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The Bait, the Switch, and Your Rent Money: Avoiding Santa Clarita Scams with a Former LAPD Officer · Connor with Honor: AI, Real Estate and Real Life

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: February 13th, 2024.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Connor with Honor, Santa Clita's local real estate agent, and I want to give you the news as it is currently.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Did a show yesterday.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: That current inventory for all of the Santa Clita Valley cities was around 270.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: This morning we're showing 278 active real estate listings for sale.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Of those, we have 16 that are in the coming soon category, which just a reminder that's a selection that an agent can make on behalf of their seller for advertising and marketing purposes, building that online awareness prior to the listing getting out to the public.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Looking at other real estate websites like Redfin, they're reporting a few listings less.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Could be an access issue.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: I am with a local board, so potentially it's maybe more accurate, but it's just something to be aware of when you're looking online.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: All of the listings that you're looking at typically are everything on the market, but sometimes things are amiss.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: The best thing you can do as a real estate home buyer to make sure you're looking at that most current inventory is following up with your real estate agent and having them conduct a search for you.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: So then, whatever your criteria is, make sure that's where they set it.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: And here's a quick tip: make sure if you are looking for particular listings up to, let's say,$750,000, the agent definitely takes that into account.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: What I know clients hate, and I've seen this before, is when somebody's qualified to a particular amount and their agent tries to overshoot that amount.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's even hard to accept that with the justification of, well, I know there's wiggle room.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: In this particular market, not a lot of wiggle room, but it also depends on how that property is priced by the agent or their seller and how much the seller wants.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen some unusual listings lately that seem incredibly overpriced.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Only time will tell, but I have seen some price reductions of those listings that I'm talking about.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just something to be aware of.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to get the latest real estate intel, you can of course go online and go to Connorwithonor.com.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: There you can connect with me, and then I can send you whatever you're looking for by the parameters you set.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: And if you don't know exactly what you're looking for, I can give you an overall view of what's going on and at least help you make better decisions.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: As far as real estate news goes news goes, yesterday we had a few less listings, like I said.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: So we still see this market changing and we still see it morphing into something where we're going to potentially have more listings on the market.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: I do not, however, see that balancing out the market in any way.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's still going to be a seller's driving market where there are fewer sellers than the home buyers out there.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: And there are quite a few buyers out there that are looking to purchase real estate today.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Big suggestion: just be safe when you're doing so and make sure you're at least balancing what your agent tells you against maybe some online authorities.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Just again, be wary with that because there is a lot of misinformation out there.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of videos being produced by uh they come deep fakes where they're putting things out there that aren't actually true.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: So be wary of that.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: You want to deal with real human beings.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: I am here in Santa Cruz Valley.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Connor with Honor.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so as far as the days on market time frame goes, uh Redfin's showing overall 39 days.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's going to be from beginning to end.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: So realistically, if we're talking 30-day escrows, usually that's pretty much this market.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because it is a seller's market, most of the sellers are ready to be finished with the escrow in 30 days.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Most of the buyers and their lenders, if they're getting loans on real estate, can perform and get everything finished in 30 days.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's the average time frame.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: So when you get ready as a home buyer to write your offer, have that discussion with your agent.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: It could be that you could tweak that number a little bit if your lender's on board and maybe close it sooner, that making your offer more attractive to the seller and maybe not costing them as much money as it would cost if they had a buyer that could only close in a minimum of 30 days or even longer.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: The closing time frame is also going to depend on other services that have to be provided, such as the appraiser.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: If you are using a VA loan or an FHA loan, it could be that the appraisers are overtaxed in that regard and they have a delay to get out to the property and get the appraisal completed and then the report pushed through to where it needs to be, where it needs to arrive.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: If that's the case, my suggestion is maybe talking to your lender, seeing if there's a way to rush it, and I see that happening.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Also, especially if you're going to use the you're going to have a shorter escrow time frame, Mr.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Seller, please choose my offer if you're going to use that as something to help your offer get accepted.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: So the days on market time frame are very low, and that's because we don't have much inventory and there are quite a few active buyers out there.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Now, as far as selling rate, we have anywhere from 7 to 14 to 16 listings added every week to our market, and we see that those properties don't take long to go into escrow as long as they're priced correctly.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: But as far as today, we don't have hardly any foreclosures.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing in that nature on the market.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Short sales aren't anything on the market either, not very much hitting as far as those numbers.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then we look at the other end of it, the normal average equity type sales, plethora.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's most of the listings out there are equity sales where the sellers have their properties in such a way where they have enough equity to be able to pay whatever the costs are to selling those residences through a real estate professional and then walking away with enough money to go purchase something else, of course, dependent on the property when it was purchased and the uh financial of the seller to continue to repay that.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so let's look at this.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Inside Santa Crita Valley, the listings are still incredibly limited.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: We don't have a lot of inventory.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: It would take our inventory probably going up by three times, somewhere in the neighborhood of 750 to 1,000 listings, to really balance out this market and create it so it's more evenly evenly spaced.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Right now I don't see that.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, I don't see that coming up here in the near future.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: The interest rates are somewhere hovering depending on where you are, high fives, low sixes, but that's very much credit score dependent and also dependent on what programs are out there.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: My suggestion, always keep in touch with your lender.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: And if you are scouring the news sites out there for real estate information and you're seeing these wonderful rates, let's say in the fours or the threes, and you get all excited and you call your lender and they say that that's that's a hook or it's a trick to try to get you to apply with a different company, they're right.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Usually when you see things out there that are too good to be true, things that maybe your agent or your lender missed and you're finding it online, verify that with them that in fact it is not true or it is true, and then have them make whatever adjustments they can accordingly.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's important for you as a real estate buyer.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: And also you as a real estate seller, if you're seeing news out there, don't hesitate to contact your agent.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: In real estate, this is key.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: In real estate, anybody you deal with, be it me or another agent or lenders or whomever, if you have questions, great, you can talk to us over the phone all day long.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: But it's super important to follow up all conversations in an email just so you have it in writing.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: So remember that.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's critical and very important.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: And that really goes with any livelihood, any job.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: When somebody's telling you something, it's always good to follow it up with an email just to make sure what they told you is in writing somewhere.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: So national uh national realtor chief economist Lawrence Young predicts 24-24 markets.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: It does, he does anticipate a mild reception recession in the second half of the year, potentially leading to a slight dip in home prices.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: However, long-term fundamentals like demographics and limited supply do suggest a resilient market.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: And that's from the National Association of Realtors.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: The California Association of Realtors, a more localized localized association, reports a need for 3.5 million new homes by 2025 to meet demand.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: This highlights the ongoing housing shortage in the state, and that's per the car website.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I have a couple expert opinions and insights I pulled offline.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Mike Delpritti, chief market strategist, a first American financial, he does advise buyers to be prepared to move quickly in a competitive market and to have realistic expectations about potential price negotiations.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'll piggyback on that, and that's from InMen News.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'll piggyback on that a little bit.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Real estate home buyers, it used to be a strategy when it was a buyer's market where the buyer wouldn't offer their best first.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: They would hold back because they're hoping to negotiate with the seller.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: In this market, when there are multiple offers on properties that are priced well and have good value, more most more than likely those other buyers are going in with the best they can offer.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you do that, your chances of getting a counter-offer being part of the counter-offering process.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: So if there are five offers submitted on a real estate listing for sale and you write your best offer, hopefully, when they respond, if they aren't just going to select the best right away, because they can do that as a seller, but let's say they're going to respond to most of the best offers.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully yours will be one they respond to.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: So if they come back and they're asking for highest and best, which means they want you to potentially change your price or maybe change your financing if you have a weaker loan as compared with a stronger type loan, more down payment, for example, maybe that's something that would be attractive to them.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: That could be something that you want to maybe change if possible.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: But if you can go in strong with the best offer, the best financing, and the most you're willing to pay for that property, you're sitting fine.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: Then when they come back, you can basically stand your ground and say, I have given you my best, Mr.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: and Mrs.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Seller seller, and you have it in your hand.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: I wish to proceed with escrow, and hopefully you will make the final cut.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: Strange things happen.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: There were properties that go out at a lot higher than the list price, and even a lot higher than the comparable values allow for.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: That happens because people can go out and they can actually put cash, depending on the loan program, put additional cash into the process in order to purchase at higher than the appraised value would allow for.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: That could be something that could happen to you, and it's an interesting place to be, especially when people continue to get beaten out over buyers that are willing to make those kinds of sacrifices.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Another thing that we see with home buyers, which you'll have to really get your agents' advice on this one, is a client or a home buyer removing their contingencies before they've even had a chance to look at the house with an inspector or even do a more formal walkthrough of the residence and investigate more so than just viewing it when they first saw it at the beginning.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Be wary with that, because there are contractual time frames set forth by the creators of the document, the National California Association of Realtors, there's a certain amount of days for you as a buyer to perform your inspections, your due diligence, to do your checking on the neighborhood, to make sure it's a safe place and it's somewhere that you really want to live.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, some buyers do go in and they wipe all that out and they say, listen, if I buy, if I make an offer on your house, I don't care what I find.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: If I choose to back out, then I can be held viable and you get to retain the deposit that I put into escrow at the beginning, basically giving up all the rights that they have.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: It does happen.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's a super high competitive market, and it's definitely something for you to be aware of.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: And if that's you, make sure you have a conversation with your agent because there could be some risk.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: There could be things in the house that you're not aware of.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: New housing, maybe not so much.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: There's warranties there, there's other things in place, but a resale residence, again, something that you want to make sure that you check on.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Daniel Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, uh, predicts a slowdown, home price, a slowdown in home price growth in 2024, but not a significant decline.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: She emphasizes the importance of using local real estate agents to navigate the market, and that's from Realtor.com.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Now, as far as buyers, it's really good to be pre-approved.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: If you haven't done that and you're considering purchasing real estate, you at least know where you stand.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: There are other associated costs that get involved in that approval process.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just you see a sticker price of a residence that I love the number$750,000,$750,000.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: It could be that that residence has a homeowner's association fee.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: It could be that residence has special taxes or the Melaruse tax on that property as well.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: If that's the case, then that's going to add or take away from your ability, your purchase power, because those numbers have to be factored in.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: If you're looking at residential real estate at$750 with none of those things, let's say it's an older house, they don't have a homeowners association, then that$750 is going to match spot on at the$750, and that's more than likely what you're going to be approved for.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: But if it's carrying a$300 a month HOA and it's carrying a double property taxes on it, then that's going to cut into your financiality, and maybe you can only qualify for a home at$600,000 with all those other fees stacked on, if that makes sense.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely something to speak with your lender about with regard to the approval process and how that works.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, I want to talk about today to those people that are renting properties, these tenants out there that may be in between, maybe you're not ready to purchase right now, and I get that.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: Something to watch out for.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: There's some scams that are coming back around because the rental market is so tight.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: When a rental or a property becomes vacant, there are scammers out there that'll go out and they'll get some business cards, they'll print their own business cards.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: They look official.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's really not much to it, but they're maybe posing as a real estate agent.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: And this is from my police background, because I did I took a report on this years ago.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: Very similar circumstances were basically South Adventura Boulevard, beautiful residence, was vacant.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody advertised in one of the either a Craigslist type site or backpage type site.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: If I'm dating myself, I'm sorry.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: But these were online systems and they do still exist.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: Basically, an online newspaper where you put things that you'd want to sell.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now they do offer up and you can go to Facebook Marketplace and these different places to sell things.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: Back in the day, it was more prevalent to put it on these other websites.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: So they would put a house, not so much in super public view, but people did see it.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: So they would offer this house for rent at a great number.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: However, they're going to be selecting who's going to rent it.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: So you respond to the property.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: They would ask for a cash deposit and just to hold your interest while the owner of the property scours all the applications and makes a choice.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: The problem is the house isn't even for rent.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: And the person out in front of the property has no relationship with the owner, and the person is out there just scamming people.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: So what they do is they take those cash deposits, they make some fancy kind of have you fill out some kind of a form with your personal information, including social security numbers, so they're getting a lot of payback for their effort, right?
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: In a bad way.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then they take advantage of you totally.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: They basically ID theft you, they go after your credit, and they try to scam you, not just with the money you left them at the property, but in your own financial back pocket.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: So please, before you start giving cash money, in fact, I would never give cash money, even if it was the deal of the century, but you have to be your judge.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: Watch out for that.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: All you have to do, ladies and gentlemen, go to Connorwithhonor.com.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: You can reach out to me and connect.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: I do these updates daily as far as the real estate market, at least five days a week.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: The weekends I'm totally busy open houses and showing properties, as I do during the week.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: If you need my help, let me know.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: If you have a question, fire it to me at Connorwithhonor.com.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be glad to help you.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: Please be well.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for watching today's market update for Tuesday.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: And we are again February 13th, the day before Valentine's Day.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: Watch out for that.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: Don't be gone if we do not have any flowers.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: We will, everybody, we will talk to you.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: So thanks for watching.