Avrus - AVRUS | Avrus Financial & Mortgage Services, Inc. ℠

October 15, 2015

What Makes Avrus Different—And Makes Us Your Best Choice

Let’s face it: there are a finite number of mortgage products on the market. None of them is magic. None of them will provide you with perfection. Getting a mortgage is hard work, and nothing is going to change that reality.

So why choose Avrus Financial and Mortgage? What makes one mortgage company different from the others?

Let’s start with customer service. Of course every mortgage company will tell you they have the best customer service in the industry. But do they? When you call them, are they quick to try to fit you with a standard mortgage product? Do they ask you a lot of questions about yourself and your situation and dreams, or do they start telling you what they can do for you?

Because the truth is that we don’t know what we can do for you—not until we’ve heard your story. At Avrus Financial and Mortgage, we’re all about listening. We want to know who you are and what you’re looking for. We understand that most people don’t have perfect credit, perfect financial situations, perfect pasts, and we’re always looking for ways to make the products we sell work for you—not the other way around.

Avrus Financial and Mortgage is named for our founder, Steve Avrus, and it’s still largely a privately owned family business. We know that what we do is deliver high-quality service and personalized attention, and so we’re proud to put our name on our business.

Steve has been in the financial industry since 1975. Those years of experience give him a unique perspective and depth of knowledge that you just can’t find anywhere else. He also has set extremely high standards for customer service, for attention to detail, and to delivering on a promise that have been the hallmark of Avrus Financial and Mortgage from the beginning.

What that means for lenders is that any mortgage originating at our office is going to be complete, accurate, clean, and ready for approval. What that means for you, if you’re thinking about buying property in Florida, Georgia, or California, is that you’ll be working with people who are professionals—but professionals with something extra, that intense focus on listening, on caring, on making sure that we understand precisely what you want, what you can afford, what assets and problems are part of your financial picture, and how to deliver to you exactly the right mortgage. We’ll do it pleasantly, seamlessly, and on time.

We’re on your side. When the banks say no, Avrus says yes—and gets there with a focus that’s completely on you. We’ve been helping people buy the property they want—and can afford—since 1982, and we can help you.

Why not ask us how today?

October 15, 2015

Should Your Mortgage Company Have a Mission Statement?

A mortgage is a mortgage is a mortgage, right? Why should one mortgage company be a clear choice over any other? And why should a mortgage company have a “mission statement”? Aren’t those usually associated with companies that do good things for people?

Well, as a matter of fact, yes. And that describes Avrus Financial and Mortgage: we are in the service industry, and we do good things for people. Helping them reach their dreams certainly qualifies!

Mission statements say a great deal about a company. They tell you where the company’s focus is. They tell you what’s important to the company—and also what isn’t.

Here’s our mission statement:

Avrus Financial & Mortgage Services, Inc. will provide one-on-one customer service to each of its clients. Its staff will be readily available to answer clients’ questions regarding the loan process. Avrus Financial will provide its clients with the mortgage product appropriate to their individual needs and limitations. Avrus Financial & Mortgage Services, Inc., will also make certain each mortgage closing is coordinated between its clients and the lender and is scheduled within a reasonable time frame.

Everyone who works for our company knows its mission statement. Everyone who works for our company is committed to its mission statement. What that tells you is that we don’t just say we provide great service: we stand behind it. We’ve been standing behind this mission statement since 1982 and we will continue to stand behind it into the future. We’ve weathered difficult times in the mortgage marketplace with professionalism and attention, and through everything we have always put our clients first.

We are experts, not because we say we’re experts, but because we back that assertion with ongoing research and training. The mortgage landscape changes constantly and drastically, and we stay on top of all of those changes—the better to serve our clients.

A company that has a mission statement is a company that you can trust. A company that has a mission statement is a company that puts its clients first. A company that has a mission statement is a company that behaves ethically.

Isn’t that the kind of company that you want to have on your side? At Avrus Mortgage and Financial, we are that company, and we’re here to help you purchase the property you will love—and can afford!—in Florida, Georgia, or California. Why not ask us how today?

October 1, 2015

California’s Most Luxurious Zip Codes

When you think of the richest, most glamorous, most luxurious neighborhoods in the nation, what comes first to mind? I’ll bet the Hollywood sign flashes in the front of your mind. You probably think of Hollywood or Beverly Hills or Bel Air, neighborhoods that are not only sumptuously luxurious, but have been given plenty of celebrity notoriety through TV and, well, Hollywood.

The exact order will vary by when selling prices are recorded, especially if a couple really high-end homes sell in one zip code or another. The information below is based on data compiled by Property Shark between January 2014 and May 2015. All of these zip codes have an average home sale price of over $2 million, making it likely that a lot of them were purchased with the help of jumbo loans.

Fourteen of the top 20 most expensive zip codes are in California, so that goes as expected … perhaps even a little more so. However, the most expensive zip code is not in California. It is 11962, where the town of Sagaponack, NY, can be found in The Hamptons at the far end of Long Island. You can wave to Bill Clinton and Billy Joel as you cruise by.

The second most expensive zip code is…wait for it…not in Hollywood. In fact, Zip Code 94027 is in San Matteo County, where you will find the unassuming little town of Atherton, CA. In case you are curious, the tiny town is wedged between Palo Alto and Redwood City, in the heart of Silicon Valley, between San Francisco and San Jose.

In third place is the most famous zip code of them all, Beverly Hills 90210, with an average home sale price of just $3,221,250, nowhere near as much as the five million dollar average in Sagaponack and Atherton.

Zip Code 90402 comes in fourth place, which mostly includes Santa Monica, but also a bit of Pacific Palisades…not all the far from Hollywood, but not all that close, either.

In fifth place, we zip back up to Silicon Valley for Zip Code 94301 in Palo Alto, followed by a couple addresses in Manhattan’s West Side. The we come back down to California for Zip Code 92662, which is Balboa Island in Newport Beach, a town south of Los Angeles in Orange County.

In ninth place is Zip Code 33109 in Miami Beach, Florida’s ritziest neighborhood, and the oblt top 20 Zip Code that is not in either California or New York.

Then back to Silicon Valley for 94022 (Los Altos and Los Altos Hills) and 94028 (Portola Valley, Ladera, Westridge and Los Trancos Woods). The message is loud and clear; in the battle between the geeks and the celebrities, the geeks are winning.

Twelfth place is Zip Code 93108 in Santa Barbara, CA, (neutral territory in the geeks versus the celebrities) then back to Manhattan for thirteenth place.

Fourteenth place goes to 92067 in Rancho Santa Fe, just in from the coast in mid San Diego County, followed by 92657 in Newport Coast in mid Orange County, not far south of Newport Beach

A fifth zip code in New York finds us in Water Mill, back in the Hamptons.

We round out the top 20 most expensive zip codes in the USA with a round-the-state tour of California:

Zip Code 94024, back in Los Altos and Loyola, in Silicon Valley.
Zip Code 92661, on Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach, in Orange County.
Zip Code 90272, in Pacific Palisades, The Summit and Ridgeview Country Estates, just west of Los Angeles.
Zip Code 91108, in San Marino, a town on the east side of downtown Los Angeles.

No Hollywood. No Bel Air. At least, not in the nation’s 20 most expensive zip codes. Now you know.