Caroline Chai's (sttsou) Blog

If your family is over grown and you need a larger home, it is perfect time to upsize in down market. Here's why. Consider if your current house is worth $350,000 two years ago at the peak of the market and the house you want to upsize to is worth about $550,000. You will need to pay $200,000 to ...

Legal maximum amount of security deposit that can be charged by a landlord in California is two months rent. In reality, deposit amount is charged ranging from $300 to $500 by apartment complexes and up to 2 months by private landlords. Due to the current market situation, most landlords lower th...

Black Friday today keeps off the holiday shopping season. One of my favorite shopping places is Outlet at Cabazon near Palm Springs. It is about an hour away from Diamond Bar via 10 Freeway. The outlet has over 150 stores. Since there are so many stores, it is almost impossible to see them all. N...

This winter, the market is over saturated with rental properties with 5 times more inventory than last year. As a result of that, the market rent drops from 10% to 20% depending on the area. The followings are two main reasons why we are experience such a rapid surge of rental inventories. 1. Du...

For homeowners who are interested to learn more about home retention, Bank Of America and RE/MAX Realty 100 join together to provide a free Home Retention Seminar. The seminar will cover the following subjects: 1. Loan Modification 2. HOPE for Homeowners 3. Short Sales 4. Steps in A Foreclosure ...

If you cannot afford to pay the mortgage anymore, Instead of walking away from your house, this is what you can do: Contact your lender immediately to see if you are qualify for a loan modification. Explain to your lender that you can no longer afford the mortgage payment due to your current situ...

What happens if you pay the rent on time but your landlord did not pay the mortgage and the house was foreclosed by the bank? Effective on September 9, 2008, in California, lenders need to give tenants 60-day notice to move out if the property is foreclosed. (California Civil Procedure section 11...

Rental is like a long-term hotel for renters. It is very important that the landlords understand this and run it like a hotel business by making sure the property is in clean and move-in condition. It is very difficult to rent a dirty house if the house needs a new coat of paint, house cleaning a...

What "loan buy down" does is if you pay more at the beginning for your loan fee, your interest rate will be lower and thus lower your monthly payment. As an example, suppose you can find a 30-year fixed rate mortgage at 7 percent with no points (=$0 loan fee). On a $300,000 30-year mortgage your ...

To purchase a property, besides the down payment, buyer needs to prepare some additional money for closing cost. Here is a list of fee involved to close the escrow. 1.Title fee. 2. Escrow fee. 3. Loan processing fee. 4. 1st month prorated mortgage payment. 5. Prorated property tax. 6. Home insura...