There is good news for potential San Ramon new home buyers. Builders are offering incredible deals on the purchases of new homes.

San Ramon New Home

San Ramon is considered one of the most desirable places in the Bay area to buy a new home. Seated in Contra Costa County, San Ramon is located on 11 square miles of the San Ramon Valley, approximately 25 miles from Oakland. The owner of a San Ramon new home will hail a good climate, beautiful scenery, suburban charm, and close proximity to major employers.

The population of 45,000 has been on the increase since 1980 by 115%. Because of the Bishop Ranch Office Park, 580 acres of land with room for 5.9 million square feet of office space, San Ramon was transformed from a tiny bedroom community into a hiring center for major employers. Companies such as Toyota, Pacific Bell, Chevron Texaco, AT&T, and UPS helped fuel the expansion of San Ramon. It is estimated that over 16,000 jobs will be created within the next 15 years.

Home sales in the area have increased recently, and builders are attempting to keep potential buyers interested by adding perks to the San Ramon new home. Developers are offering free or discounted upgrades such as high-end kitchens, paying higher commissions to real-estate brokers and providing low-cost financing. A few are starting to cut prices. Three years of record sales, rising home prices and low mortgage rates have spawned the incentives. Builders are experiencing buyer resistance to price hikes, according to a survey conducted by the National Association of Home Builders. Developers are offering additional items at no extra charge. Builders are utilizing real-estate agents and brokers more often to bring in more business. They have also been paying closing costs and points on mortgage loans.

The National Association of Home Builders predicts that sales of new single family homes will drop an estimated 5%. To prevent a dip in sales, builders are paying real estate agents commission to bring in sales. The market is becoming better and better for the San Ramon home buyer.

Thanks to low mortgage interest rates, San Ramon new home sales have skyrocketed in the past 15 years. According to preliminary year-end data compiled by the Construction Industry Research Board, housing starts as measured by building permits issued totaled 210,527 during 2004, a 7.6 percent increase over 2003. The total includes 150,344 single-family homes (up 8.3 percent from 2003). These numbers may seem impressive, but the act is, California builders of new homes are still not meeting the state’s need for housing. To accommodate the growing population, almost 250,000 homes and apartments need to be built each year.

Analysts predict that the mortgage rates will slowly increase. To keep home buyers interested, builders are capitalizing on financing as a selling point. Some builders are offering a $5000 discount on closing costs. Others may eliminate 6 months of interest if the San Ramon new home buyer mortgages the house through the builder or with one of the developers’ preferred lenders. To help new homeowners with purchases that might be out of a buyer’s price range, builders are offering a “2-1 buy-down,” which means the interest rate on the mortgage is brought down by two percentage points in the first year and by one percentage point the next year. Buyers should take advantage of the deals while they last.

By R. S. Wagner

A REALTOR® is a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS®