Joy Murphy

The very first step into buying a home is to establish your mortgage loan approval. This will determine your affordability and loan programs you may qualify for. I personally recommend getting in touch with a Mortgage Broker that can offer you all the various loan programs to include 100% financing, USDA, Grant Programs and VA across the nation. Not just your standards FHA and conventional loan programs. When it comes to choosing a Realtor, Pick one that has a lot of experience. One that will walk through the process from start to finish. In today's world you will need a highly skilled agent that will not only educate you on today's market trends, but also how to get your offer accepted in a market where buyer's have to compete in a low to no inventory with bid wars. It makes a difference to work with a Realtor that has been in the business for a long time, as their knowledge of both the market, and their relationships with other Co- Brokers will get the Results.

Choose wisely who you work with. I recommend interviewing 3-5 Realtors before you hand select your choice of Realtor. This will weed out the week, and show you who has not just the experience to handle the multi layers of a Real Estate Transaction, but also who has the skill set to negotiate who is going to get the the most money in the shortest amount of time. Who has the marketing plan, and who uses professional photography and videography. Phone photographer is not going to cut it, If you hire the best, that gives you the best, you will also make the most money possible. It really matters who you work with. Your investment and is not always about the commission you pay, it is about which agent is going to look after your best interests and effectively get the job done with top notch service.

I personally work with both buyer's and sellers and my ratios are about 50/50 split. 90% of my business is from satisfied past clients who will repeat their business with me and refer me their family, friends and co workers,

A most recent transaction was with a military family. Their son who is only 3 has cancer and was undergoing treatment, all while the family just PCS to EAFB. They needed a home and they needed one fast, but there wasn't much available to look at. Not to mention what was out there had always had a bid war with multiple offers. I found a home that fell out of escrow and asked them how they felt about living at a higher elevation with more snow and how they felt if I could include a personal family letter about their family. It just so happened that the owners too had a 2 year old that had cancer and were military Vets, so this helped us have the edge with the multiple offer situation and made it a easy for the sellers to choose us because of the similarities. When I found out that their son wanted snow, and they needed this home before the Holidays, I was able to deliver and make their dream come true. Turns out it snowed the day their loan funded, and when I gave them keys to their home they had their snow for their son.

Way before I even thought about being a Realtor, In Highschool I always knew I wanted to me my own business owner. I wanted to be my own boss and never wanted to clock in for work. I wanted to control my own schedule and my own business. I have been the business for over 22 years, and have no regrets. With vision, with goal setting, I have accomplished my dreams and continue to learn and grow. I am currently working on team building so that when I retire out of state, My team can continue my legacy and serve all of my clients here in Calif.

Prior to Covid, I would occasionally have seminars on being a home owner and offer to have quest speakers such Mortgage lending to educate my clients in Real Estate investing and home ownership. Hopefully soon, we are able to start this up again.