Living in Family Friendly Diamond Bar California

Located in an area where rolling hills and trees abound in a country like setting, the city of Diamond Bar is a great place to live. The City of Diamond Bar has been recognized for its love of nature and tree maintenance as it received its first distinction of being recognized as a Tree City USA in 2001 and has maintained its designation each year since.

The city boasts nine public elementary schools, three middle schools and two public high schools including a few that have won the California Blue Ribbon Award for Superior Academic Performance. Diamond Bar schools have a great reputation for academic excellence from preschool to high school and this factor is one of the main reasons many home buyers and families desire to move to Diamond Bar. California Polytechnic State College-Pomona, Fullerton State College and Mount San Antonio Community College are a few of the post-secondary colleges and institutions that are available in the surrounding cities, a few just a few miles away. Diamond Bar is conveniently situated where the Orange Freeway(57) and Pomona (60) Freeways intersect which allows easy freeway access to the San Gabriel, Orange and Los Angeles Counties.

In addition, the city has over ten recreational parks, including one with a skateboard park, with varying trails and recreational offerings and is home to a Los Angeles County golf course—Diamond Bar Golf Course. It also has a newly built community center, which is available to the public for rental, that is located atop Summitridge Park and has a spectacular view of the San Gabriel Mountains.

Although predominately a residential community, Diamond Bar is actively redeveloping local eateries, hotels and access to shopping within the city. Although currently, shopping, fine dining and entertainment are all within a few miles away in the surrounding cities no matter which direction you travel.

Many cities in sunny Southern California are great places to live; however, Diamond Bar offers the best of both worlds, small town living with big city amenities accessible nearby.

Home Buying 101 - How Much Earnest Money Do I Need?

Every home buyer loves the process of visiting homes and finding that perfect place to call home. Sitting down and writing the offer is not always as much fun! For many people, the process of buying a home is something they go through only once or twice in a lifetime. New terms and questions come are the norm as the purchase agreement is prepared. As a Realtor in the northeast Twin Cities metro, whether I am working with first time buyers, move-up buyers or empty-nesters, one question always stops the process for a moment of discussion. How much earnest money are you prepared to offer?

The amount of the earnest money varies with each purchase agreement. A buyer must first understand the purpose of the earnest money to determine the right amount to include with the offer.

Earnest money is the funds that a buyer puts down to demonstrate to the seller their seriousness about buying a home. It should be an amount sufficient enough to indicate to the seller that the buyer will not walk away from the deal without good reason. In Minnesota this is traditionally 1% of the purchase price but it can be up more. A lower amount can also be acceptable with some offers. However it is important to be realistic.

A few years back, a potential buyer wanted to put down $100 earnest money on a $300,000 home I had listed. The seller was not impressed and felt it was an unreasonable amount as the buyer could easily walk away from the deal with only $100 at risk.

Generally the earnest money funds are in the form of a check. That money is deposited into the listing broker's trust fund or escrow account. In Minnesota, the funds must be deposited within 3 days of an offer having been accepted in writing. Yes, this does mean that the check will be cashed in 3 days or less!

If the offer is accepted, the earnest money will be applied to the down payment and/or the closing fees when the closing takes place. If your offer is not accepted the check is not cashed and the money will come back to you. However, if the offer is accepted and the check cashed and then for some reason all contingencies are not met or other situation arises where the sale does not proceed, the buyer does not automatically receive a refund of the earnest money. Nor, does the seller automatically keep the down payment. Buyer and seller must reach an agreement for the cancellation of the agreement and disbursement of the funds.