Fremont Real Estate Blog

just got this forwarded to me from C.A.R. -------------------------- This morning President Bush signed the "Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008." For the past several years, C.A.R. and the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® have aggressively lobbied for Congress to pass numerous provisions found in this historic bill. Many of you participated in these efforts by communicating with your Members of Congress. Thank you to all of you who responded to these Calls-for-Action. Your efforts have made a difference. This federal housing bill is a significant move in the right direction for California homeowners. It will aid in stabilizing our economy and help stem foreclosures, while also providing support to first-time homeowners. The legislation will assist an estimated 400,000 homeowners facing foreclosure, many of whom reside in California, by allowing them to refinance their current mortgages with a Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-backed loan. The bill also will perm...

The press keeps talking about the excess inventory of homes, but really if your looking for example a 4/2 with min 2000 sqft, there's very few homes worth considering in San Ramon, Pleasanton or Fremont. At best I find 1-3 homes on the market that I would consider having my clients bid on in any week. The remaining homes are next two freeways or major arteries, or a neighborhood that isn't well kept. I was told that 36 Canyon Hills which is in a beautiful gated community received 22 offers. A big part of that was related to it's low ball price of $585,000, but other factors included that lack of alternatives.

Steven Fong and I have been helping organize the distribution of dictionaries to all 3rd graders in the New Haven Unified School District since 2006 on behalf of the Bay East Association of Realtors. The dictionaries' are acquired through a national program called the Dictionary Project . For about $40 we can buy a box of 24 dictionaries to distribute to a 3rd grade classroom. I like this volunteer effort because as a Realtor I like doing activities which show the community that Realtors like to do activities that help communities increase their home values (I also organized the neighborhood watch and our annual National Night Out events). Also when we deliver the dictionaries to the kids in the classroom, they just warm up your heart from their appreciation. For the last two years, I've been asking Bayeast to let other businesses/individuals in the community participate with us because I believe the more groups of people we get involved with helping our schools, the better our...

this was just passed to me by Bayeast: I've highlighted in Bold the sections I find interesting. They are not asking that the conforming loan limit stay at a maximum of $729,750, instead they are making the maximum for most of California and other priced areas $625,500. This means any home priced more than $781,875 will require more than 20% so as not to exceed the $625,500 limit. example buy a home for $900,000 in 2008 you could get a conforming jumbo loan for $720,000, but buy the same house in 2009, the 1st mortgage is capped at $625,500 if you want a GSE sponsored loan (read lower interest rate), and the difference of $94,500 will have to come from a second mortgage if you can find one (I say that because they are hard to find). So he'll be affected the most, any home sold for more than $781,875 ($625,500/80%). Write your congressman now, if you disagress with the new limit. ------------------------------------------------------------ National Association of REALTORS® Summa...

In California, when you buy a primary residence , the loans obtained at the time of purchase are referrred to as " Purchase Money Loans " and deemed NON-RECOURSE DEBT. NON-RECOURSE DEBT Non-recourse debt means the bank can not go after any of your other assets if the secured asset isn't sufficent to pay off the debt obligation. That's a very good thing! They can't take you to court over any deficency. A 1st or 2nd loan can both be purchase money non-recourse loans as long as they are for your primary residence. However once you refinance these loans they become recourse loans. Now if you default you may become personally liable for any deficiency. On top of that you could be liable to recognize income on cancellation of debt. Kenneth L. Andrews, attorney at law has written a number of articles that do a great job explaining what the implications to you will be on a short sale or foreclosure.

This just out

If you are interested in increasing your homes value, get involved in your neighborhood watch. This month's articles in the City of Fremont Newsletter discusses National Night Out that takes place on the 1st Tuesday of August each year. It's a way to get to know your neighbors. check out the article at http://www.nationalnightout.org/nno/about.html

FORECLOSURE RELIEF BILL BECOMES LAW This week, the State Legislature enacted foreclosure reform law to address the adverse effects of high foreclosure rates in California. The new law requires lenders to contact homeowners to explore options for avoiding foreclosure at least 30 days before filing a notice of default. It also requires owners acquiring property through foreclosure to maintain the exterior of vacant residential properties. The new law also extends from 30 to 60 days the time for residential tenants to move out of properties that have been foreclosed upon, unless other laws apply. These requirements will remain in effect until January 1, 2013. The full text of Senate Bill 1137 (Perata) is available at www.leginfo.ca.gov. Highlights of the new law are as follows: - Contact Between Lender and Borrower: Effective on or about September 8, 2008, a lender, trustee, or authorized agent may not file a notice of default until 30 days after contacting a borrower to assess the borrow...

"Show Me The Money" What a house is worth is based on the number of bidders. In general, if you have only one bidder, than it's hard to raise the price. You need to have multiple bidders to raise a home's value. The Seller and their REALTOR  needs to do the following things to increase the likelihood that they'll get multiple offers. 1. Present the house as attractively as possible . Pretty homes sell for more than ugly ones, and appeal to a wider audience. This means a thorough cleaning, repairs and remodeling if necessary and staging if it makes sense. 2. Market the home to create demand. Take great pictures. Everyone makes their decision to see based on the location, and pictures. Hold the Open House on the coming out weekend. Everyone wants to see what's new to see. Have the disclosure packet ready. Here the agent's role is to provide information to prospective buyers on the condition of the home, how the price was arrived at, and when offer...

I was watching CNBC at lunch and saw that Indymac's stock was trading under a $1. So I assumed something was up. Than when I got back to the office I saw an email form my Indymac rep saying he'd been let go because of the news. I google for news, and discovered they were shutting down lending. The excerpt below is Michael W. Perry, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, IndyMac Bank. ....As a result of the above, we have made the difficult decision, effective July 7, 2008, that we will no longer accept any new loan submissions or rate locks in our retail and wholesale forward mortgage lending channels, except for our servicing retention channel. We plan to honor all of our existing rate-locked loans and will continue to fund these loans in the coming weeks. While the managers and employees in these units have worked incredibly hard, these units are not currently profitable due to the continuing erosion of the housing and mortgage markets. At the same time, these operations take...

this looks like the most interesting property based on size, condition and price offered. 20 BALTUSROL CT SAN RAMON https://www.dataexchangesystems.com/ call me if you'd like to buy this property, but feel free to find out more first.

Just listed 2850 Breaker circle in Hayward's Eden Shore Community. This community was built about 5 years ago on the western most perimeter of hayward. go to www.sunilsethi.com to view listing.

I always get asked who like to use for home inspections. Home Inspectors I had stumbled upon InspectionPros for home inspection back in 2003 and liked the thoroughness of their reports. They were acquired by LandAmerica Home Inspection about 2 years ago. You can call them at 800-285-3001. Their fee is currently $490 for a 2000 sqft home. I usually ask for Curt Lenhart who has 24 yrs of construction experience. Recently however at the bequest of client I used Real Estate Inspection Group . The inspector's name was Kristian Meyers. I was thoroughly impressed with his detail to attention. He spent 3 hours on the property and very patiently explained his findings and answered all our questions. His fee was $485. For Roof Inspections: I recommend Chandler HAM 510-657-5176 For Termite Inspections: I have a couple of recommendations: Giant Jim 800-231-8517 Fee Prevention Inspection Services 415-370-9961 * Bret also does home, and roof inspections - their's a package price. He...