The CA Dream for All Playbook from a Realtor

This week we’ve helped 4 buyers get their offers accepted with the California Dream for All Program. Here’s how we did it.

First, A little about the program

• CA invests with you by providing up to 20% for a downpayment and they keep that % of ownership.
• LIMITED funds ($300M ~ 2,500 families)
• Needs to make offers ASAP because funds are only reserved after an offer is accepted
• Need to take an online class for $80 (not too long)

If you are interested in this program, reach out to us ASAP. This is going to be gone very soon. As of the time of publishing ~$100M/$300M for this program have been reserved — one week after the program went live.

You’re probably in the middle of trying to figure out if it’s even possible to do the dream program still. If you’re reading this, it is.

If you haven’t been preapproved, you can get preapproved in one day. You just need to upload your documents to a lender’s portal so that they can start getting your file together. If you need a recommendation to a lender, I love working with the What’s A Mortgage team. You can start the Whats A Mortgage loan application here. I have multiple lenders work with, so feel free to ask for a recommendation. The lender will get you started on getting approved for the California dream for all program.

As part of buying a home with this program, there will be action items on the homebuying side, and other actions on the Lender side. These things can happen in parallel. For example, there is a class that you will need to take online. You can take it while you’re working on some of the items below.

If you’ve already been preapproved, we need to get updated numbers from your lender in order to see what your new qualification level is. Your preapproval will go up in price since you now have 20% of the purchase price from California.

(30 mins) The first step is to jump on a call with one of our agents to set up a RealScout account. RealScout is, if like Zillow and tinder became one app. Basically, we set up a very specific search filter for you that connects directly to our MLS. Anytime one of those homes comes on the market, it goes to you directly. As your agent, we can see which homes you like which allows us to send you specific properties that we want to talk to you about or show you. Book that call here.

(1 hr) Once we have the list of homes that match as what you are looking for, we will ask you to mark which ones you are interested in so that we can start on the research. You can click the heart button on the RealScout website or app.

( 1–2+ hrs)When you’re done, let us know, and we will create a spreadsheet to see which homes are and are not available. We’re looking out for things like the seller needing a longer escrow, new constructions that don’t meet our timeline, and homes that have tenants in the property. Typically, those will not work for the dream program.

Let us know your availability and we will schedule your showings ASAP. It’s important to see as many homes as you can as soon as possible. We will stack the showings in your available time slots.

If you are a buyer who wants to make sure that you get a home during the dream program, we are usually focusing on homes that have been on the market for a longer period of time or have no offers. Based on the showings, we identify any home that you would be interested in putting an offer on. That means you’re typically putting offers on any home. You could see yourself living in.

If you are open to utilizing the program, but it’s not necessary, you do not need to rush as much. Although this program won’t be out for long, for you, it’s about finding the perfect house.

(15 mins) It’s all about getting all the information early on so you can move fast once you find the home that you want! You will watch — or can now watch — these videos I made about the California residential purchase agreement. This is the actual contract that all home sales use in California. These videos will give you a good understanding of what you’re signing and will also teach you about how to submit your strongest offer.

After we have the list of homes you want to consider pursuing, we will call the agent to see where offers are at, get answers to any questions you might have, and see if we can negotiate a deal, or if we are in a bidding war situation. Based on that, we will decide on which homes or which home to put offers on.

From here, it’s a waiting game. Now it’s our job as agents to follow up with the listing agent and see if we need to increase our offer, bring better terms to the table or just wait for the seller to respond to our offer.

We will keep you updated. I was were talking to the agents so that you know what the timeline looks like with all of these offers. Keep in mind that it could take a seller anywhere from 1 to 3 days to get back to buyers sometime.

Ultimately, this is part of the reason that we look at multiple homes and consider offers on multiple properties because you don’t know if one seller might pick another offer or take too long to respond.

Timeline is everything with this program. As I’m writing this, the funds are already over one-third reserved. That means there’s only $200 million left and available funding. It could last a few days from now, it could last a week, it could last two weeks. At this point, we don’t know until we get closer to that date.

If this program is necessary for you to buy a home, you will need to be very aggressive with your offers. The few terms that we used to make your offer stronger are

• The buyer will not request repairs.
• If the appraisal comes in below purchase price, the buyer will cover up to $x,000 in the appraisal gap.
• Seller will rent back for X period of time
• Short inspection timeline and contingency
• Pro-tip: Your offers will have longer contingency periods, so it’s easier to get an offer accepted on a home that’s been on the market for 14+ days

These terms will not make sense for every buyer or every offer. We look at this specific situation, and we will make a recommendation for you. If it’s your dream house at a great price, then let’s consider some of these terms. But maybe we could even get you a buyer credit if the home has no offers on it. You could even end up using none of your own funds for the home purchase!

To get started on this process rapidly, text me (714–932–6174)your name, desired home purchase cities and desired home price and we will get you started! Or you can book a call here!

Warmly,

Kina