by the time they decided to go ahead - the listing agent already had 3 offers.  So you have to move to writing an offer quickly.  Plus a good agent can assess whether the home is truly a good deal or not, based on past sales, pendings, active competition and taking in to consideration the rate the market is falling, percentage wise.  All of this information is important when determining a good asking price to offer.  I've seen a few home recently that were "good value" sell for close to list price or over.  It does happen even in this "buyer's market."

2) Find a Lender You can work with- Ask your agent for 3 lenders, interview them and choose one. It's important to have your financing in order before you start looking at homes so when you find the right house you have your ducks in a row.  You want to know how much you can comfortably afford before you start looking for houses.

3) Try to be flexible with your time to see new houses that come on the market - As I work with several first time home buyers in the above price range I've noticed that certain homes - ones in excellent condidion, priced competitvely or significantly below market value are usually getting offers the same day they go on the market or within a few days of going on the market.  Rarely are we the only ones looking for that gem on the market.  So it's best to get in as soon as you can to see the house.  Preferably the same day the "For Sale" sign goes up.

4) Writing the Offer - make sure to sit down with your agent and discuss what you can ask for when it comes to bank owned properties or short sales.  The situation is quite different from your standard sale, because you're not necessarily dealing with a home owner with emotions.  Your dealing with a bank - who isn't emotional - sometimes that can be a good thing. and sometimes not.

 If you don't have the stomach for buying a Humboldt County Short Sale or Foreclosure (Bank Owned) home - then maybe sticking with regular "retail" homes isn't such a bad idea.

Here are articles about Humboldt County Short Sales and about the buying process in general:

I'm Not Here To Sell You a Home In Humboldt County CA

Getting Financially Ready to Buy Your Humboldt County CA Home

Humboldt County Short Sales Update in Humboldt CA

If you're interested or thinking about buying your first home in Humboldt County CA, I'd be happy to meet with you and discuss your situation.

Jessica Bigger Give me a call today! 707-496-5770

Disclaimer: The information provided herein is supplied by several sources and is subject to change without notice. California Coast Real Estate Blog does not guarantee or is any way responsible for its accuracy, and provides said information without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. Entries on California Coast Real Estate Blog represent the opinions and ideas of the author(s). California Coast Real Estate Blog does not express the views of RE/MAX Humboldt Realty or those of the broker.

Copyright 2009 Jessica Bigger.  All Rights Reserved. *Humboldt County Short Sales-Foreclosures and the First Time Home Buyer*