On Thursday, August 27th, 2009, the city council for Cerritos will review and consider the possibility of a "Pre-Sale Inspection" on any home sold with in the city.

A "Pre-Sale Inspection" means that it will require the seller of a home in Cerritos to have the property inspected by a city building inspector, and this is to be done prior to entering into an agreement to sell the home. The city council states that they wish to have this inspection performed in order to "protect the new owner(s) against undisclosed restrictions on the property and illegal construction additions or alterations."

In reality what the city is doing is creating a method in order to generate revenues for itself. Plain and simple.

In the state of California when a Buyer makes an offer for a residential property. The purchase contract will inform the Buyer that it is recommended that they perform a home inspection on the property they wish to purchase. Reason: to discover the same concerns the city mentions.

Further more the "Statewide Buyer and Seller Advisory," which is an additional form when making an offer, will share with the Buyer the 32 total inspections which they could/should consider performing if needed for the property they are considering.

This meeting will be held at 7PM at City Hall (18125 Bloomfield Ave. Cerritos, CA) so should you wish to voice your opion on this matter...Please do. Speak to sellers of homes in Carson or South Gate regarding this inspection. They will share with you what a typical city department can do or not do when they are needed.

Home owners seeking help in preventing their homes from being foreclosed upon should be aware that many community based organizations are sponsoring, with in the states, workshops to help struggling homeowners seek advice.

This site will provide you with the dates, times and locations where one can attend a workshop. The site is updated weekly with new dates and times.

Just click here for a Foreclosure Prevention Workshop Schedule--Good luck to all!

Time after time I have come across Short Sale Listings which read as "Active" though when calling into the listing agent I discover that the seller has accepted an offer, but the listing agent still has the property as "Active."  From my perspective this is incorrect and a major change or educational email needs to be sent out to everyone regarding this matter.

Dear listing agent: Once your Seller has accepted an offer, whether a Short Sale or not, you have 48 hours to change the status of your listing from "Active" to "Pending or Backup Offer."  Even though the bank still has to agree to the terms of the Short Sale offer, you have an accepted offer agreed to by two parties one being the seller and the other a buyer.

From my conversations with our local MLS department they have informed me that a listing agent who has an accepted offer must make a change to identify the "true" status of the property.  They have informed me that if the listing agent wishes to continue generating offers for their Short Sale listing, they then should change the status to a "Backup Offer."

This really does makes sense to me for it will present a true picture as to the status of the property, while informing interested agents of the possibility of their offer being considered.  

The City of Buena Park is presently (as of July 2, 2009) accepting applications from non-resident and individuals not working within the city of Buena Park for the First Time Homebuyer Program.

The program offers assistance to first time buyers (one who has not owned a home over the past three years) as a deferred second mortgage, simple interest 30 year loan.  The maximum amount for this loan is $100,000 which can be used to purchase a single family home, condominium or townhome in the city of Buena Park.

Between the dates of May 1 and July 1 applications were being accepted from Buena Park residents and individuals who do work within the city.

To obtain and review the application for this program just click here: <A HREF="http://www.buenapark.com/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=1341"> Buena Park Homebuyer Program Application </A>. Time is of the essence!

The City of Bellflower which is located in the county of Los Angeles has available a First Time Buyer Program at this time which is known as the "Home Buyer's Assistance Program" (HAP) where the buyer can receive up to $40,000.

The goal of the program is to help first time buyers with obtaining funds, as a second deferred loan, for their down payment, non-recurring closing cost and for other cost associated in the purchase of their home.

In order for a buyer to obtain funds for this program they will need to qualify based on the guidelines. The one major challenge which I see here, and why there is still money available in this program is that the buyer will have to come in with at least a 20% down payment. But when you take into consideration that this is a second position simple interest loan, with no monthly payments until the property is sold, refinanced or change of title occurs....Not bad. Now food for thought: After the tenth year the interest on this loan is forgiven, and after 30 years of ownership the principle on the second is forgiven.

For more information on this program I am providing you a link here to the city's web site: City of Bellflower HAP site Good Luck!

Yes it was good while it lasted.

What I am referring to is the First Time Buyer Program which the city of Long Beach, CA had available for buyers titled "Second Mortgage Assistance Program."

How this program worked was that the city of Long Beach would provide a deferred payment second mortgage loan up to $275,000 to qualified buyers purchasing a single family home, townhome or condo within the city's target redevelopment areas.

Now I was informed by a representative of The Long Beach Housing Development Company that they were expecting more funds later this year around the month of October. Plus that they were seeking other sources for additional funds to obtain for this program.

To obtain additional details about this program and/or to discover when the new funds arrive just click here The Long Beach Housing Development Company.

For those of you not familiar with the Plaza Area of Long Beach, California.  It is located on the east side of this very large city with two zip codes that cover the Plaza Area: 90808 and 90815.  For those who like visuals the street parameters are south of Carson Street/east of Woodruff Avenue/north of the 405 Fwy/west of the 605 Fwy.

As of today, June 24th, 2009 there are 17 homes for sale ranging in price from $370,000 to $699,000.  There is one particular home listed for $890,000 which would bring our listing total to 19 for the area.

The demand for this neighborhood has been consistent with the average day on market for a listiingrunning right around 40 days.  Year to date for the month of May there was a 12.3% decline in price.

The chart below displays a 10 year track for home values for the 90815 zip code: 

 

 For zip code 90808: (The price variance between the two zip codes is right around $12,000):

 

Presently there is a trend out there which I as a professional REALTOR acknowledge as a hurdle.  Though the consumer sees it differently, and buyers need to be aware of this miss-leading advertisement.  Actually this trend which I am writing about adds more work to my day for I wish to protect all of my clients' emotional stability.

What I am writing about here is the trend of listing agents placing homes on the market for sale at $20,000, $30,000 or even $60,000 below market value.  And I am not speaking about REO properties but actually making reference to short sale properties here in the Orange and Los Angeles County area.

What are these agents thinking? 

I cannot tell you how often I will receive a call, text message or e-mail from one of my buyers asking about a home they had just found on the internet which they would like to see.  I then cross reference it only to discover that it's priced under market, a short sale and that no recent sales have come close to the listed price.

As most of us know in a short sale transaction we not only need the approval of the home owner, but also the approval of the first position lien holder and in some cases a second position lien holder.  Now let's think about this for a moment.  Do these agents really believe that the bank who is already being shorted on the loan will take an even greater loss to sell the property?  NO!

What makes this trend even funnier is that at times in the "Private Remarks" section of the MLS, the same listing agent will state that he/she has an approval for a short sale.  But as you continue to read the remarks this dollar figure they are sharing with the reader is higher then the price the home is listed for.  Um, did I miss something here?

From my perspective these agents have to take Advertising 101 or maybe a Basic Math course.  Oh, actually they should consider reading up on our Code of Ethics for I am sure they are in violation of at least two articles from our Codes of Ethics.

 

 

While attending one of my monthly meetings with fellow real estate agents yesterday I was informed of this great program for First Time Home Buyers who are seeking a home in the city of Anaheim, California.

After reviewing this information I discovered that one of my buyer's can qualify based on the criteria the city has established for this program.

So to keep it simple and direct I have decided to allow the links to the program to do all the talking.

For information on this programs information and guide lines just click on this link Anaheim (CA) $125,000 Down Payment Assistance Program.

For information on this programs Eligible Census Tracts just click on this link Maps.

Seriously here folks: Agents, why do you not just list your "Short Sale" listing on eBay so not to take away the integrity of the MLS(Multiple Listing Service)?

The agents I am referring to are those who have listings which are actual short sales, but these agents are listing the property between $50,000 to $100,000 under market value.  PLEASE, Do not do this!  Do you really think that the bank, knowing where the bottom line is, is going to lose even more money on their note?

One problem I am encountering with this technique is that my buyers are calling me to write up an offer on this wonderfully discounted property.  Yet days later we receive the counter offer from the owner or bank with a market value price.

Now, do you wonder why the public has issues with the way agents represent or misrepresent their product and self?  Buyers at eBay understand what is happening there.  Buyers on the Internet using any search engine to find a home are not aware of what you are doing.

I fully understand that marketing your property is key to your success, and that new concepts are needed to draw more attention to your listing with so many homes for sale at this time. But!  Are you really doing the general public a favor?  At least your car dealerships inform "The Public" that they have one vehicle at this price and the VIN number is ________ .