Good News! Good Bay Area Real Estate News!!!

March 31, 2010 · Lee Ginsburg · 4 Comments

A lot of positive bills, thoughts and activities have been happening on the Bay Area Real Estate Front. I have been trying to write this for a while. Each time I sit down to write there is more I have to add to it. That is a good problem. So exciting! Enjoy the Good News.

Home Buyer’s Delight
You can still get the federal Home Buyer Credit of $8000 for the first time buyer or $6500 for the move up buyer. You must be in contract by the end of April and close by the end of June.
For additional information: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=204671,00.html

Because California Home Buyers are special Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law a State credit for home buyers. I personally think this program is great. It helps many people purchase their first home and it puts people to work. A Win-Win!!!
Under the provisions, the bill: Read more

“Sorry, I Don’t Do Short Sales…”

March 29, 2010 · Jean Joh · 2 Comments

Recently, one of my newer clients asked me, “Do you work with short sales?” Her reason for asking was that one of the other agents she interviewed told her that he did not work with short sales. I was somewhat surprised that there are still agents out there who will not work with a short sale.
Of course, if you asked me a couple years ago before “short sale” became a common household word, I would have said that I’d stay away from them if I could help it. But as an agent, I have a responsibility to my clients to work in their best interests. Read more

California School Budget Cuts Affect Homeowners!

March 15, 2010 · Karin Cunningham · 2 Comments

: Save Our Schools Daily Journal Pic

I attended an insightful meeting the other night of PTA/PTO Presidents in San Bruno. I learned that ALL of the public schools in California are expecting a lot of teacher and counselor layoffs next week. San Bruno’s only middle school, Parkside Intermediate will possibly have the most layoffs cutting out music (they have an awesome marching band), art, leadership, counseling, and more. Our elementary schools will have no art, music, PE, large classroom sizes of 30+ kids per class, no English tutoring, GATE programs, loss of funds to improve libraries and to supply instructional material like BOOKS and one school, I hear, will loose up to 7 teachers, leaving them with 4!! Read more

REOs, Short Sales, or Regular Sales?

February 22, 2010 · Shokoofeh Nowbakht · 2 Comments

I met a lady today at the Tanforan Mall. She says, “My husband wants to buy a house but only if it’s REO.” I asked why, she says because he believes he gets a great deal and that he can also bargain and offer less if it’s foreclosed. He believes that short sales and regular sales are not good real estate investments. She said that her husband doesn’t want to look at anything but foreclosed properties.
Is this how the public thinks? But, how about short sales? And what about those regular sales? As one of my colleagues says, “Regular sales, are really the short sales these days!” Isn’t that the fact? What, in your opinion, is a regular sale in today’s real estate market?

Shokoofeh Nowbakht
www.shokoo.com

What Does Zillow Tell You About Your Home?

January 27, 2010 · Annie Chang · 2 Comments

Ever since the launch of its website in 2006, Zillowhas increasingly gained its popularity as a convenient tool to look up home values. When I work with prospective buyers or sellers to explain the market value of their homes, I often hear the famous line “but Zillow says…!” followed by “so how accurate is the Zestimate?”

Thanks to Zillow for providing a detailed video of “A Guide to the Zestimate” to explain how the home values are generated. I hope you will find this video helpful!

Posted by Annie W. Chang | www.TalkofRealEstate.com

The Farther They Fall, The Higher They Could Rise

January 26, 2010 · Dean Rizzi · 2 Comments

Richard Carson and Samuel Dastrup, two university professors, recently published an interesting academic paper (a synopsis is posted at Econbrowser.com). Carson and Dastrup examined how the magnitude of housing-price declines correlated with various factors, such as overbuilding, extent of sub-prime lending, and median income. Not surprisingly, these factors were related to price declines. However, the most important factor was the magnitude of the previous price run-up, which accounted for more than half of the observed variance in the size of the price decline. Read more

Short Sale, A Great Option!

January 23, 2010 · Shokoofeh Nowbakht · 3 Comments

short sale I have talked to many home owners who are late on their mortgage payments, who are struggling to pay even their everyday expenses. Some have not paid their mortgage in over 6 months. Unfortunately, this is happening more often these days. My advice is, of course, try to modify your loan and save your home. Homeowners have to qualify for the modified loan plan. What if they can’t? What if they can’t even make the mortgage payments on the new lower interest rate? So, why not try to short sale the house? Lenders are becoming more understanding of the short sale situations. They are easier to deal with and get an approval on a short sale. Homeowners will have less effect on their credit score if they do a short sale rather than go through bankruptcy or foreclosure. A realtor will be able to assist homeowners with the short sale process.
Good Luck!

Shokoofeh Nowbakht, Realtor
Prudential California Realty
www.shokoo.com

San Mateo County Real Estate Wrap up 2009

January 20, 2010 · Nicole Machado · 2 Comments

Below is a chart that compares the San Mateo County Real Estate Market in 2009 to the San Mateo County Real Estate Market in 2008. As you will see the results are comofrting and shed some positive light on what is to come in 2010. Although interest rates are scheduled to rise as early as this Spring and foreclosures loom in the back ground, as long as inventory stays slow and steady the market should remain on a positive steady but upward incline. Now is a great time to take advantage of the low interest rates and tax credits that are currently provided. Please click on the thumbnail below for a full picture.