Where To Eat In San Bruno?
Ok, so I love to help people buy and sell houses but still I need to eat! I LOVE to eat and I love to cook! I love to dine out and I love family and friend gatherings at home over a large home cooked meal. Since I live and work in San Bruno, I like to dine locally. Sometimes I go to San Francisco, my hometown, but most of the time, when we have the opportunity to dine out, we go local!
A few of my favorite places are Don Pico’s for Mexican fine dining, La Paloma Taqueria, Hon Lin for Chinese, Sushi House, Famous Johnny’s for pizza and beer, Amma’s Kitchen for Indian, and the West Coast Cafe for Italian. All of these places are walking distance from my house.
Living in San Bruno is really super convenient. From my house, I can walk to the Mexican market, the dry cleaners, the library, and the corner grocery store. Not to mention I can walk to my kids’ school, our friends’ houses on Friday nights for “family fun nights”, and my office, if I am so inclined. I always drive and it’s just 6 blocks away!
I love Don Pico’s a lot! I mean a lot lot! My favorite dish is the crab enchiladas with green sauce made with “real” crab! I could live on the chips and salsa. I love spicy salsa with good flavor! I also love the ambiance at Don Pico’s. It’s a warm, comfortable room with a lot of traditional Mexican decorations and some impressive ones, too! My favorite being a big framed picture of Frida Khalo! The booths are from Original Joe’s on Powell Street in San Francisco! The proprieter is Isaac Mejia. He’s great! He is welcoming, enthusiastic about his food, and keeps his menu delicious and interesting. He’s currently the president of the San Bruno Lion’s Club. His sisters help at the restaraunt, too. They are fantastic! On Friday and Saturday nights there is a live guitar player/singer. It’s just awesome!
Check out their website: www.DonPicosBistro.com
Do you have a favorite San Bruno restaraunt?
The City of South San Francisco made a Boo-Boo
Incase any readers happened to get caught running a red light in South San Francisco prior to January 27th, you may want to read the following news story…
,SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CA (KGO) — Red light runners who were caught on camera in South San Francisco will get a legal break over a big, big mistake, and it is going to cost the city a lot of trouble and money.
“It’s a big mess,” South San Francisco Police Chief Mike Massoni said, referring to the red light cameras on two of the city’s busiest intersections — El Camino and Westborough, and El Camino and Hickey.
Since they were put in Aug. 15, the cameras have nabbed thousands of red light runners. The cameras were installed by the American Traffic Solutions (ATS) and they are working without a hitch, except for one thing.
“We didn’t go to a public meeting and have council formally ratify the contract between us and our vendor,” Massoni said.
So just what does that mean? Read more
Short Sale vs. Foreclosure – Ethical Considerations
I have recently begun thinking a lot about the ethical considerations of short sales and foreclosures. Please believe me when I say that I am completely empathetic with those people who are losing their homes because they were tricked into going for one of those terrible loans or because they have lost their job. That being said, I question the ethical decision making process in a lot of other cases. Just a couple of examples:
We hear stories all the time about people who bought second, third and fourth homes using those crazy interest only, “pay what you want, when you want to” loans. They all thought that they were going to be land barons, making big bucks on the rentals or buying the property, fixing it up and flipping it for a huge profit.
Now, the homes that they bought in Fresno, Sacramento, Lodi….heck, all over the country… are no longer worth what they paid for them and, because of the economy, they can no longer require the high rents they were getting in the beginning. In many cases, the owners can still afford to make the payments, but now don’t want to because they feel the value is not there, so they simply walk away from the properties. That seems wrong to me. Read more
What Does Zillow Tell You About Your Home?
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
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!
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
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.
Nicole Machado- Prudential California Real Estate
An Open Letter to Potential Home Buyers and Fence Sitters
Dear Home Buyer and Fence Sitter,
The window of opportunity is closing. Let me explain my thoughts. Prices in the Bay Area are already inching up, same with interest rates. The time to receive the Federal Tax Credit of $8000 or $6500 is rapidly approaching. (Must be in contract by April 30, 2010) FHA is talking about increasing the minimum required down payment and or increasing the cost of required mortgage insurance.
You can purchase a home today and your costs will be fixed for the next 30 years. What else can you buy and maintain the same cost for the next 30 years? Rents will continually go up. You are at the Landlords mercy. It is time to get off the fence. The first step is to get pre-approved. This will tell you what the bank will loan you. There are many loan programs out there. I could refer you to someone if you would like. The pre-approval process is easy, is no cost and with no obligation. If you don’t do it now you will never know.
You do not need a large down payment. You can purchase a home with only 3.5%. Yes you need mortgage insurance. I don’t like mortgage insurance but if that is the only way to own a home, then go for it. Mortgage insurance will go away once you have 20% equity. Economists think values will increase substantially in the next 3-5 years and that will more than make up for the mortgage insurance. Some people tell me they want to save for a larger down payment. That bothers me because from my experience most people cannot save as much as prices increase. Read more
-
Our RSS Feed
PruCalVoices RSS Feed
Get Email Updates
-
Join us on Facebook
-
Join us on Twitter
-
Recent Posts
-
Categories
-
Archives
