How to Lower Your Property Tax?

April 1, 2009 · Annie Chang · 4 Comments

taxcut_proptax This is no April Fool’s Day joke! When home values go south, one positive thing for current homeowners may be the chance to lower their property tax. You might have seen advertisements that offer to lower your property tax for a fee anywhere from $100-$300…don’t be fooled!!!…Did you know that you can lower your property tax for FREE (or just a small amount for filing fee)? And, it’s simple to do!

First, download the property tax appeal application from your county’s tax assessor office (see links below). Print out the form and complete the information about your property. You will be able to find all of the information needed on your property tax bill. Some counties websites allow you to submit the form online. Read more

The New Real Estate Connection- Online Social Networking

March 6, 2009 · Brian Boisson · 5 Comments

Michael has invited special guest Jonathan Shaw to comment on new Real Estate trends. Jonathan shares with us a re-post of a very good article by Peyman Aleagha for RISmedia
http://rismedia.com/2009-02-23/social-networking-and-the-new-real-estate-sphere-of-influence/

Social Networking and The New Real Estate Sphere of Influence

Actually, we’re not just talking about “social networks,” but business networking as well. The Internet has made dramatic changes in the way the world shops, locates information, and in how they communicate with each other. Of course, e-mail is the elephant in the room. But, as we become ever more mobile and in a hurry, networking will become a many-faceted activity.

So, what do we mean by online or social networking? It’s all about sending messages to one another in real time, and getting back responses quickly. But, it’s also about introductions. Read more

How to Apply “Free Money” Wisely Toward a Home Purchase?

February 22, 2009 · Annie Chang · 5 Comments

In my previous blog, “Stimulus Package – What It Means to Bay Area Homebuyers”, some prospective homebuyers and comments have expressed that the $8,000 tax credit in the Stimulus Package is “just not enough” to stimulate them to get off the fence. Understandably, the incentive seems too insignificant when we are talking about an average housing price of $500,000 in the Bay Area.

On the flip side of the coin, $8,000 is unarguably a substantial amount of money – don’t we all wish to have an extra $8,000 in our bank account? Since a tax credit is a dollar for dollar reduction in income taxes (e.g. if you have $8,000 tax credit, you will pay $8,000 less tax that year regardless of your tax bracket), it is essentially like “free money”. Therefore, for someone who intends to purchase a home this year, there could be a number of ways in which this money can be wisely applied toward the purchase. Here are some examples: Read more

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: