It has been a good Christmas Season. I just got back from two days away visiting family in the Sierra foothills. Cold, but no snow. Warm inside with great-grandparents, grandparents (me included), parents and children all gathered for the holiday fun and joy. Lots of good food and love in several helpings. I got my […]

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If you answered the above questions by saying “A long sale” you are wrong. A short sale IS a long sale! (Of course, we are talking about real estate, not stocks and bonds.) When I say long, I mean as in a long time…months, in fact.
Some time back, I told my wife that I was […]

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Mortgage rates have been low for a while. They remain low. Unusually low. Attractively low. You don’t really expect them to stay this low forever…do you?
A recent article in The Business Journel, covering the Triad Area of Greensboro and Winston/Salem , North Carolina stated that ” Freddie Mac says the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 4.78 percent this […]

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Are you a real estate investor? How many properties do you own? Do you have a mortgage on these properties? Well…if you have 4 or more mortgages, then you better be ready to write a check for the full amount of your next purchase. Yes…it does not matter if your credit is good and you […]

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Aren’t we getting tired of short sales?
 Misleading prices…extremely long response periods from lenders…the necessity for way to many follow up phone calls-from buyer’s agent to listing agent and from listing agent to lender…buyers walking away from offers because they have (pick one) 1. bought another property, 2. got tired of waiting for a response, 3. […]

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An agent friend was recently involved in the sale of a foreclosed house. She was the listing agent. The house is in a newer neighborhood of San Ramon, Ca. surrounded by many houses that have been built within the last few years. The house was built in 2006, sold and resold in 2007 for $870,000. […]

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Last Wednesday, Oct. 16th, at the California Association of REALTORS State Meeting in Long Beach, CAR Chief Economist, Leslie Appleton-Young, released her “2009 Housing Market Forecast”. I was there. It is always worthwhile to hear Leslie speak. She is well regarded and well respected in the field of economics. The event was covered by the […]

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I wrote an offer on a property that is a short sale. Now short sales are not a REALTOR’s dream transactions—nightmare, maybe—but there was a compelling reason to write the offer for these clients.
They are renters. A while back, their landlord stopped making payments on the mortgage for the house they are renting. Sooner or […]

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I was sitting at an Open House. A prospective buyer came in. She looked around. She asked some questions about the house. She liked the school district in which the house is located. She guessed that the high school is within walking distance of the house. Then she told me that it was her sister […]

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I have a questi0n for you. Ask around for the answer. It may be revealing.
Do you know any homeowner who has owned their home for ten years or more who says that buying was a mistake? I suspect that the answer is ’no’. I suspect that they will say that they are glad that they bought when they did.
How […]

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