Football is over - Now it's time for my Favorite Season - PLAY BALL!

Now that football season is over it's time to start looking forward to my favorite season of the year.   It's almost time for the "Boys of Summer" to head out to either Arizona or Florida for Spring Training.   I'm talking about BASEBALL, my favorite time of the year.   In less than two weeks pitchers and catchers will be reporting to spring training.  That means that before too long I will be heading out to the ball park for some fun in the sun.

This past weekend was the San Francisco Giants "Fanfest".   While I am NOT a San Francisco Giants fan I am still a baseball fan.  This was a great opportunity to get into the baseball mood.  Me and 36,000 other baseball fans showed up at AT&T park on Saturday morning to actually get out on the field, see the players, get some autographs and have a cold beer and a hot dog.  My little group consisted of my girlfriend Kelly and her 17 year old daughter and one of her friends.   The two girls are both huge San Francisco Giants Fan. Myself I am a life long fan of the Oakland Athletics.

While the girls headed straight down to the field, Kelly and I took a seat about 7 rows behind home plate, directly in front of the stage where the players were being introduced and interviewed.  They were being interviewed by the local sports radio station KNBR.   This is probably the only time I will be able to sit in these seats so I enjoyed them all day.   The weather was perfect, mid 60's and sunny in San Francisco in February! 

The two biggest cheers of the day were when Tim Lincecum and Buster Posey came out.  They both are like rock stars in San Francisco.  Since Buster missed most of last season after a devastating injury during a play at the plate it was good to see him back in uniform. Probably the next biggest cheer was for the Skipper himself Bruce Bochey. 

Sitting out in the sun at AT&T park with the beautiful views of The City and the water was a perfect day off.   I now am ready for some baseball.   I usually make it to a couple major league games each year and several single A Modesto Nuts games each year.  I look forward to the start of the season when everyone is even and players and fans alike have visions of the world series in their heads.  So pass me a hot dog and a cold be and ... PLAY BALL!

Stanislaus County Home Sales for January 2012 - MODESTO

The sales figures for Modesto California for January 2012 are in.  The totals below are for single family homes sold in Modesto.

Total Sales - 171   (209 sold in January 2011)

Bank owned Sales - 64  which was 37% of all sales.

Short Sales - 47 which was 27% of all sales

Overall, distressed sales (Bank owned and short sales) made up 64% of all sales.

The lowest price home sold in Modesto during January 2012 was $35,000.  

The highest price home sold in Modesto during January 2012 was $525,000

The median home price in Modesto during January 2012 was $120,000

The average days on the market was 60.

As you can see the volume of home sales in Modesto in January 2012 was lower than last year.  Distressed sales are still the majority of sales.  We are seeing a few more "traditional sales" and more investors are getting into the market. 

If you are thinking about buying a home in Modesto now is a great time.  Prices are better than they have been in a long time and interest rates are at all time lows.  There are currently 449 homes for sale in Modesto listed from $32,960 up to $1,790,000.   Give me a call at 209-633-2839 and I can help you find the right house for you.  You can also search for Modesto Homes for sale here too.

Home sales for Modesto Ca December 2011

Home sales for Modesto Ca November 2011

Home sales for Modesto Ca October 2011

Home sales for Modesto Ca September 2011

Stanislaus County Home Sales for January 2012 -TURLOCK - 

The sales figures for Turlock California for January 2012 are in.  The totals below are for single family homes sold in Turlock.

Total Sales - 47  (60 Homes sold in January 2011)

Bank owned Sales - 19  which was 40% of all sales.

Short Sales - 17 which was 36% of all sales

Overall, distressed sales (Bank owned and short sales) made up 76% of all sales.

The lowest price home sold in Turlock during January 2012 was $20,200.  

The highest price home sold in Turlock during January 2012 was $390,000

The median home price in Turlock during January 2012 was $156,900

The average days on the market was 93.

As you can see the volume of home sales in Turlock in January 2012 was well below last year, but the inventory is also lower than last year.  Distressed sales are still the majority of sales.  We are seeing a few more "traditional sales" and more investors are getting into the market. 

If you are thinking about buying a home in Turlock now is a great time.  Prices are better than they have been in a long time and interest rates are at all time lows.  There are currently 122 homes for sale in Turlock listed from $64,900 up to $3,399,000.   Give me a call at 209-633-2839 and I can help you find the right house for you.  You can also search for Turlock Homes for sale here too.

Turlock Home Sales December 2011

Turlock Home Sales November 2011

Turlock Home Sales October 2011

Turlock Home Sales September 2011

Stanislaus County Short Sales - January 2012 Sales Stats

The sales numbers are in for Stanislaus County Sales for the month of January 2012. Sales of single family homes are down slightly this year and Distressed properties (Bank owned and Short Sales) are still dominating the market.

Here are the January 2011 and January 2012 Sales Stats for single family homes:

Total Sales January 2012: 414  sold   * 40% (165) Bank Owned   * 30% (125) Short Sales   70% of sales were distressed properties

Total Sales January 2011: 513  sold   * 58% (300) Bank Owned   * 21% (106) Short Sales    79% of sales were distressed properties

The total number of homes sold in January 2012 dropped from January 2011 and the percentage of Distressed Properties dropped slightly. We have seen a few more traditional sales start to come on the market and also we are seeing more investors buying homes on the court house steps and then reselling them.  The percentage of Short Sales rose dramatically in January 2012 and the percentage of Bank Owned sales dropped by almost half.  But I still think the bottom line is that Stanislaus County Short Sales and Bank Owned homes are not going away any time soon.  

With 7 out of 10 single family home sales in Stanislaus County being distressed sales if you are thinking about buying you need an agent that has experience with Distressed Properties.  A Stanislaus County Short Sale transaction and a Stanislaus County Bank Owned home sale are not the same thing.  You need someone that is experienced with both.  Someone that has experienced both short sales and bank owned sales from both sides of the transaction, as the listing agent and as the buyers agent. Some one that knows how to negotiate through the process from beginning to end.

I have that experience.  I have represented the banks in listing Bank Owned homes and represented buyers of bank owned homes.  I have represented the sellers of Stanislaus County Short Sales and represented buyers of Stanislaus County Short Sales.

If you want more information on Stanislaus County Short Sales as a Call me today at 209-633-2839.  If you want to search Stanislaus County Listings be sure to visit my website.

Stanislaus County Home Sales December 2011

Stanislaus County Home Sales November 2011

Stanislaus County Home Sales October 2011

Stanislaus County Home Sales September 2011

Stanislaus County Home Sales August 2011

Stanislaus County Home Sales July 2011

Stanislaus County Home Sales June 2011

A big Thank You to Citibank for reading my blog!!!

Last week I ranted blogged about a difficult short sale I am having with Citimortgage.  That was my "Glad this is not my typical Stanislaus County Short Sale" post.  I wrote about how I was not getting any response from Citi on my short sale approval. It turns out that someone at Citimortgage was reading my blog post.

On Wednesday 1/25/12 I received a call (sorry I missed it) and a voice mail from a Mr. Michael Cardace with Citi.  He does online service and advocacy for all of Citibank's brands. He also runs a website for the Citimortgage Team called Homeownersupport.com.  He stated that he had come across my blog on the Activerain network.  He said it looked like that I "had a less than satisfying experience" with Citi on my short sale. He asked to me to give him a call so we could talk about the short sale.

I tried calling him back the following morning but got his voice mail a couple of times.  (I was worried that it was more of the same)  I also sent him an email later in the day explaining the situation in detail.   I got back an email from him a few minutes latter saying that I could expect a call from Citi on Friday.

On Friday morning I received a call from Ray at the Citibank Executive office.  He said that he had "reached out" to the negotiator on the file.  Amazingly a couple of hours later I received a fax from Citi.  It was the short sale approval.  A couple of minutes later I also received a call from the negotiator (the one I was starting to believe didn't actually exist) stating that he had sent me the short sale approval letter. 

So finally after more than two months of nothing from Citi, in just two days I got the short sale approval.  I want to publicly thank the two gentlemen that stepped up and got things moving for me.  You gentlemen made my sellers, the buyers and two agents very happy today.   As I stated in my previous post, this is not what I typically expect from Citibank when doing a short sale.  Usually when I am dealing with the banks on short sales the people that I come into contact with are polite and professional and on the ball.   But every once in a while things need to be shaken up.

Glad this is not my typical Stanislaus County Short Sale!!!

Either one of two things is going to happen before I get this short sale closed.  Either all my hair will turn gray or I will pull it all out.  Usually my Stanislaus County Short Sales go pretty smoothly.   Of course it's not unusuall for a little hiccup now and then.   But this one is driving me crazy.  This one has a first and a second mortgage.   That automatically makes things a little more difficult, far from impossible though. .

This is a great property, the buyers love it.   They want it.  They are still hanging in there and for that I thank them.  Things started out well.  We got a great offer that the sellers accepted right away.   I submitted the short sale package to both banks.  The first mortgage actually was really on the ball.  They accepted the offer and approved the short sale within a month.   Now the second mortgage is a different story. 

The second mortgage, lets call them Citimortgage, because that's their name.  Getting information from them is nearly impossible.  Early on they assigned to me a "Homeowner Support Specialist".  This sounded promising, I would have one point of contact for information.  It turns out that "Homeowner Support Specialist" is code for someone that really doesn't have a clue.   Basically what information I get from this person is that she doesn't have any information.   Of course I have her phone number and extension and I can call for help.  Here is what typically happens when I call.  The "Homeowner Support Specialist" does not answer the phone and the call is transferred to the next available person.   And every time I give them the loan number they can NOT find the loan because I have the wrong department.  I have been given several different phone numbers to try have been transferred a zillion times and no one but my "Homeowner Support Specialist" can help.  I try telling them who I am actually trying to reach and they will try to contact her , but they don't have voice mail so they get the run around too.

Finally a few days ago I reached someone that had a little bit of a clue and they managed to find my "Homeowner Support Specialist" and arranged for her to call me at 10:30 the next morning.  So guess what happens?   I wait until nearly 12:30 for the call that never comes.   So I decide to go out to get a bite to eat for lunch and after I leave the office my "Homeowner Support Specialist" calls at 12:45 and leaves a message for me to call her.  Shortly after that I call, and call, and call, and call.   No answer again.  I do manage to reach someone that can actually give me the negotiators email and phone number.  Guess what?  I have called and emailed him repeatedly and not received an answer.   

I was actually able to speak to my "Homeowner Support Specialist" today and she did verify the contact information for the negotiator.   I told her that I have tried repeatedly to reach him without success and asked if there was a supervisor I could speak to and she told me that she didn't know who his supervisor was.  

Now here is the kicker.  Remember that first mortgage's short sale approval.  Well it expired on 1/13/12.  I had been emailing and calling my "Homeowner Support Specialist" to try to get them to get things moving before that expiration date.   I now have until the end of the month to get back to the first mortgage with something from the second mortgage or I will have to start the entire short sale process all over again!   This does not seem to be too important to my "Homeowner Support Specialist", she said to try again MONDAY!   

Fortunately this is not my normal Stanislaus County Short Sale experience.  I have even had good experiences with Citimortgage, I just closed one with them a couple of weeks ago that went very smoothly.   We will see what happens on Monday morning.   Thanks for letting me vent a little bit.

Stanislaus County Short Sale Agent takes a Hike

I have written many times how much I love living here in Stanislaus County.   I have said before that we are close to so much here, some real world class destinations.   This past Monday I visited one.

Last Monday was the Martin Luther King Day Holiday.  Since I work on mostly Stanislaus County Short Sales there wasn't a lot that I could do with my current transactions.  I uploaded some contracts to the banks websites and did a few other things.   But it was such a beautiful day that I wanted to get out and enjoy it.   So being as close to San Francisco as we are we headed out on a road trip to The City.  We didn't leave Stanislaus County until almost 1:30 pm but that's not too much of a problem when you live here, we were in the city in about 90 minutes. 

According to the website Walkscore.com, San Francisco is the second most walkable city of the fifty largest cities in the United States.  So when we got to San Francisco we found a parking lot close to the Ferry Building and decided to do some walking.   Now you see I do consider myself to be a bit smarter than the average bear so I chose this area on purpose.  First it is pretty level, San Francisco is pretty famous for their hills and I wasn't ready to tackle them yet.  Second it is right on the water.

We started out at the Ferry Building.  The Ferry Building has dozens of shops and restaurants and some stunning views of the Bay Bridge.   Of course we opted for a double scoop of Gelatto to fuel us on our walk.  We then headed south towards AT&T Park, the home of the San Francisco Giants.   It's only about a mile and a half away but of course it took a while to get there because of all the stops along the way to admire the view and take some pictures.   We thought that we would have dinner at The Public House which is at AT&T park.  I had read somewhere that it was "Open Daily".   Once we got there it was strangely dark and deserted.  The sign on the window did say "Open Daily" but the hours of operation showed that it was open Tuesday - Sunday.   I guess Monday is not included in "Open Daily".   No problem, there are a FEW more places to eat in San Francisco.  We did find a place to eat and it was very good.

All in all we enjoyed a beautiful winter (Really it is winter!) day in The City.  The sky was crystal clear and the waters were calm.  We walked along the Embarcadero to the ball park and back.  According to the app on my iPhone it was a walk of almost 3 miles.  Actually it was just over 3 miles because my phone died well before we got back to the car.  

Along the way we met joggers, walkers, dog walkers, kids on bikes, kids on scooters, and even a few adults on scooters.   This city is world famous and people come from all over the world to see it.  Many songs have been written about it.   Many of the sites are instantly recognizable the world over.   And living here in Stanislaus County we can decide on a whim that we want to see The City and be here in less than two hours.   How great is that?!

Stanislaus County Short Sales - Do You Qualify For  a Short Sale?

If you are falling behind in your mortgage payments and you owe more than your home is worth you might be thinking about a Stanislaus County short sale.  Almost everyone by now has heard of a short sale.  That's when you sell your home for less than what you owe on it and your mortgage company accepts the amount you sell it for. 

But your mortgage company will not agree to a short sale just because you are upside down in your mortgage.  You must have a verifiable hardship in order to get the mortgage company to agree to your short sale.  A hardship can be defined as:

A material change in the financial situation of a homeowner that is or will affect their ability to pay their mortgage.

Fortunately there are several reasons why a bank or mortgage company will agree to let you sell your home in a Stanislaus County Short Sale.  Below is a list of some of the most common hardships.

1. Loss of Job
2. Business Failure
3. Damage to Property
   
4. Death of a Spouse
5. Death of Family Member
6. Severe Illness
7. Inheritance
8. Divorce
9. Mandatory Job Relocation
10. Military Service
11. Payment Increase or Mortgage Adjustment
12. Reduced Income
13. Too Much Debt
14. Separation
15. Incarceration
16. Medical Bills
17. Insurance or Tax Increase
    

There may be other reasons for a hardship that are not on the above list that a mortgage company will accept.  We never know for certain that the mortgage company will accept your short sale request until we submit the short sale package.  Once we have your home listed as a Stanislaus County Short Sale we then need to complete the short sale package and submit everything to your mortgage company.  You can read about the "Four Easy Steps to a Short Sale" in some of my previous blog posts.  

If you think you might qualify for a Stanislaus County short sale or you are not quite sure give me, Jim Patton, a call for a free no obligation confidential consultation.   We can discuss in great detail what I will do as your Stanislaus County Short Agent to help you sell your home as a short sale.  I look forward to helping you and answering any questions you might have.  Call me at 209-633-2839. 

Altamont Wind Farm - That's a lot of Windmills!

Stanislaus county lies south east of the San Francisco Bay Area.   From the city of Modesto in Stanislaus county you can reach the city of San Francisco in about an hour and a half.  The most direct route to San Francisco is across the Coast Range via the Altamont Pass.  One of the most prominent features of the Altamont Pass is the Altamont Pass Wind Farm.   There are several thousand wind turbines all over the hills.

The Altamont Wind Farm has nearly 5000 relatively small wind turbines of various types that were installed starting in the 1970's.  It was at one time the largest wind farm in terms of capacity.  The Altamont Wind Farm has a capacity of 576 megawatts , but produces about 125 megawatts on average.

The small turbines used at the Altamont Wind Farm have been proved to be dangerous to birds in the area.   Since most of the small turbines are now considered obsolete they are gradually being replaced with larger more efficient turbines.  These larger turbines turn slower and are taller and are claimed to be less hazardous to birds.  The replacement project is scheduled to be completed in 2015.

As we were driving over the pass yesterday on the way to San Francisco my girlfriend Kelly tried taking some pictures of the turbines using my iPhone.  It's not easy taking pictures of windmills at 80 I mean 65 miles an hour.  It was a very bright very sunny January day in the hills of Altamont Pass yesterday, more like May or June than January.  In a couple of months these hills will be green and beautiful, that is if we get some rain this year, but that's a subject for another post.

Calaveras County - Wine - Frog Jumping and Frog Balls

Living here in the Central Valley of California we are very close to a lot of cool things.   The nearby foothills are a wealth of history and beautiful views. The foothills are home to many wineries. There are several small towns that are fun to explore.   Two of those towns are Murphys and Angels Camp.  Both are in the famous"Mother Lode" of California.  

Murphys Ca, known as the Queen of the Sierra, is home to more than a dozen wineries.  Downtown Murphys has many tasting rooms, great places to eat and shop and an old fashion candy store.  There is even an olive oil and balsamic vinegar tasting room here too.  Murphys is also the location of a great concert venue at Ironstone Winery.   If you are ever in the area be sure to spend a little time on Main St in Murphys.

The town of Angels Camp was made famous by a Mark Twain Story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County".  There is a Jumping Frog Jubilee every May at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds in Angels Camp.  This is where the world championship frog jump competition is held. Because of this Angels Camp is also known as Frog Town.  Around town and in Murphys you will find many large frogs in front of local businesses attesting to the fact that you are in Frog Town. 

On a trip up the hill last weekend we enjoyed some wine tasting and exploring. Of course we stopped in at Twisted Oak winery, my personal favorite.  Later in the day we stopped at the Ironstone Winery too.   I found something there that was a little disturbing.   I often wondered what happened to the frogs that competed in the frog jump every year in Angels Camp.  The official story is that they are returned to the wild to live out their lives as any other frog would far from the spot light of competition.  But now I'm not so sure.   There on the shelf at Ironstone was a jar of something that made me think that just maybe the losing frogs didn't have it so good.  Just maybe there is something far more sinister in their future.   I think that I might have to investigate this a little further.   I'm thinking one of the bottles of wine that I picked up in Murphys might be an invaluable tool in my investigation.   Would red or white go better with "Frog Balls"?