santa cruz: Breaking Up is Hard to Do
- 12/12/09 09:41 AM
Have you ever been in a relationship that you knew had no real future and yet it was so hard to break it off? You start out by having occasional doubts. Little by little those doubts become all consuming thoughts. You have trouble concentrating at work and may even lose some sleep thinking about. You know this absolutely will not work out long term, and yet can't imagine giving it up. Finally, you make the decision to break it off and tell the other person the truth. What once seemed impossible, now feels like a huge sigh of relief. It won't … (4 comments)
santa cruz: Wachovia (aka World Savings) Fast Track For Short Sales and Loan Modifications
- 11/14/09 02:08 AM
Wachovia (aka World Savings and Golden West) currently has the most aggressive program to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. Today I attended training at the Santa Cruz Board of Realtors put on by a Wachovia Short Sale Manger from Santa Clara In the current world of processing nightmares for short sales and loan modifications, there is finally one lender is "getting it". It's not rocket science. When lenders have to foreclose on a home they lose a tremendous amount of money. However, if they work with the homeowner to keep them in the home with a loan modification or allow them to … (4 comments)
santa cruz: New Website to Help Homeowners in Santa Cruz
- 10/26/09 12:39 PM
I have just finished setting up a new website at www.ShortSalesInSantaCruz.com . It is also listed as a link on the bottom, right-hand-side of this webiste. The purpose of this website is to give home owners who are dealing with some kind of hardship or distress information on all of their options in lieu of Foreclosure. Some of the possible options may include: Loan Modification Refinancing Home Loan Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure Short Sale The stats show that 7 out of 10 homeowners, who go through foreclosure, never contacted their lender. There is help out there. If you know anyone … (1 comments)
santa cruz: Loans for Teachers and First Time Buyers
- 10/21/09 03:47 PM
As a former second grade teacher in Watsonville, one of my goals in Real Estate has always been to help teachers buy homes. One of the upsides of the drop in home prices has been that I have been able to help more teachers and other local buyers purchase their first home. Along with the reduction in prices there has also been an extreme tightening of lending guidelines, which has made it difficult to qualify for a loan. To get conventional financing buyers now need 20% down. However, there are several programs that can help teachers and other first time buyers. … (1 comments)
santa cruz: Has the Santa Cruz County Real Estate Market Stabalized??
- 10/19/09 11:00 AM
Is it too early to say that the local real estate market has started to recover? There are a lot of indicators pointing in that direction. What else can you call it when you see a decrease in supply alongside an increase in demand? I am no economist, but then again, it does not take an expert to understand the basic principles of supply vs. demand. Here is a comparison between September sales for single family homes in 2009 and 2008: 2009 2008 # Of homes for sale 947 1251 Days on market 86 100 # of sales 151 143 Months … (0 comments)
santa cruz: Santa Cruz County Short Sale: Represented Soquel Seller
- 10/29/08 07:11 AM
I just recently closed another short sale in Soquel, which is located in Santa Cruz County. In this transaction I represented the seller. In this case the seller had purchased the property (though a different Realtor) at the peak of the market in 2005 for $729,000 with a first loan and a second loan through Chase. We just closed at $540,000 which is about a 25% loss for the bank. The two biggest challenges in selling this home was getting the bank to be realistic on price, and finding a buyer that was willing to be patient enough to wait for … (0 comments)
santa cruz: Lowering Your Property Taxes in Santa Cruz County
- 04/16/08 02:09 AM
Many property owners have experienced declining values since the market changed and do not realize that they may be able to get their tax bill reduced. If you know anyone who purchased property before the market changed, they may be paying too much in property tax. When a property is purchased it triggers a reassessment of value by the County Tax Assessor. The new purchase price typically becomes the tax base for the new owner. For example, if you paid $750,000 for a home in 2005, then your tax base was set at $750,000 and you were paying approximately 1.1%- 1.25% … (1 comments)
santa cruz: Selling a Short Sale in Santa Cruz County
- 03/01/08 01:16 AM
I recently completed a short sale in Capitola, in which I represented the sellers. I had read a lot about short sales, taken classes on short sales, and listened to stories from veterans on short sales. Like anything in life the best way to really learn something is by just doing it. In the current market, "short sale" is becoming a very common term. Sellers are using short sales as a strategy to get out from under a property that they can not afford to keep and the current market value is less than what a buyer is willing to pay. It … (1 comments)
Have you ever been in a relationship that you knew had no real future and yet it was so hard to break it off? You start out by having occasional doubts. Little by little those doubts become all consuming thoughts. You have trouble concentrating at work and may even lose some sleep thinking about. You know this absolutely will not work out long term, and yet can't imagine giving it up. Finally, you make the decision to break it off and tell the other person the truth. What once seemed impossible, now feels like a huge sigh of relief. It won't … (4 comments)
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