00:00 Introduction to Home Buying Mistakes

01:35 Common Misconceptions About Neighborhoods

02:41 Hidden Costs: Property Taxes

05:30 Understanding Solar Panels

09:01 Commute Time Considerations

11:31 School Zoning and Transfers

13:53 Homeowner's Insurance Rates

17:03 Resale and Appreciation Factors

19:36 Conclusion and Contact Information

 Alright, so in this video we're gonna talk about the top five mistakes to avoid when buying a home here in Temecula. Let's go ahead and get into it.

Hey guys. Hey again. My name is Justin Short. I'm a realtor and team leader with a short real estate team here at Keller Williams in Temecula, California. And this video is all about the top five biggest mistakes that I talk to my clients about and that I see people making when buying a home here in the city of Temecula.

So I've helped hundreds and hundreds of people buy and sell homes here in Temecula and the surrounding cities, and I've helped dozens and dozens of people relocate here to the area. I think I can give you a really good perspective on, you know, what my conversations are like with my clients and other people that I've talked to from someone that's really helped a lot of people over, over, over the years.

So hopefully this will be good information for you guys. But you know, before I get into all the information, if you are liking real estate videos like this. Please do me a favor, please hit like please hit subscribe. Obviously it helps me and it helps, you know, meet my channel, continue to grow as we try to continue to, to grow it and add, add more people.

So I definitely appreciate it. And then if you guys have any real estate questions, you know, of course I'd love to hear from you. So you're gonna see my information, either down below the video or at the end you can feel free, you can call, you can text, you can email me. Uh, it is my cell phone number.

You know, happy to answer any questions you may have help point you in the right direction, or of course, you know, I'd love to help you out with your real estate search as well. So cool. Alright, so we'll get into my top five things to avoid, and these are things that come up a lot when I'm talking with clients when they're looking to buy homes here in the area.

What people always think is the biggest mistake is, is the location in the neighborhood and kind of picking the wrong area there. And if you've seen any of my other videos, I've mentioned that there are a lot of really, really nice areas in Temecula, I would say. Well over 90% of the city is gonna be a really nice place to live.

There's really very few bad areas, or not a good area to live in. Um, there might be a neighborhood or two that has more rentals than others. You know, you, you may not prefer that, but in general, the city. Throughout is a really, really nice area and I think most people would love to be able to call anywhere in the city home.

So I don't, people always think like, where's the bad area? Where's the, the bad, bad place to live? That's usually not the case. Uh, but there are some, definitely some things to know and these mistakes to avoid, to help make sure it is the right home for you and your family, and the right area for you and your family.

It's not necessarily just the neighborhood or you know, what, what's going on there, but some of these, some of these other things. So, uh, number one, and the biggest thing that I come across when I'm talking with people, especially if they have not lived here in the area for a long time, is they don't factor in hidden cost when comparing one home to another.

And so what, what that means, let's say if you want to go buy a home in Temecula, let's say you're gonna look at a home that's say, 700,000, right? What people don't realize is that if you're gonna buy a home, it. The property tax that you pay on one home compared to another, even if they're both priced exactly the same, can vary really, really greatly.

Um, so, and it's based on, on the tax rate and how much of a special assessment is gonna be given to a certain home. So for example, you can buy a home that's 700,000, that's maybe it's a low tax home that has low special assessments, low property taxes, and that's gonna be taxed about, right about 1.15, 1.2% tax rate.

And let's say it's $700,000 and let's. Say you buy the other $700,000 home and that home can be priced or, or have a tax rate at about 2%. So that's about a 0.8% difference on $700,000. It doesn't sound like that's that big of a difference. Um, but per year, that can easily come up to about $4,000, $4,500, even up to $5,000 a year and extra property.

Uh, which could be an extra $350, $400, over $400 a month in a mortgage payment. Uh, just because the taxes are different on those two different homes. So, um, this is something that is kind of unique to this area. It does exist in other areas, but it is not very common. In most parts of Southern California, this is not common.

Areas throughout the nation. This is not common, but different neighborhoods will have different tax rates by different, by different special assessments, or sometimes you see referred to as Melrose. So. Um, the best rule of thumb that I give people is typically an older home is gonna be more of a, more of a low tax home.

So you're not gonna have those extra special assessments and then typically your newer homes are gonna have those higher taxes and have those higher special assessments. So, uh, we start seeing them. Have a general rule of thumb, we start seeing that cutoff at right about 2003. So, a home that's, say 2002 and older tends to not have those extra taxes, tends to be closer to that 1.2% area.

And then a home that is, say 2003 and newer, you started seeing some more special assessments. Uh, so you might get up to like a 1.4, 1.5, 1.6. Then the newer you get, the higher they go. So once you're newer than 2010, you could very well be at 1.8, 1.9 or 2%. So newer homes, higher taxes, older homes are gonna be a little bit lower taxes.

So that's why if you look at two homes that are both $700,000, if one's older and one's newer, uh, that mortgage payment can be super significantly different. Um, on that, less on that older home because the taxes are so much different. Um, so that's the biggest thing that I see as far as hidden costs.

Um, the second biggest thing that I come across are solar panels. So this is, it's, it's a newer thing, right? We're seeing more and more solar panels on homes e. Each year. Right? If you, if you, if you don't live in the area, you may not know, but they're always trying to sell solar. People come knock on my door all the time and I, and I have solar panels, so, so I know it's, it's heavily, heavily, heavily marketed and something that people are always trying to get you to sign up for.

And there can be some really big benefits for homeowners and home buyers or there can also be some cons and, and negative aspects to it as well. So, um, what, but a lot of times what people don't. Pay attention to or, or take into account is that if you go buy a home with solar, the biggest misconception that I see is that if I'm gonna buy a home with solar and there's solar panels on there, that home is more desirable and more valuable just because there's solar panels on the home.

And that's not necessarily the case. Um, because solar comes in many different forms. Um, for you, you may put solar panels on your home and pay cash for them. So you're gonna have a paid off solar system. If that's the case, that is a big plus to your home, that's a big benefit to your home and that is gonna save the home buyer a good amount of money.

So basically, if, if you buy a home that has paid off solar. You know, those panels are up on the roof. Whatever electricity those panels generate is now free electricity to you as the homeowner to get to use and enjoy, uh, without having to pay an electric bill for it. So that's a huge, huge plus, right.

But what is most common is that when people put solar panels on their roof, they don't pay cash for them. They sometimes, they'll take a loan for 'em, but most common is they do some type of a lease. And when you have solar panels on your home and it's, you have a lease, or sometimes it's a power purchase agreement, but it's kind of a similar system.

But if you have a solar lease, that means you have panels on your roof. You pay monthly to the solar company, you know, for that lease, for having those panels up there. And so in essence, you may not have an electric bill anymore, or you may have a smaller electric bill, but instead, instead of sending that money to the electric company, you're now just diverting that money.

You are a solar company. So if you have a solar lease, that does not add any value to your home. And, and so if you are buying a home that has solar panels that's under a lease, that home is not any more desirable. It's not worth anymore than a home that has no solar panels. So that's kind of, that's the biggest misconception.

That's kind of the biggest rub that I come across with people is they always assume, oh, I wanna buy a home with, with, with solar, you know, it's green. It's more engine efficient. You know, it's gonna be cheaper, right? Um, but that's a lot of times if it's a lease, that's not the case. You still have a bill, you're just paying to the solar company as opposed to the electric company.

Um, there can be some benefits, right? There's some nuance and we could talk more about that so you can feel free to reach out. I am pro solar, I have solar panels on my house, so, you know, there are some benefits about, you know, how your tiered billing changes. You may still save a little bit of money as opposed to not having solar, but your home.

You should not pay more for a home that has a solar lease on it as opposed to a home, uh, that does not have solar panels. So I guess that's the biggest thing that I can point out too. But if there are solar panels that are paid off, it's definitely worth more. Um, usually those homes sell between 10 to $15,000 more, maybe even closer to $20,000, uh, depending on the home.

But, uh, you gotta take into account those solar costs if you are buying a home that has a solar lease on it. Alright, so number two on my list of mistakes to avoid is not paying attention to the commute time from your specific home. So, uh, most people, if you don't know this, most people that live in the city of Temecula don't tend to work here.

They tend to commute out for work. So they live in Temecula and they commute to San Diego, they commute to la, they commute to Orange County. Most people do go to San Diego. That's like, that's the most common thing. Um, if you're lucky enough to be able to work locally or even work remotely, and that's a huge plus.

And that's probably gonna take away the biggest pain point for a lot of people living here. But not everyone can do that, and most people do make that commute for work. Um, but what, what people don't always realize is depending on what part of the city you live in. Can really dictate and affect how long your commute is on a daily basis.

So for example, if you're commuting to San Diego, you. If you can live in the southern portion of Temecula, so South Temecula, you'll see it labeled as, uh, which is off the freeway. You have the 15 freeway. Temecula Parkway is like the main off ramp, the most southern off ramp. Anything south of Temecula Parkway is going to be considered South Temecula.

Um, but if you are commuting to San Diego and if you live in South Temecula, your commute can be drastically shorter. Someone that lives, let's say on the north end of the city and on a map, like if you just look at like the distance that the north end of the city might only be like three and a half miles longer, right?

Or further away, right? But how long it takes you to drive there on a daily basis, it can be an extra 15, 20 minutes each way. So if you're commuting to work, commuting home, that can be an extra 30 to 40 minutes each. You know, each day is extra drive time and extra commute time, just because you live in a different part of the city.

So. If you are commuting to San Diego, it's a huge advantage to live in South Temecula, uh, because you are gonna be so close to the freeway, uh, freeway, freeway off ramp, and you can get off the freeway so quickly. Um, as the 15 freeway goes further north, you know, the. The traffic gets jammed up more and more and more.

You can get in, stop and go traffic each and every day. And then even when you get off the roads, you know, you're, you're gonna have a lot more traffic on the main roads up there as well. So, um, if you are gonna be commuting, you really want to pay attention to where, how long that commute is gonna take you on a daily basis to your specific address and not just assume that as long as they live in Temecula, it's more or less about the same.

But you know, your commute can change pretty drastically depending on what part of the city you're gonna live in. Alright, so mistake number three that I see is not paying attention to what school your home is zoned for. So, uh, this is something that comes up a lot when people are moving from other states, and I know other states and counties can have different processes with that, with, with, you know, how the school districts work.

Um, but the way Temecula Valley Unified School district works is when you buy a home. Um, that's inside the school district. That specific home is gonna be pre-assigned and zoned for different schools. So you're gonna have an elementary school year, your zone four, you're gonna have a middle school year zoned four, and you're gonna have a high school year zoned four.

And it's already preset based on, you know, where that home is located. In the city and I, I've talked to a lot of clients that have moved from other areas and, and helped a lot of clients move, move from other areas where, where it's different, where a lot of times there might be, say, five schools in the district Right.

That you could choose from and then you can, you can apply and try and pick which one you want to go to, right? But that is not the way it works in Temecula, in Temecula, you zone for a specific school. Um, and that's, that's gonna be your school. Um, from there you can attempt to do a transfer. So let's say actually my, this, this is what my family does.

So we, where my house is, we're zoned for a specific elementary school and we have decided to do a transfer inside the district to another elementary school that's like. You know, it's a half mile away. Right. And we decided to do that because we liked the principal. Our kids have been there in the past and we think it's a great school.

Right. And that's where we have friends and we know people, et cetera. So we did a transfer for our kids to the other school. There is a process for that. It's not guaranteed. We had to apply. You have like a waiting period. We were lucky enough that our kids' transfer was approved. I know a lot of people's transfers are approved, especially in the elementary school, especially in middle school.

And from what I understand, as the kids get older, it gets a little bit tougher 'cause there's only three high schools, right? And there's, you know, probably 11 elementary schools, right? So, um, it can be a little bit difficult, more difficult as the kids get older, but you can attempt to do a transfer. But as.

Kinda what I wanna point out is that when you buy a home in the city, your home is gonna be zoned for one specific school. And if you want to change that, you need to apply for that transfer and you know, cross your fingers that you can get that. 'cause it's definitely not guaranteed. All right, so mistake number four that I want to talk about is not paying attention to the homeowner's insurance rates.

So if you guys have not been paying attention or if you are not familiar. Homeowners insurance in California has changed a ton over the last decade and even more so over the last three or four years. Um, the biggest reason for that is because a lot of the major companies, or major insurance companies, have stepped outta California and they're no longer writing new policies, and a lot of 'em have actually just canceled all of their policies that are in the state.

So a lot of big companies, um, like, uh. The State Farm for a period of time, uh, you know, AAA wasn't doing new policies. And really the list is always changing, but there are a lot of insurance companies that are no longer doing homeowners insurance in California. And there's a lot of different reasons for that.

Um, but you know, it's beyond, beyond the scope of this video, but a lot of 'em have, have stepped outta California, right? So if you live here, you. Probably been, had your insurance company drop you or you've had to been reassigned because the rates went up, et cetera. So it is like, it's a real factor for people that live here in the city.

So, uh, and what, and furthermore, what's what happens is if you are the, the. If you are zoned, if your home is zoned in a high fire risk zone, then you may, may, have to carry some additional fire insurance, uh, beyond your typical homeowner's insurance. And what that means, it's gonna cost more, right? So if your home is zoned in a high fire risk area, a lot of times your typical insurance company, let's say like Mercury or whoever it is you're gonna use, they won't cover.

Fire insurance. So that means you have to carry a separate fire insurance policy. Uh, typ A lot of times, you know, your, those typical companies won't cover you, so you have to go to what's called the, it's called the California Fair Plan. It's, it's kind of complicated, but it's like a state sponsored program and they.

You know, we'll give you fire insurance. Um, the downside to that is it's gonna cost more money. And so depending on where your home is and how much of a fire risk they deem your home to be, that can cost you a little bit of money. I've seen it cost my clients about, you know, maybe $800 a year or so. That would be on the low end.

So. That's not terrible. It's an extra 60 bucks a month or so, 70 bucks a month. It's not the end of the world. And then on the flip side, I've seen on the high end, I've seen it cost them up to an extra, you know, four or $5,000 a year beyond their normal homeowner's insurance. Right. And if that's the case, that's something that's something people aren't thinking about, it's not something you're preparing for.

Um, so what I wanna point out is with homeowners insurance, you wanna make sure. That you are getting an accurate quote, a full quote for how much your homeowner's insurance is gonna cost you before you remove your contingencies when you're purchasing a home. So once you can do it before your offer is accepted or during the escrow process, you want to make sure that you're getting a quote from an insurance company that takes into account whatever fire zones you may be, whatever extra insurances you may need, so you know exactly how much you're gonna be paying.

So you don't get into something and decide that it's just, it's unaffordable and it's not gonna be attainable for you and your family. So make sure you get that full homeowner's insurance quote. Alright, so number five mistake that I see when people are buying a home is they're not factoring in their potential resell.

Resell and also appreciation factors in the future. So what that means is, you know, really when you're buying a home in Temecula, you gotta think kind of what the general area is, right? Uh, Temecula is a suburb, it's a quiet suburb. Uh, a lot of people, you know, live here and they commute to San Diego, LA, Orange County, and they live here because it's more affordable.

And what makes it so affordable is it's just, it's. Different county, right? We are in Riverside County, we're not San Diego County. It's a little bit warmer. There's definitely some trade off and you're probably gonna have to make that commute for work, right? Um, but the major driver of people that move here tend to be people that have families.

And children or people that are maybe retiring and you know, want to just kind of cash out and get more for their money and still stay in Southern California. Right? Um, but because of that, the most people that move here want to live in a single family home and not necessarily like a condo or a town home.

So a lot of times when I'm helping clients and they're coming up from San Diego or Orange County. They're used to living in like a condo life or an apartment life or something like that. And they said, Hey, I can buy something here. Uh, that I can buy a town home. It's gonna save me, you know, a couple hundred thousand dollars.

And, you know, I can afford the home, but I think the town home's gonna be the better fit. And for some people it definitely may be right. But what I always point out to them is that. A condo and a town home in Temecula is not going to appreciate near as much as a single family Homewood, because most buyers when they, when they're buying a home here, want to have the space, they want to have a yard, they want to have, you know, some green grass.

They want to have room for a dog or their kids to play or just to have some separation from their neighbors. So. As opposed to living in a busy city like say San Diego, where, you know, close living is just kind of part of living here, right? There's not a lot of parking in a lot of places. A lot of times they have shared walls, things like that.

But when you come out to the suburbs, people are definitely used to more space and there's a lot of people that will not compromise on that. You can, your single family home is definitely gonna appreciate more than like a condo or a town home would. Even though your cost to get in is definitely gonna be lower.

You know, you definitely wanna think about that long-term appreciation and being able to sell the property down the line if you ever do want to make a move. So. Anyways. I hope that helps you guys. Hopefully that's good information. Those are, you know, things that I, these are conversations I have constantly with clients of mine and people that are looking to buy and sell here in the area.

So I hope it helps. If you have questions, feel free to reach out. You can call, you can text, you can email me, and hopefully talk to you soon. Thanks.