First Time Home Buyer ~ This May Be a Last Opportunity for Down Payment Assistance Programs!

If you are a first time home buyer thinking of buying, you may want to talk with your Realtor or Loan Officer. The new "rescue bill" currently in the Senate (aimed at providing troubled sellers) may bring about the end of Down Payment Assistance Programs. The national, state and local program may no longer be available. The current end date is said to be October 31st.

If you have applied or have been thinking to apply, speak with your Realtor or Loan Officer soon. Hopefully, you will be able to use these benefits prior to October 31st. Another change will be that FHA will now require 3.5% instead of 3% down for first time home buyers.

I am Jeanean Gendron and I can be reached at 530 276-7417. I answer my phone. Visit my website to learn about Redding and Shasta County Real Estate.

Short Sale ~ Low Commission ~ High Satisfaction!

I am in the completion state of a short sale. We have approval and are doing inspections. I double-ended the tansaction. The bank has cut our commission to 3% due to dual agency and a policy they have. I worked hard for this transaction, to help the seller and the buyer. The process nets a better result for the lender than a foreclosure. Why would the lender think that by cutting the commissions and the livlihood of the agent that know how to accomplish the objective and giving the bank/lender the bottom line number they need, justifies cutting the commision or life blood of the agent.

I will complete this transaction and when the next one comes along, I will do the same. In my opinion the best thing helping this market is the short sale. Until some other means of stablizing the market comes along, we do the best work in a short sale. We help the seller out of a difficult situation, the buyer to find opportunity and the lender to save money and remove an liability from their books.

Why would you bite the hand that feeds you. Food for thought!

I am Jeanean Gendron. I can be reached at 530 276-7417. Visit my website to learn about Redding and Shasta County Real Estate.

Profile of a Real Estate Blogger ~ Maureen McCabe

I remember when I first joined AR, that I noticed and respected Maureen McCabe. As a newbie, even though often times I did not understand her post at an omnipresent level....I knew she was an important blogger within ActiveRain and the blogoshere. I have to admit that until she defined the blogoshpere for me and my need to explore it, I did not know of it.

She is of a nature to be rather "cut and dry", however very good at making her point. Often times, when I comment on her blog, she does NOT comment back to my comment. I know on a "knowing" level that it is usually because I am so far off base of her "point".

She has taught me much during my tenure here in the RAIN. She has taught me about points and their meaning, about the blogsphere and getting out there and about being a "point whore". I recently read one of her posts on the last phrase, and rather took issue with it. I felt that not all our comments need to be about furthering the discussion, but can be light hearted and about connection. That connection in the last 9 months may have saved my life and so I value it. However, I do see Maureen's point. She always makes her point well and stirs the discussion for all to learn.

I would personally like to say "Thank You" to Maureen for leading us forward in being better bloggers and doing higher work. She maintains a high level of performance and inspires me on a personal level.

Redding CA ~ Trader Joe Opening Postponed for Next Year!

Trader Joe's Opening in Redding has now been post poned until next year. BUMMER! We've been living for Trader Joe's to open in October. I've got my shopping list all made out and planning on lifestyle changes with the opening of my fave food/health store. Tap, tap, tap with impatience on my part. Well, I guess good things are worth waiting for, however almost three years seems long enough!

I am Jeanean Gendron and I can be reached at 530 276-7417. I answer my phone. Visit our website to learn about Redding and Shasta County Real Estate.

"Rescue Bill" to help Troubled Sellers and Hurt First Time Home Buyers?

A new bill is in the Senate that is designed to help troubled sellers avoid foreclosure. The bill will require the lenders to work with sellers to keep their homes. Some of the details are that the FHA loans coming from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will now require a 3.5 % downpayment and will not allow "Down Payment Assistance". While helping the current sellers in trouble this will bring more difficult conditions for first time home buyers. Through local and national "Down Payment Assistant" programs are currently helping buyers get into their first home.

This is not what our market needs at this time. First time home buyers are a segment of the market that are new due to the downturn and new opportunity. Why on earth would we look at stiffling that part of the market?

I am Jeanean Gendron and you can reach me at 530 276-7417. I answer my phone. Visit our websites to learn about Redding and Shasta County Real Estate.

California Fires ~ Incredible Photos of the Fires

My husband sent this link to me. It shows the amazing photos of the fires in California. It truly feels heavy here in California, much like the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. You could feel your fellow man hurting. It is much like that now and my perception is that it is not just on the human level, but animal, plant and earth level. You hunger in your responsibility to know how it is and these photos compel us to engage our heart and spirit in the containment of this distruction.

I am Jeanean Gendron and I can be reached at 530 276-7417.

Photo Link

International Referral System ~ International Marketing!

It's coming and we should get ourselves ready. What will we need in the way of supporting and doing business with international clients. I just had a call from a gentleman from South America wanting to grow Goji Berries here in Shasta County. I've also been contacted by a client from India wanting to relocate to the US and trying to learn about the different areas. Both clients found me via my web presence through blogging and websites.

In both cases, we were able to work out time tables of when we could speak and email was the most reliable way of communicating. The gentleman from South America maintained a home in Southern California and worked in New York mostly. The family from India is still trying to learn about where they would like to live. ActiveRain will be a wonderful resources for referring and providing an infrastructure for helping international clients that happen to find us through the internet. The day may be close at hand when we are working globally, nationally and locally. We already refer on a national basis....global won't be that far away.

I am Jeanean Gendron and I can be reached at 530 276-7417. Visit my website to learn more about Redding and Shasta County real estate.

Redding CA ~ Weather Conditions are Making Air Quality Poor ~ Fires Being Called Contained!

It's tough to breath here in Redding and Shasta County, California now days. Due to a current inversion we are hazed in with thick smoke. We had blue skys on Saturday and now it's hard to go back to not being able to breath or see very far. This is the worst it has been for Shasta County. We had been pretty fortunate with the air quality until these last few days. The smoke is trapped and laying low surrounded by our three mountain ranges.

My husband took our golden retirever "Gigi" for a walk last night and the sun is red. The fires are being called contained. They continue to burn, but are considered to be surrounded now. We don't know how long it will be until they are out.

We took our "Gigi" to Wiskeytown Lake over the weekend. We just had to get out, and the fire has burned to Highway 299 at the turnout for Whiskeytown. It burned on a whole hill very close to the "Visitor Center". As we got to our fave spot on the other side of the lake by the boat ramp (we like to watch the boats come and go) we could still enjoy the beauty of our beloved "Whiskeytown Lake". Gigi and David when swimming and I had a relaxing time of not moving or having to do anything. We took photos and I'll share soon.

I want to say a HUGH THANK YOU to all the firefighters that come to our aid at these times. They do hard and dangerous work. They make stands to save homes and neighborhoods. They are wonderful and amazing. We are blessed by these brave and hardworking men and women.

A CDF man ran across a bear cub as he walked the perimiter. The cub held up a burned paw and man and small animal connected for that brief moment. Then the little bear turned and began to waunder away. The CDF guy went after the cub and swooped him up. He returned to base came with the cub cuddled up in his jacket. The cub is being treated for his burns.

I am Jeanean Gendron and you can reach me at 530 276-7417. I answer my phone. Visit our websites to learn real estate in Redding and Shasta County California.

Conversation with a Closer ~ Short Sale Tips ~ Commission Cut to 3% from 6%!

We just got approval for one or our short sales. The bank dropped our commission from 6% to 3%. The loss mitigator had previously confirmed a 5% commission. This is the first dual agency that we have had as a short sale. An agent in my office got a floor call from a buyer who wanted to write an offer on this short sale property. The agent and I are partnering. She is a new agent and she is helping me with escrows and I am helping her with the "how to" of getting into real estate. She's doing well on her own and currently has two escrows going.

In this case she was unable to get the buyer's confidence and brought the lead to me. I showed him the property and we wrote the offer. I agreed to share the escrow 50/50 with Lisa. I had expected the approval last week and so on Monday, I called to see where we were. I got loss mitigation and was told it has been approved and the close date and the commission. When I said the commission did not sound right, could I speak with someone about it, they transferred me to the closer.

The closer was very nice and explained that the commission was reduced to 3% because of the dual agency. They had a policy to never pay full commission on dual agency. After we discussed this and she convinced me that we were lucky to be getting 3%, she went on to say that she is seeing much worse. That banks are going as low as 1 and 2 % and sometimes NO commission. Fannie May and Freddie Mac being the mostly likely to refuse to pay commission.

She went on to further provide me with the kindly advice that it is CRITICAL to interview you client thoroughly about whether they have any thing that is going to show up on the prelim (judgements, taxes, HOAs, child support, liens, etc) or prior to close. The bank lives by the HUD and when they figure their final HUD if anything else shows up, it will be settled through the buyer, the seller or the agent commissions. She says she see quite often that most of the commission will have to go towards some unaccounted for issue that shows up last minute. She suggested that where possible to increase the numbers so that you would have a cushion to absorb any extra costs. The bank will NOT budge.

Her's the bottom line for Realtors. We have a fiduciary responsibility to represent our clients. Haggling over commissions and forstalling an escrow on a short sale over commission is in conflict with that.

In hind sight, I would not do anything different on this escrow. My relationship with the buyer was between the two of us and his confidence in me. To contemplate him working with me but another agent writing the offer to get around this commission conflict isn't possible. If the paperwork is in my name, then I am it. I take that reponsibility serious. I have come to the conclusion, that it will not matter. If I double end these short sales and that is the best outcome for my seller and my buyer, then a cut commission can be acceptable.

She did go on further to say that it is the servicing conditions that set the policy. These loans are packaged and sold to investment companies. They have "servicing conditions" that are written into the sales agreement and the lender is bound by these servicing conditions.

Just wanted to share these insights from a closer on short sales. She was kind and generous to try and help us learn how to process our short sale more efficiently.

Redding CA ~ Gold Hills Country Club Community Market Report - 7/19/2008

The residential community of Gold Hills is a golf course community of upscale custom homes and offers the distinctive lifestyle of golf course and country club living. Integrated along the fairways of this 18 hold golf course are views of Lassen, Mount Shasta and the Western Mountain Ranges. It is a beautiful luxury community that is affordable by California price standards. Come for a visit!

There are currently 8 Active Listings, 2 Pending Listings and 1 Closed Listing in the Gold Hills community.

The Average Sold Price if $359,000

The Average List Price Per Square Foot is $180.74

The Average Sold Price Per Square Foot is $155.26

The Average Days On Market are 112

I am Jeanean Gendron and you can reach me at 530 276-7417. I answer my phone. Visit our website to learn more about Redding and Shasta County Real Estate.