Fremont Real Estate Blog

Disclosure: What Not to Say When Asked "What's That Musky Smell?"   When asked by the buyer "What is that musky smell?", the dual agent told the buyer that it was "sea air" and could be fixed by "changing things like sheet rock." Fong v. Sheridan, No. A144286 (Cal. Ct. App. April 21, 2016) , an unpublished appellate decision which cannot be cited as binding legal precedent, reinforces the admonition that agents should not speculate when making statements regarding the condition of the property - just the facts please.   Relying on the agent's statement, the buyer closed on this Tiburon, California property, but kept smelling something odd in one of the bedrooms. Continuing to investigate, the buyer found a buried septic tank and a buried oil tank. Compounding the problem, there was an inadvertent spill when removing the oil tank. The buyer moved from the property due to the chemical smell and eventually the house was torn down.   Af...

Homeless Encampment Fire On Wednesday night, UCPD officers responded to a field behind the homes on Daffodil Way on reports of shots fired. The creek that runs through this field from the Alameda Creek Trail to Quarry Lakes Drive is essentially the border between Union City and Fremont (the blue line in the picture). For years UCPD and Fremont PD have been dealing with homeless encampments along this creek area. When officers arrived on scene they discovered a homeless encampment engulfed in flames. The sound people heard was actually the loud bang coming from a possible propane tank explosion (the light blue circle in the bottom left of the picture). The Fire Department responded quickly, and the fire was extinguished before it had a chance to spread. People were found fleeing from the scene with their belongings, but the rest of the encampment was burned to the ground. On Thursday, the Community Oriented Policing and Problem Solving (COPPS) Unit walked the entire creek area from the ...

Please mark your calendars and attend... Friday, September 23rd at 7:00pm in Fremont City Council Chambers. The League of Woman Voters is conducting a Fremont Mayor, City Council and Fremont Unified School District Candidates Forum. Whatever is your voting concerns I suggest you listen to how each candidate answers the questions that attendee's and online questions sent to singer756@comcast.net are answered. Here the Website for more details: http://www.lwvfnuc.org/public/index.shtm... Note: Address of Fremont City Council Chamber is located at 3300 Capitol Avenue Building A. (due to all the construction please enter from Hastings Street).   - S unil Sethi SUNIL SETHI REAL ESTATE Helping Families Find Homes with Great Schools in Fremont, Newark and Union City. Property Search | Featured Listing | Neighborhoods | Home Value | School Score | Property Tax To access most updated listings on MLS from your phone, Download my FREE app from "My Mobile App" . Want to know ...

In the case of Gragg v. United States of America; Internal Revenue Service Commissioner , the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that real estate professionals must materially participate in their rental activities in order to deduct rental losses. The facts involved taxpayers, one of whom held a real estate license, who claimed losses related to rental properties they owned.  The IRS requested a log of the licensee's activities related to the properties and ultimately denied the deductions, concluding that, even though holding a real estate license, the taxpayers had to show that they materially participated in the rental property activity.  In this case, two undated one-page notes of activity submitted by the taxpayers were not sufficient for the IRS to allow the deduction. In general "passive activity" losses are not deductible under IRC § 469.  However the taxpayers argued that the history of amendments to IRC § 469 meant that being a real estate profession...

  - S unil Sethi SUNIL SETHI REAL ESTATE Helping Families Find Homes with Great Schools in Fremont, Newark and Union City. Property Search | Featured Listing | Neighborhoods | Home Value | School Score | Property Tax To access most updated listings on MLS from your phone, Download my FREE app from "My Mobile App" . Want to know if you qualify for any special loan programs. Check out CAR's Mortgage Directory Love Us on Yelp! Like Us on Facebook  

  - S unil Sethi SUNIL SETHI REAL ESTATE Helping Families Find Homes with Great Schools in Fremont, Newark and Union City. Property Search | Featured Listing | Neighborhoods | Home Value | School Score | Property Tax To access most updated listings on MLS from your phone, Download my FREE app from "My Mobile App" . Want to know if you qualify for any special loan programs. Check out CAR's Mortgage Directory Love Us on Yelp! Like Us on Facebook  

i doubt there is a correlation, BUT I THOUGHT IT WAS INTERESTING.   Ten Best Cities for Family Home Buyers BUILDER Magazine and Metrostudy combined their findings with recent research from WalletHub to pinpoint the best cities for families in home-shopping mode. The analysis factors in the median price of new single-family homes as well as quality education, job markets, healthcare, crime, and divorce rates. The following places emerged on top as the most family-friendly in 2016 for those looking to buy new single-family homes: Omaha, Neb.: $244,200 (Median price of new single-family home Q2 2016) Lincoln, Neb.: $288,800 Chesapeake, Va.: $300,000 Madison, Wis.: $312,500 Colorado Springs, Colo.: $324,100 Aurora, Ill.: $387,500 Virginia Beach, Va.: $407,100 Plano, Texas: $457,100 Overland Park, Kan.: $520,000 Fremont, Calif.: $1,577,800 While Fremont, Calif., has a high median new home price, researchers note it had one of the lowest divorce rates at 12.2 percent. More info   ...

From Crain’s   Valley ranks as country's second toughest market for renters The San Jose metropolitan area is the second-most competitive market for renters when compared to the 25 largest cities in the nation, according to the Silicon Valley Business Journal's analysis of Trulia data. Trulia ranks rental competitiveness by factors landlords use to rate potential tenants , such as income and credit scores. (Sillicon Valley Business Journal)   - S unil Sethi SUNIL SETHI REAL ESTATE Helping Families Find Homes with Great Schools in Fremont, Newark and Union City. Property Search | Featured Listing | Neighborhoods | Home Value | School Score | Property Tax To access most updated listings on MLS from your phone, Download my FREE app from "My Mobile App" . Want to know if you qualify for any special loan programs. Check out CAR's Mortgage Directory Love Us on Yelp! Like Us on Facebook  

RENT CONTROL SPREADING TO BAY AREA SUBURBS, TO ECONOMISTS' DISMAY       - S unil Sethi SUNIL SETHI REAL ESTATE Helping Families Find Homes with Great Schools in Fremont, Newark and Union City. Property Search | Featured Listing | Neighborhoods | Home Value | School Score | Property Tax To access most updated listings on MLS from your phone, Download my FREE app from "My Mobile App" . Want to know if you qualify for any special loan programs. Check out CAR's Mortgage Directory Love Us on Yelp! Like Us on Facebook  

  The national foreclosure rate in July was back to where it was in August 2007, according to a new report from CoreLogic.      - S unil Sethi SUNIL SETHI REAL ESTATE Helping Families Find Homes with Great Schools in Fremont, Newark and Union City. Property Search | Featured Listing | Neighborhoods | Home Value | School Score | Property Tax To access most updated listings on MLS from your phone, Download my FREE app from "My Mobile App" . Want to know if you qualify for any special loan programs. Check out CAR's Mortgage Directory Love Us on Yelp! Like Us on Facebook  

From Crain’s Silicon Valley   California and in particular Northern California Holds 12 of the top 25 spots. Silicon Valley is the most expensive place to buy a home in the United States, according to real estate firm Coldwell Banker. The company noted that six of the nation’s 10 most costly real estate markets are local. Saratoga, Calif. topped the list, with a four-bedroom, two-bath home averaging $2,453,718. That could buy you 38 comparable homes in Detroit. (Siliconbeat)   - S unil Sethi SUNIL SETHI REAL ESTATE Helping Families Find Homes with Great Schools in Fremont, Newark and Union City. Property Search | Featured Listing | Neighborhoods | Home Value | School Score | Property Tax To access most updated listings on MLS from your phone, Download my FREE app from "My Mobile App" . Want to know if you qualify for any special loan programs. Check out CAR's Mortgage Directory Love Us on Yelp! Like Us on Facebook  

More positive news about the ability of borrowers to continue paying their mortgages.   https://mtg.mgic.com/newsroom/pressRelease.html?reqid=2200829   - S unil Sethi SUNIL SETHI REAL ESTATE Helping Families Find Homes with Great Schools in Fremont, Newark and Union City. Property Search | Featured Listing | Neighborhoods | Home Value | School Score | Property Tax To access most updated listings on MLS from your phone, Download my FREE app from "My Mobile App" . Want to know if you qualify for any special loan programs. Check out CAR's Mortgage Directory Love Us on Yelp! Like Us on Facebook  

Banks are proactively pushing home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) to homeowners whose properties have regained much of the value they lost during the housing crisis. With rates averaging 4 percent to 7.25 percent, home equity borrowing is regaining appeal.  A home equity line of credit works a bit like a credit card.  You get a variable interest credit line of up to a certain dollar amount and can tap it as often as you like.  You generally pay interest only for up to 10 years, what’s known as the “draw period.” After that, you must begin paying back interest and principal.  The amount you can borrow — typically ranging from $10,000 to $1 million — depends on things such as the value of your home, how much you owe on your first mortgage and your credit score. Lenders are now requiring higher credit scores. The average credit score for HELOC borrowers in 2015 was 774, more than 30 percent higher than a decade ago, according to CoreLogic....

Source: CNBC   San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, and Los Angeles rank at the bottom of the list of cities that are the easiest to get a mortgage, according to a report from the Urban Institute.  Since the housing bust in 2007, lenders have gotten much choosier about whose mortgage applications they approve. Over the last few years, credit standards have loosened a bit, but it's still much harder to qualify than during the early-2000s boom years. Since the housing bust in 2007, lenders have gotten much choosier about whose mortgage applications they approve. Over the last few years, credit standards have loosened a bit, but it's still much harder to qualify than during the early-2000s boom years. Read the full story     - S unil Sethi SUNIL SETHI REAL ESTATE Helping Families Find Homes with Great Schools in Fremont, Newark and Union City. Property Search | Featured Listing | Neighborhoods | Home Value | School Score | Property Tax To access most updated listings...