Is a Home Warranty Beneficial?

May 25, 2011 · Lee Ginsburg · 5 Comments

In a Real Estate transaction quite often the buyer or seller discuss with their agent the cost, the coverage, the pros and the cons of a Home Warranty. Many people think Home Warranty is the best creation since chopped Liver. I am not a fan of the Home Warranty Companies. I have found they try to find any excuse not to pay. With a Home Warranty you must pay a service call of approximately $50.00. The cost of a home warranty from most of the major companies is about $500 with a few options. Let’s say you purchased an older home and needed service 3 times. That would be a cost of $650.00. When I have called a service technician to my home with no warranty the cost is usually $150 for a total of $450 for 3 calls vs.. the $650 with the warranty. If the buyer can negotiate for the seller to pay for it then you come out a winner but if not it is not the best financial investment although it could be very comforting. Please do not get me wrong, I have had a client get a water heater replaced so it can be beneficial.

The following article was in the San Jose Mercury News recently and I thought it had some very good ideas on the search for good Home Warranty Companies.

http://www.mercurynews.com/real-estate/ci_18060185?nclick_check=1

The following are some of the major Home Warranty Companies servicing the San Francisco Bay Area:
http://www.homewarranty.com/
http://homewarranty.ahs.com/
http://home-warranty.firstam.com/?code=BM51
http://www.orhp.com/
http://www.hiscohw.com/
http://hghw.com/

“It is Better To Own Real Estate and Wait Than Wait To Own Real Estate”
Lee Ginsburg
www.leesellsmore.com

90% Jumbo loans are back!

May 25, 2011 · Dean Rizzi · 3 Comments

Good news for home buyers looking to take advantage of current real estate prices. After a long hiatus, 90% jumbo loans are back in the game for higher-priced homes. Up until recently, a down payment of 20% was mandatory for jumbo loans over $729,750. We at Guarantee Mortgage have an exclusive contract with a small credit union that will lend up to $979,200 with a down payment of only 10%. That means you can purchase a house or condo up to $1,088,000 using a 5/1, 7/1 or 10/1 ARM. The program requires excellent credit and income and monthly mortgage insurance.

Dean Rizzi
www.deanrizzi.com

FREE Summer Activities in San Francisco and the Peninsula

May 18, 2011 · Karin Cunningham · 6 Comments

Summertime is almost here and that means school’s out! Yay! I have the opportunity this year to spend a good portion of the summer with my 11 and 7 year old kids. I am really looking forward to it! First, I looked into local summer day camps and they charge around $140. per week! Are you kidding me? The Junior Giants program filled up in an hour. Even the waiting list is full! So, I am in the process of creating a list of fun, FREE, or super cheap things to do nearby for us to enjoy. Once I get the list compiled, I am going to put them on the calendar just like I do in my real estate business, otherwise they may not get done! Ha! I don’t want to end up in front of the tv or lounging around ALL summer now! SO, here is what I have so far and I can’t wait! Read more

Should I Tell Them What They Want to Hear?

May 16, 2011 · Kathy Wall · 6 Comments

Over the last couple of months I have lost out on three listings….three really good homes in great locations..because I was honest with the potential clients. In each case, the owners had very unrealistic expectations about what they could get for their property, or as sellers are fond of saying what they “needed” to get out of their properties.

I did everything that I could to be upbeat while meeting with all of them, but two of them wanted $1,500,000 for homes that were either in much need of updating or that had been updated in a particular style that would not be appealing to a large number of buyers. Both of those homes were cluttered and had several pets roaming around, which would make them hard to show. The owners said they “sensed a lot of negativity” when I made a few recommendations about things they could do increase the value of their homes.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am about the least negative person around….I always try to put a positive spin on everything…but it’s my job to try to help owners get the best possible price for their home, so I have to tell them things that would help them or I wouldn’t be doing them justice. Read more

Is Your Smoke Detector Helping

May 13, 2011 · Lee Ginsburg · 5 Comments

Silent Alarms, Deadly Nights By Skip Walker, MCI ACI April 2011

Nearly 95% of California families are living on the brink of a tragedy. And this isn’t what you are probably thinking. I am not talking about an earthquake. It is the smoke alarms that most of us depend on in a fire.

Like most, I always believed that smoke alarms were pretty much all the same. After all, every smoke alarm sold is required to be tested and approved. The smoke alarms most of us have at home are either Ionization or Photoelectric type alarms. The reality is that all smoke alarms are not the same. In real world fires, these two types of alarms will react very differently. In this case – different is not good. Knowing the difference could very well save your life.

Back in the 1970′s, smoke alarms were largely unknown. Back then, the residential fire death rate was about 7 to 8 fatalities per 1,000 US home fires. Between the 70′s and now, we have installed hundreds of millions of smoke alarms in US homes. Yet today, your chances of dying in a fire still hover around 7 or 8 deaths per 1,000 home fires.

Clearly, something is terribly wrong here. “I estimate that at least 10,000-15,000 people have died unnecessarily in smoldering house fires since 1990 because they relied on ionization detectors” Jay Fleming, Boston Deputy Fire Chief. The smoke alarm marketers tell us that the alarms are the same and more recently that we should have both types. It is true that an ionization alarm responds marginally faster to an open or “fast-flame” fires than a photoelectric smoke alarm. On average, ionization alarms will react about 30 to 90 seconds faster to this type of fire. However, nearly 100% of residential fire fatalities are from smoke inhalation and not from the actual fire. Most deadly fires occur at night while you sleep. Read more

Pasta Dinner Fundraiser for Teacher’s Son in San Bruno

May 9, 2011 · Karin Cunningham · 6 Comments

This Friday, May 13th, 5:00-8:00pm, at St. Robert’s Church in San Bruno, the Friends Helping Friends committee is facilitating a pasta dinner fundraiser for my son’s teacher’s 6 year old son. The charge is $10. per adult, $5. children, and $25. per family of 4. There will also be a silent auction and raffle prizes. Cole Baker has stage 4 cancer and is undergoing chemo treatments. Mrs. Baker (Elisa) is a wonderful 4th grade teacher at Allen School in San Bruno. Her husband, Jim, has been writing an emotional, entertaining at times, blog/journal about the experience that he and his son are having. www.aboutcole.blogspot.com .

It’s always sad, frustrating, and heartbreaking when someone has cancer, especially a child. People in every community know the wrath of cancer and how devastating it is to loose someone or be with someone who has to endure this disease. I lost my father, David Cunningham, to cancer when he was only 58 and my dear friend and mentor, Michael Monozon, from my office who was 62. Having someone from my kid’s school have to deal with this hits so close to home again. I am so grateful for this committee for reaching out to help. The Friends Helping Friends committee has facilitated a good number of fundraisers in San Bruno who were/are battling an illness.

Please come and support your community, especially Cole. Help us spread the word and enjoy a pasta dinner with friends. Jackie Speier is planning to attend and we are pretty excited about that! -Karin Cunningham

Cole Baker Age 6

Buyers… Buyers… Buyers, Here’s a little food for thought for you…

April 29, 2011 · Bernadette Ramirez · 6 Comments

Working on a day to day basis with buyers can be rewarding most times; however, at times working with buyers can be tedious, tiring, relentless, and at times down right exhausting! Does this mean I’m doing my job? Yes, but it also means buyers need to change with the times. There’s been a drastic change within the real estate world just in the last few years. Competition in the market continues. Now buyers should be jumping out of their seats with overwhelming joy that our INTEREST RATES and PRICES are the bomb right now! WHY are you waiting? I couldn’t even tell you how many times I have encountered buyers who THINK they are ready to buy until they actually get out there and look. Then it’s like most of the buyers out there turn into kids in a candy shop whose parents told them they are limited to just one, only worse, they not only can’t choose but they turn the candy over to look at the calories and fat content on the nutrition information only with houses. Could you imagine what that’s like for your agent?

Now that I have your attention, humor me just for one minute, Read more

Is Rental Real Estate the Next Big Opportunity?

April 27, 2011 · Dean Rizzi · 2 Comments

It could very well be. Residential rental vacancy rates are below the 10-percent mark, where they had been lodged for most of the past three years. Peggy Alford, president of Rent.com, predicts that by 2012 the vacancy rate will hover at a mere 5 percent.
Since 2002, rental rates have been flat, and down of late (inflation-adjusted). If Rent.com projections are anywhere close to expectations, we could see a rise in rents of 15 percent over the next two years. That would be a significant reversal of fortune: rent hikes have averaged less than 1 percent annually over the past decade, according to Commerce Department statistics.
Pent up demand appears real: More than 1.2 million young adults moved back with their parents from 2005 to 2010, according to John Burns Real Estate Consulting. Many others doubled up together. Now that the recession is over, many of these young people are ready to find new living quarters, mostly as renters. Where there are renters, there must be property owners (even if they are not occupants). As rental rates increase, the capitalized market value of property increases too – that means rising real estate prices.
We’ve frequently noted that opportunities always abound, regardless of the perceived direness of current circumstances. The outlook in the rentals is another reason we think they abound in the residential real estate market.