STIMULUS PACKAGE – WHAT IT MEANS TO BAY AREA HOMEBUYERS?

February 13, 2009 · Annie Chang · 9 Comments

Our Broker posted a blog yesterday about “STIMULUS PACKAGE, WHAT REAL ESTATE PARTS MEAN?” Since I am currently working with a few prospective first-time homebuyers, I thought I’d picked their brain during my follow-up calls after the blog was posted. In particular, I asked them “if the stimulus package is finalized and homebuyers will get the benefit of the $8K tax credit, is that a good incentive for you to buy a house now?” Read more

Housing Stimulus – An Open Letter to the Politicians

February 10, 2009 · Lee Ginsburg · 6 Comments

To Congress Woman Jackie Spier, Senator Diane Feinstein, and Senator Boxer

I am a local realtor specializing in San Mateo and San Francisco Counties. I do not think the $15,000 Home Buyer Tax Credit in the Economic Stimulus Package is making best use of Tax Payers money. Read more

Millbrae Community Workshop

February 6, 2009 · Terry Birt · 8 Comments

Last evening I attended a Millbrae NOW Community workshop. The meeting was open to the public and hosted by our city staff. The purpose of the workshop was to inform the community of its economic status, and what methods can be used to raise revenue for Millbrae’s’ vital services.

After hearing all the presentations, the conclusion was that the city does not have enough revenue to maintain its current services and is not building a surplus in our infrastructure which could be a huge liability if there was an emergency.

They were able to illustrate what cuts have been made by providing data on the sources of revenues and how it is distributed. It was demonstrated how the city was able to cut costs by sharing services, staff, and program budgets, such as fire and police with other cities, without impacting public safety. Read more

Benefits of staging!

February 1, 2009 · Francis G. Bautista · 7 Comments

After writing my blog on “What is staging?” I am following up with the benefits of staging and the return in dollars to the seller. After some thought, I called a friend, Yvette Thoma, who was a San Bruno Prudential Realtor and who has gone on to successfully open “Let’s Stage it” a local staging company.

She was kind to provide me with some real numbers and facts. Per Yvette Thoma “Out of the last 25 homes staged in 2008, “Let’s Stage it” clients in San Francisco recieved 3% above average market asking price and in some cases 8% above asking. The homes also sold in half the time.” Per Yvette “the cost of staging is much less than your first price reduction!” Lastly “Staging is not a expense it is an investment and is tax deductible.” Read more

Is Your Agent a Twit?

January 17, 2009 · Jean Joh · 5 Comments

Recently, many people in our office have been learning more and more about social networking sites, such as twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, FriendFeed…you get the idea. One of the questions I hear often is, “How is twitter going to help me get more business? What good does it do to let people know what I had for breakfast?” The basic answer for this is that this is just another way to make more contacts, put ourselves in front of more people, and hopefully become known as the “real estate experts” in our area. But another question comes to mind: “How do my clients benefit from the fact that I’m on twitter and other such sites?” Here are some reasons why it might be beneficial to you to have an agent actively engaged in social networking on-line:

Fannie Mae Short Sale Webinar

January 13, 2009 · David Wang · 7 Comments

Do you know what a short sale is?

Doing a routine search for properties today I came across a very good 20 minute video on what is a short sales put on by Fannie Mae. We have been working with short sales for over a year and have had the explanations given and have had the explanation received many many times already but this is short and good. The slides are good and to the point the Audio is clear and crisp it is short enough for clients to get through without losing focus.

As a client I would believe this more than an agent i just met because we all recognize the name Fannie Mae and with all the government oversight they are receiving they have to watch their P’s and Q’s. Read more

Loan, Gift or Partner to Help Children Buy A Home?

January 9, 2009 · Lee Ginsburg · 6 Comments

As parents we all love our children and only want to help them. In the Bay Area parents almost have to help with a down payment. Do you give your children a gift or a loan? Is it better to be a co-borrower with them? Maybe be partners. If you help one child, you have to help the others. California is a community property state and that creates other issues. It is difficult to bring it up but more than half the marriages wind up in divorce and gifting child money to purchase a home is possibly giving your child’s ex-spouse a very generous gift. Asking a child to sign a promissory note is not always comfortable. In many families Money is a “taboo” subject. I helped my son purchase a home with the idea he was to pay it back when he could. My wife and I always had a good relationship with my son so we did not see any need to have a signed document. Hope that does not come back to bite us. He got engaged a year later and married a short time later. Read more

An agent can make a difference

January 5, 2009 · David Wang · 9 Comments

as long as we communicate

I have been working with a young couple looking for their first house for 8 month. They have good jobs and great credit. Why haven’t they been able to get a house? We have seen over 70 properties, and I have previewed over 250, their price range and area has a lot of short sales. Over this 8 month time span we have attempted to write 6 offers and finally one looks like it will close.

What I observed in the last few outings when we were looking at properties puzzled me, these two people would drive up to a house and without leaving the car tells me to go straight to the next property. I tell them that it is nice and we should see it but they refuse.