Secrets to Success - 06/24/09 12:06 PM
There is no secret to success. Success is for everyone.
Your life becomes better only when you become better.
There is no success without sacrifice.
Success is achieved in inches, not miles.
The greatest enemy of tomorrow's success is today's success.
No advice on success works unless you do.
You will never change your life until you change something you do daily.
The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.
 -John Maxwell
 
Ben Balsbaugh
PMZ Real Estate
ben@pmz.com
 
… (4 comments)

Be Passionate...others will feed off of it. - 06/18/09 02:11 PM
This week I have been thinking a lot about passion. For some of us passion is pouring out of our veins and for others of us, passion isn't even an ingredient in our body. I want to encourage you to be passionate about what you're doing. To help us, I found 5 great quotes on passion and I want to go through them.
Passion
"They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel."
Have you ever had a conversation with someone where you walked away thinking, "My goodness that person loves what they do." … (1 comments)

San Joaquin County home prices head up - 06/15/09 04:23 PM
 Here is an article from our local newspaper... 
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090612/A_BIZ/906120307
Ben Balsbaugh
PMZ Real Estate
ben@pmz.com
… (0 comments)

90 Day Foreclosure Moratorium - not new - 06/15/09 01:10 PM
I am getting a lot of questions regarding the foreclosure moratorium that goes into effect today. This is not a new law; it's the law that was passed back in February. It is my understanding that this moratorium required lenders to follow specific guidelines before foreclosing. Over the past 4 months (Feb - today), financial institutions have been putting their ducks in order. I believe most of the banks are now in compliance with these standards, so we shouldn't see any major changes in our market...which most likely means listings will continue to be slow.
If someone has a different understanding … (0 comments)

Get creative with your offers - 06/11/09 12:04 PM
Here in the Central Valley, our inventory levels have fallen dramatically. We have more buyers than homes to sell them so we are seeing 4 - 10 offers on everything. I viewed a home last week that had 52 offers on it. Obviously this can be a very frustrating experience for both buyers and agents.
One creative suggestion is to have your buyers write their offer significantly higher than the asking price, simply to get their offer accepted. We are finding that once the appraiser gives his/her opinion of value, the banks are inevitably lowering the purchase price to the appraised … (0 comments)

Gift Funds - 06/10/09 01:04 PM
Mortgage guidelines continue to tighten, requiring larger and larger down payments. Because of this, we are starting to see more buyers come in with gift funds from relatives. From my understanding, there are some strict rules regarding these gifts that buyer's need to be aware of. For example, I know relatives cannot simply deposit money into the buyer's bank account. Here are 3 steps to be aware of:
Complete and sign an acceptable gift letter Document the gifter's withdrawal of funds with teller receipts Document the giftee's deposit of funds with teller receipts Ben BalsbaughPMZ Real Estate209-491-3880 … (1 comments)

Short-sales - 06/09/09 11:53 AM
What is a short-sale?
A short-sale simply means a property is being marketed for less than what is owed to the bank. There are many individuals in this boat, they are attempting to sell their home for less than they owe. For example, they owe $300,000 to the bank, but their home is only worth $150,000...they are short to the bank.
Are banks working with these sellers?
Unfortunately, not often enough. Currently here in the Central Valley, 55% of our inventory are short-sales, but only 8% of our closings are short-sales. This means that more often than not the bank chooses … (4 comments)

 
Ben5

Ben Balsbaugh

Modesto, CA

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PMZ Real Estate

Address: Modesto, CA

Office Phone: (209) 491-3880

Cell Phone: (209) 604-1869

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