Where will you spend your Christmas? 2007-12-16 04:32:37 We have 9 more days til Christmas
. Where will you spend your Christmas Day? Will you stay home with the family and / or have family and friends over or will you be traveling far or near to celebrate Christmas? The Mother and Daughter Realty Team of Perfect Financial Solutions and the whole PFS Team would like to take this time to wish you a Happy and Safe Christmas Holiday. We stress safe and we hope that you get all you asked for. Please take a time out to give thanks for the blessings that you have received and that this coming year will bring us all a brighter day in our buisness ventures. Please take a moment and take my fun poll and my new toy. This can found at vizu.com.Â
<!—LET POLL IT! JUST FOR FUN -->Opinion Polls & FUN Research
  This is a good time to wish each and every AR member and all our readers to have a Safe and Happy Christmas holiday.   MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and your family & Friends!the Mother and Daughter Realty TeamP
Know your buyer's intentions before accepting the offer...... 2007-12-16 03:58:12 Whether your listing is in Stockton, Sacramento, Manteca, Livermore or Los Angeles California. Whether it is Northern California or SoCAL, the rule is the same. And it is important that you know the buyer before you accept an offer for a short sale. Well.... you don't have to actually know them, but you do need to know there intentions --- if they are going to be an owner occupied buyer or if they are an investor.Reason: In California if a seller has a Notice of Default filed on the property and meet 3 other conditions, the process changes and the rules of the sale change. Scenerios: A buyer is interested in one of your listings that is a seller that has an active Notice of Default recorded (seller is in foreclosure process) -- that buyer is not going to occupy the property after sale. They are an investor. They do not have an agent... they ask you to represent them or they go find someone else to be their buyer's agent.&
Buying a home made easier 2007-12-12 12:29:03 Some Buyers who don't have a 20 percent down payment are finding it harder and harder to buy a home. And with the news media keeping the headlines a bit on the negative side to get your attention.... I wanted to try to help reassure you that there are ways to still qualify for the purchase of your dream home. I've said it before and will continue to remind you to Not give up on your dream. Here are some sources of money that are still available and the pluses and minuses of using them.Borrowing from a 401(k). Only some companies allow this. The maximum available is $50,000 ($100,00 if both spouses have 401(k)s) and the loan must be repaid within five years. Failure to do so and the loan will be considered a withdrawal, leaving the borrower liable for penalties and federal income tax.Withdrawing up to $10,000 from an IRA for a purchase of a first home. Spouses who both have IRAs can withdrawal a total of $20,000. A potential borrower who hasn't owned a home Read more:Buying
What's going on in Stockton for the rest of December 2007-12-12 10:40:30 Stockton Activities for the rest of December
. San Joaquin Central Valley, Come One Come All!Ice on the Delta!November - JanuaryDecember 12,19, 265 :00 pmDean DeCarli Waterfront Square Weber Avenue, between Center & El Dorado Streets Grandparents Day Wednesdays are Grandparents Day at Ice on the Delta! All grandparents accompanied by their grandchildren skate for free. Outdoor holiday ice skating is featured through Monday, January 21, 2008 at DeCarli Waterfront Square (Channel and El Dorado) in downtown Stockton. River City Bank sponsors this year's eight-week event. Admission is $5 per session, including skates. Skate sessions begin hourly from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, December 12. EVERY WEDNESDAY in December December 12 - 205 :00 pmDelta College 5151 Pacific Ave River of Life: Shelley Gardner & Joshua Greenberg L.H. Horton Jr Gallery at Delta College.Nature is an enduring source of artistic inspiration in the textural work of Shelley
Why look for a new home now? 2007-12-11 21:43:55 San Joaquin - Central Valley - Stockton Buyers Here are a just three of the reasons you should be buying a home right now!The times are ripe - right now!1. Interest rates are at historic lows. 2. Home prices are favorable.3. More options and more choices of homes available. Buyers just a little note to remind you that the time is now. Get up and go get your dream home. There are numerous homes for sale that are not short sales, numerous short sales, REOs and some really great deals out there. The MLS is loaded! It doesn't matter if you are an investor or simply looking for a single family home to live in get in on the deals now. Don't miss out on these deals waiting around for prices to continue to go down because come next year you just never know and will be surprised how things can change, turn around and if this happens before you find your deal, you will be upset with yourself. Don't let that happen.Get your fa
Christmas Traditions 2007-12-11 18:04:25 I want to make this a fun post. I'd like to hear what some of your Christmas
traditions are:I will start the list off: Please share with us your family's traditions. Santa Claus - making cookies and leaving them on the fireplace mantel for Santa Claus - oh with a glass of milk! OK (let me break in here and share a cool, quick Cheesecake recipe with you) Rosemary's 1-2-3 Cheesecake 1/3 cup lemon juice1 can Eagle Brand condensed milk1 stick of Philly cream cheese1 graham cracker crustMix up the juice, milk, cream cheese until it is somewhat solid. Pour into pan, chill and serve. Can't get any easier than that!
Buyers need to know 2007-12-11 14:31:44 Buyers need to know. In my last post I covered facilities that fall under the Safety Codes of exemption for requiring declosure of their existance in a neighborhood, the list below are some of the items that fall under the standard points of disclosure requirements in California. Some sure fire disclosures that you must tell the buyers whether it is a regular sale, short sale, foreclosure, and REOs. (REOs are exempt from TDS disclosures in California).Points for Disclosurein the roofin the electrical systemin plumbing, water heaters or septic tanksin heating or air conditioningin the swimming poolsuch as cracks, bulges, or water seepage in the foundation or basementin any mechanical equipment or appliances being sold with the propertyInfestations by termites or other pestsPresence of asbestos, lead paint, radon, toxic wastes, underground tanks, or other environmental hazardOther points for DisclosureDisputes over boundary lines, liens, or other encroach Read more:Buyers
Loose Lips might sink the ship! 2007-12-11 11:56:53 Disclose, Disclose, Disclose! BUT.....................Be careful how and what you disclose.Scenerio: There are numerous homeowners that use their home as facilities in the San Joaquin/Stanislaus and other California neighborhoods to provide licensed care for children, Foster care, seniors, recovering alcoholic or drugs, VA vets, etc. that are either a Day Care, Foster Care, Senior home, AA recovery or etc., home at some time or other, but that in itself is not a nuisance. Do you need to disclose this to a potential buyer? The law says -- no need to disclose this. Should the question be asked of you, you have to tell the truth about the home being a facility but you would need to be careful how you answer the question. The CAR memorandum counsels caution in this regard. It points out that these types of care facilities are caring for the handicaps facilities under the law. Well, ok, there may not be a duty to disclose the Read more:Loose
Ready to go to war?.... make an offer on a REO property! 2007-12-11 01:29:57 Well maybe not real war, but Stress for sure! Buyers: All bargains are not good bargains, but some are: How do you know the difference? There are so many properties in the Stockton - Modesto area that are REOs. REOs can be just as hard to negotiate as a short sale!! Looking at it from a buyer's standpoint, short sales might be a better deal. In my opinion. Below are some Advantages and disadvantages to buying REO properties. In a word.... B E W A R E ! REO Properties: These properties have gone through the foreclosure process, but no one successfully bid on them for purchase. There are many advantages to buying Bank REOs. Many buyers focus on buying foreclosures as a means to locate properties with a lot of equity at a discounted price.Advantages of Buying Bank REO PropertiesThe bank owns the property
and the mortgage loan no longer exists. All liens against the property are removed once it becomes an REO, and taxes are paid. Unli
Sellers: Don't know why your house is still on the market? 2007-12-10 23:36:59 House on the market too long? Don't know why? Feel like you have the worst house in the area because it is not selling? Or do you blame your agent? HINT: -------Lower your price. This just might help!!! If your home is already in the best condition possible, and you've already raised the commission and offered the buyer a premium, you may have to accept the fact that your home is overpriced. That doesn't mean someone, some where, wouldn't offer you your dream price. You may just grow old waiting for that day to come. Lets take a closer look at todays MLS numbers (El Dorado, Merced (Western), Placer, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Yolo counties). Here are a few averages, keeping in mind that these numbers do not reflect the listings that were taken off market or withdrawn/cancel and then put back on either by the same agent or by another agent. So these number are probably lower than the reality.The 20 Read more:Sellers
How do you balance a quick sale for top market value? 2007-12-23 04:22:45 Before you set the sales price of your house, here are some steps that you need to do:>> Understand that Market conditions will play a role in setting the sales price of your house. >> Get an agent to run a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) that will show the listing price of similar houses in the area as well as the SOLD prices. Factor in how quickly houses are selling in your area, interest rates, the strength of the school system, the criminal rates, and finally whether it is a buyer's or seller's market. >> Get an agent to Analysis information about houses currently on the market >> Get an agent to share information on houses that were on the market but never SOLD>> Set your expectations for selling the house, this must be calculated into the selling price>> Get your agent's opinion of a sales price that will balance your expections and match the local market valueHere are some expectations that yo
Are You Ready to Sell Your Home? 2007-12-22 17:20:13 Do your research, Know the facts, Be prepared and Just do it!By now I am sure most know that almost everyone know about the number of Foreclosures in San Joaquin County ~ and that Stockton is one of the highest in the foreclosure rate in the country. Although you may not be 1 out of the 31 homeowners in Stockton that are in foreclosure ~ you are still affected by this massive foreclosure problem, in some way or another: If you are still saying it does not affect me, then I challenge you to test and see if you are affected:1) Take a drive around Stockton and you will see all the House for Sale signs and some will say either read Foreclosure, Auction, Trustee Sales, Short Sale, Bank Owned and if that don't show how you are affected let me break it down for you: (see definitions at bottom of post)2) Read the newspaper: Headline, sub-headlines or fine print is all about Foreclosures being out of control, Auct
Good News! Tax Break for Mortgage Debt Foregiveness! A Change that will help! 2007-12-21 12:57:08 GOOD NEWS! Today is a day of some really good news that will help the people that find themselves faced with foreclosure and cannot find a solution to save their home by using one the plans that have been created for those that meet a certain criteria and they were not able to do a workout with the lender(s).If the homeowners find that there are no workout plans that fit them and they have to seek a short sale approval and if they are lucky enough to get an approval for the short sale, they now do not have to worry about the difference between what the actually owe the lender and what they were able to sell the home for. This is called debt forgiveness. With this law, they are truly forgiven. This law will ease the after shock of losing your home and then finding yourself owing the IRS that difference ~~~ the debt will be fully forgiven ~~ if that homeowner is in hardship. &nb Read more:Change
, Break
, Good News
, Mortgage
Try to get your property re-assessed - could save you some money! 2008-03-03 19:20:15 I recently posted a suggestion of checking with your county property
tax assessor to see what they are doing or planning on doing about the low drop in property value vs the high property tax bill the homeowners of San Joaquin County are getting. To see if they are going to reduce the property taxes to match the decline in property value. I am happy to report that San Joaquin County is doing something to help out the homeowners of San Joaquin County -- this especially will help out the homeowners of Stockton, CA. Stockton has one of the highest decline in property value during this foreclosure crisis. Ground Zero.... the Foreclosure Capital of America! Stockton, CAI first emailed the San Joaquin County Assessor and asked if they are re-assessing properties to bring d
Affordability - and What is Rock-Bottom? 2008-03-01 06:24:42 Rock-bottom, what does it mean? Where does Stockton, CA fit into affordability? Well, I can tell you some good news. Stockton is not #1 on the least Affordability
List, but on the other hand it is not on the #1 Affordable list either. I was actually somewhat surprised (and Happy) to find out that we are somewhere in the middle of the Least Affordable place to live ~ since we held the #1 position on the worst foreclosure record in America. God Bless America! If you recall Stockton, CA was labeled on a recent 60 Minute show as Ground Zero... the Foreclosure Capital. See my post: Ground Zero.... the Foreclosure Capital of America! Stockton, CA. So I want take this time to say right on Stockton, CA - Hold your own. One day this too shall pas Read more:Bottom
Who REALLY SHOULD pay for the bugs in that REO? 2008-02-28 04:53:12 This maybe a simple question to some but I need to know what the answer is. This is about major termite - Section one repairs in a REO - bank owned property. I changed the title to who SHOULD pay, I feel it SHOULD be the bank and that they SHOULD do the inspection prior to listing and SHOULD either do the work prior to listing or they SHOULD do it prior to close. This will help those buyers that are not paying cash and require a loan -- the loan usually will require that Section 1 termite repairs are cleared prior to close. This is a question to help buyers.Since it is a common standard that bank owned property (REO) are sold "as is" and some of those properties are older properties -- especially in moist areas. So if it is as is and there is obvious Read more:REALLY
Let's take a Train Ride!.... On How to buy REO properties (Part II) - Finding the right property 2008-02-27 11:10:17 OK so I promised a train ride. I always try to keep my words... so lets move on to Part II on my REO training. We now have our list of great opportunities for our buyer.We have advised our buyer of what are the standard requirements for bank owned propertiesWe have stressed that the buyer will need to advise his loan officer that he is looking at REO properties and that he will probably need a Bank Acceptance from the lender so they can get to work on that side of the requirements.We have done our mapping, set our time and are ready to get a going on finding our buyer their home.(Oh I mentioned that we already had the essentials in our list of listings: location, size, amenities, and other things that the buyer told us at the beginning that they wanted in a home). Today w Read more:property
, Train
Let's take a Train Ride!......On How to buy REO properties (Part I) - Special Offer Instructions 2008-02-27 10:18:01 Now that the weather is getting a little better and I decided to latch on to the Spring concept, I thought a little "outing" would be fun. A training ride.... This is part I of the REO training. How about us going on a REO (bank- owned property) tour. OK so its all imaginary but it promises to be informational. (might not be fun, but you might learn something!)Since REO is the way the market is going or is there in some big areas, lets just take the time to really get as much information on this process as possible. I am here to help.Here's what you need to go on this trip:A REO knowledgeable agent the MLSA buyer that is price range approvedand can get bank acceptance letter * (we'll talk more about this later)OK for now that is all we need to Read more:Train
, Special
, Offer
, Instructions
, Special Offer
Short Sale, Foreclosed, Auction, & REO Properties - Know the difference BEFORE you start your search 2008-02-24 18:37:10 There are certainly some good deals out there but be very careful what you choose to purchase and be willing to follow the bank's addendum to the T and the requirements to submit an offer is a different requirement in most cases. Just know the difference
between the types of Foreclosure resulted sales. The bottom line is that property is sold, just make sure you are aware of what you are buying.Pre-Foreclosure sale: If you want to negotiate a pre-foreclosure sale, remember that property owners who fall behind in their mortgage payments are frequently unable to property maintain the home, and phones and electricity may be shut off. This process is called Short
Sale because most properties that are behind in the mortgage are also short on equity. These Read more:Auction
, Properties
Grab Buyers Attention ----Featured Listings Slide Show! 2008-02-24 09:16:07 I love this slideshow, so I thought I would share it today. Showing off my listings is always a good move! Call me about my listings and if you are interested in where to go find this little tool. Check it out on slideshow.com. It is free and it is very easy to set up and use. Try it out and let me know what you think.My Featured
Listings:1966 Inderbitzin Way, Manteca, CA Reduced to $340,000 - TCuldesac, next to School and Park - 369 Gamay Court, Manteca, CA Reduced to Sell at $230,000 - Cute culdesac home - move in ready!1236 Occidental Av #2, Stockton, CA -~ Reduced to Sell at $80,000 - 2-story, great shape - Investors!2871 First Street #901, Livermore, CA ~ Reduced to Sell at $450,000 - 3 level, great condition - Near downtown!61 Read more:Buyers
, Slide
, Slide Show
Is this the Season? or is it just around the corner? 2008-02-24 01:10:43 I was thinking that Spring is just around the corner
and then today happened! In some places snow is expected and it has rained around here all day and promises to do the same tomorrow but according to the weather.... Monday it will all blow over at least here in Northern California. So I am going ahead with my thoughts of Spring is just around the corner, at least in California.... or is it? In some part of the country I know that it is anything but near Spring. With all the pressures of the real estate market I have lost touch with the seasons!March 8th is SPRING FORWARD which means it will be time to change our clocks again. And this is usually the first sign of Spring is coming..... soon.Statistically, more homes are put on the market in the Spring an Read more:Season
Buyer's market 2008-02-23 23:58:19 Buyer's Market: Occurs when sales slow and inventory accumulates. DOM (Days on Market) are typically long. In such a market, sales prices fall giving buyers greater opportunities. Buyers we are still in a buyer's market. Come on and grab some of the great purchase opportunities that are out there. This will not last forever like it is now. Don't let hesitation get the best of you and you find yourself looking back on hindsight on how you could have purchase a home for much less but did not act fast enough.Pretty soon we might the Market switched over to either:Balanced Market: This is usually a transitional phase between a seller's and Buyer's Market when neither side has an advantage.Seller's Market: A real estate market cha Read more:Buyer
"Do Nothing" .... now is that an option? 2008-02-23 23:43:46 Yes - Do nothing is an option
but it is not a recommendation. You may find it odd that "do nothing" is called an option. One of the most common options taken by homeowners is Nothing
. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that everything will be magically OK, because it will not.If you find yourself in the pre-foreclosure process you are likely confused by all the options and fearful of making a bad decision, but by doing nothing you are making a decision. The decision you are making by doing nothing is the decision to turn a blind eye to reality while losing your home.So if even you can't safe your home, do something instead of doing nothing to help possible safe your credit from going totally down the drain. Take your head out of the sand and
Nobody wants to foreclosure, but if you find you're there.... here a helpful tip! 2008-02-23 23:28:33 Being in foreclosure is a bad place to be, here is a tip to help the process run a little less stressful.If you find yourself in a situation of pre-foreclosure, you should get busy and call your lender to see if there are options to help you keep your home. If there are none and a short sale is what you need, please be sure to get an agent that knows and feel comfortable doing short sales and working with your lender. Do your homework and find an agent that can work for you. When considering selling you should be looking for an agent to handle this for you. Your agent should know to look for "a quick close" in order to stay within the foreclosure time-line and deadlines. Typically, this can be for less than fair market value, but can be of Read more:Nobody
, wants
, helpful
Thank you Craigslist.com 2008-02-23 21:22:12 I just wanted to say thank you to Craigslist.com for getting attention to a couple of my listings. I have been using them all the time but I have not been updating the post regularly. I read here on ActiveRain that you should update your listings regularly on Craigslist, so I bookmarked that suggestion and just got around to doing it.Just as soon as I started to do that I began to get calls of serious buyers! It is great and I wanted to pass this along to others and say thank you Craigslist for getting some attention to my listings.This is not just a thank you to Craigslist.com it is to such sites as: Point2homes.com Postlets.comClassifiedflyerads.comVflyer.comThat all link up to Craigslist.com. These are all great tools. &nb Read more:Thank
The deal is contingent on.... YOU keeping up with deadlines 2008-02-23 21:04:20 What is a contingency date and why is so important?There can be contingencies to your purchase that are as important as the close date. In fact, if they are missed you could end up losing your earnest deposit and any additional deposit that you have put down. So remember to pay close attention to the following contingency dates: Loan contingency - to remove you should have an Approval from lender and you should have or know all conditions that are required by the lender. It is best that you have met these conditions by contingency time -- otherwise you could run into some real trouble before close. These problems could either delay or stop a close.Appraisal contingency - this is very important to the sale to know what the value of the pro
Earnest Money is still your money. 2008-02-23 20:23:27 Earnest money deposit tip:Although there is no set amount that you should put down on earnest deposit, you should think carefully about the amount you put down and understand what it means and what happens to that money if the contract is not followed by you.The usual amount varies between 1to 3% of the sales price. Keep in mind the 3% is usually the maximum due to the California liquidated damages clause in the CAR forms.I usually get a copy of the deposit check (works with Short Sale and REO purchases) and put it with the offer. I tell my buyers to make the check out to the title company that they want the escrow to be handled at. The title company is usually one that I often work with - unless it is a REO property where the bank has stated who the title Read more:Money
, Earnest
Tribute to Black History Month - February 2008-02-23 19:05:25 I have been off for a while doing real estate business and almost forgot to give tribute to BlackHistoryMonth
.My hope for my children must be that they respond to the still, small voice of God in their own hearts.Andrew Young (1932-)A Way Out of No Way (1994)The greatest tribute to Black History
Month is that we h ave a black man running for President. Please take a look at this from Barack Obama. I can only imagine what some of the great Black Leaders would think if they were here to witness a black man running for President. This is history, no matter how the elections turn out.Here are some of the Civil Rights and Affirmative Action information.Biographies: Civil Rights Leaders Notable Speeches and Letters by African Americans Civil Rights Cases Reope Read more:February
, Black History Month
Bank owned properties are everywhere! Status: REO OVERSTOCKED 2008-02-23 10:51:53 While in search of my next niche..... it wasn't hard to figure out that REOs are the way to go. As many of you know my daughter and I specialize in Short Sale listings and have been able to help most of our clients obtain a short sale successfully. And we do believe that Short Sales are here to stay for a while (at least until this foreclosure problem lightens up or better yet goes away). However, there is a larger monster coming around the bend and it is coming at high speeds! Actually, it is here in most areas. It is called REO - Real Estate Owned by the Bank and sometimes referred to as Foreclosed properties. See my post: What happens to the owners after foreclosure? Since the banks and lenders are so reluctant to give the approval Read more:everywhere
, Status
Hidden Gem in the Rain... by Rosemary Brooks 2008-02-20 22:13:54 Search on the Rain.OK its time for me to get back in the Rain Game and do some catching up. I have been off doing "business" and have let my blog talent go to sleep. Its hard to wake it up if you let it go to sleep!!! Dionne put a challenge on me that I cannot let go un-answered. Find a gem in the rain. Well, lucky for me this challenge is not that hard. The hard part is just picking 2.Here's the GEMS I pick:My daughter, D'Adrea Davie of course is my first gem in any kind of a challenge. Easy pick. She is a hard worker like her mom, she does not give up like her mom, she is eager to learn like her mom and she even look a little like her mom! So of course, she is a gem. She is not so bad with short sales Read more:Hidden
, Rosemary
, Brooks
Recommend Site To A Friend
