A brilliant article that answers the question, why haven’t jumbo rates dropped as promised....
In early February, Congress gave beleaguered mortgage borrowers a rare cause for celebration. As part of the economic stimulus package, it passed rules intended to make it easier and less expensive for people to take out hefty loans in the nation’s costliest housing markets.
Economists and legislators said that helping tens of thousands of borrowers take out billions of dollars in new loans could stanch the bleeding in the housing market, spur spending and reduce the pain of a likely recession.
Instead, the effort to make it easier to get jumbo mortgages — loans over $417,000 — has yielded frustration and disillusionment.
For those of you who enjoy a really dumb a real estate website, look no further... Today I was introduced to agentrank.com
Now I can’t decide if the people behind this are either pure genius because they found investors, or if they found the world’s dumbest investors.
The site intends to rank real estate agents based on reviews by past clients.
Who has time or desire to rank real estate agents?... Oh yeah, clients that don’t like you, or your friends.
I’m sure the service will provide a top notch one stop shop for agent information...
How about asking someone you know for a referral, like a friend. Someone’s opinion you actually trust.
One paper described the new site this way...
“AgentRank.com bases its rankings on agents' experience, recent home-sale transactions and endorsements from past clients, among other variables. Consumers searching at the site can choose to search by location and can also specify whether to search agents by sales volume or number of endorsements.”
So in honor of my new website, www.DumbRealEstateSites.com, I’m opening the floor to nominations. Will anyone second my vote for Agentrank.com?
WASHINGTON - The House Financial Services Committee, seeking to respond to the housing crunch, has approved a $300 billion rescue package.
The vote was 46-21 to advance the bill, which would permit the government to insure new, cheaper mortgages for hundreds of thousands of struggling homeowners now facing foreclosure.
Ten Republicans joined all the Democrats on the committee to support the bill, which the Bush administration opposes. Most of them are from areas hit hard by the mortgage meltdown.
Democratic leaders plan a vote in the full House next week on a broad housing package that also includes $15 billion for states to buy and fix up foreclosed properties and an array of tax breaks.
If you're heading out to the San Francisco Film Festival
this weekend, swing by and check outthis charming Pac Heights Victorian condo.
The completely remodeledkitchen features, granite counter tops, all top of the line stainless
steel appliances including a Viking stove and even a wine refrigerator.
There is a one car private garage with room for storage, private BBQ
deck off of kitchen, laundry area inside unit and no HOA dues. Just a
two block walk to Fillmore Street shops, restaurants, cafes and more.
Open house this Saturday AND Sunday from 2-4pm.
I figured this just makes for good office conversation...
Former Oakland A's baseball star Jose Canseco has drawn perhaps the most unusual walk of his colorful and infamous career: Faced with sinking property prices and heavy legal fines, he has abandoned a multimillion-dollar home in suburban Los Angeles and let it lapse into foreclosure.
Mr. Canseco, a one-time American League most valuable player who ignited controversy by later admitting he used steroids and accusing fellow players of doing the same, becomes perhaps one of the highest-profile homeowners to walk away from a mortgage.
I think it’s safe to say we’ve all had our fill of the “F” word. I can’t listen to another “foreclosure” story or read about a short sale gone bad because of the banks issues. So today I’m going to turn the blog over to Paul Johns. He is an agent in the city and he’s writing a guest blog for us today on the challenges of selling a rent controlled building:.
By Paul Johns
One rent control building.
An example of a typical rent control situation is a building on 8th Avenue in San Francisco that is is a well maintained building owned by the same family for years. All of the current owners are over 70 years old.
Now the beneficiaries must sell and things aren't going very well. Part of the problem is bad luck, such as one owner (by being a beneficiary of the trust that owns the building) being recently evicted. He was renting from what he thought was a friend who's property was foreclosed upon. As banks cannot rent their foreclosed properties, he is being evicted even though he always paid his rent.
One of the owners wants to move from where she lives but can't afford to with just her Social Security and the small amount that comes from this building. I find it ironic that people in their 80's who own property are burdened by younger people who just want a break in the rent.
One tenant has been there since the late 1980's and pays far below the market rate. He appears to be in his 30's and the rent roll shows him in a studio apartment. However there is a bedroom that was fashioned out of some of the building's storage area. He doesn't pay anything extra for this and rent control won't allow an automatic increase in his rent.
First, the owner may carry back a note with adequate down payment. The asking price is $2,500,000. A problem with the price is that it is too high for a standard down payment on this type of building, usually around 30%, because the income won't support the loan. If the building was vacant or getting market rent, it would be worth considerably more. If a buyer wanted a place for an extended family the building would be a good candidate for the Ellis Act. That's when a landlord goes out of the rental business. One problem is that ALL tenants have to be evicted and the building has restriction on re-renting the units.
You can reach:
Paul D. Johns
Your Favorite Realtor
PropertyPaul@gmail.com
415-255-136
Though the national real estate market remains bleak--in some neighborhoods vacant homes outnumber those that are occupied and sellers are being forced to lower asking prices in a bid to lure bargain hunters--it's assumed that when housing dips to a point where buyers think it represents a bargain, they'll buy back in.
The problem is many of the markets that experienced steep 2007 price drops are still a long way from recovery.
If you’re looking for some serious insight into how the mortgage business works, the NY Times does a nice job of exploring the roles of the quasi government agencies of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The stories points out that there’s a lot of concern about the strength of the two largest mortgage buyers around. Currently the two agencies handle more than 80 percent of all mortgages bought by investors in Q1.
Ahhh Zillow... I can remember the good old days when folks would regularly visits Zillow to make themselves feel better and smarter. The site was great for reassuring your spouse the $100,000 you just paid over asking during the market’s peak would be returned to you tenfold down the road. If you weren’t using the site to remind yourself of your investing savvy, you used it to check up on the neighbor’s or your boss’ net worth.
Today, Zillow will announce a new feature of the site. It’s called bad news.
Zillow’s quarterly home value reports now come with a supplemental section (see below) that takes an in-depth look at the top 30 markets.
The best section in the new report is called, “fall from the peak.”
Today, Trulia and the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors (SILVAR)will begin encouraging members to submit their listings to Trulia at no cost. While I might argue their use of the word “encourage” seems a bit out of place in the business world, I’m sure it’s the result of hours of negations and the best use of politically correct wording as not to upset the members of SILVAR.
So without the constraints of political correctness, let me make this suggestion: TURN OVER YOUR LISTING INFORMATION AS SOON AS YOU CAN!
You can’t get your listings enough exposure these days.
There is no reason on earth you can give for not doing it. It will cost you nothing, you can offer it to current and future clients because more than 90 percent of all home buyers start their home search online, and Trulia reports 4.5 million visitors to a month.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A broad housing rescue package aimed at preventing foreclosures would have the government step in to insure up to $300 billion in new mortgages for struggling homeowners.
The plan, designed to stabilize a key sector of the shaky economy, is set for a House vote Wednesday. It would let the Federal Housing Administration insure more affordable fixed-rate loans for borrowers currently too financially strapped to qualify.
The White House says President Bush would veto the measure, calling it a burdensome bailout that would open taxpayers to too much risk. That's despite Democrats' attempts to attract Republican support by including a grab-bag of measures Bush has called for.
They include legislation to overhaul the Federal Housing Administration, the Depression-era mortgage insurer, and to more tightly regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that finance home loans. Also part of the plan is a measure, which Bush has repeatedly requested, allowing state and local housing finance agencies to use tax-exempt bonds to refinance distressed subprime mortgages.
It doesn’t matter what you do for a living, if things aren’t going your way there’s always the press to blame.
You’ve read it here, and you’ve certainly heard it around the office, “The only thing you read in the papers anymore are negative stories about real estate.”
So when I came I across a negative story about real estate this morning I couldn’t figure out if the folks at the Chronicle missed this one, which is probably the case or they’ve decided enough with the negative stories...
The remarks in the story come from 13th annual Fisher Center real estate conference taking place here in the City.
"We are about two-thirds through the price decline," Rosen said. "There is more to come."
I’ve made this offer in the past, and it’s still on the table... If you have a NEW listing worth talking about, let me know and I’ll find the time to post it... I prefer if they’re not on the market yet...
Here’s a listing that makes my point...
2 bedrooms, 2 baths and one heck of a yard...
$960,000 .... What makes it special? A single family home in Sausalito with a yard under a million dollars...
This gorgeous three-story oceanfront home boasts world-renowned panoramic views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Pacific Ocean, Baker Beach and Marin headlands. With a fenced yard, enclosed patio and large outdoor deck, it is ideal for entertaining.
Click here for additional information.
Some girls dream of growing up to be just like their mothers, but both Jane Kalish and her sister, Judy Kalish Blond, swear that they had no intention of following their mom, Pat, into real estate.
They aren't very convincing. Sitting on either side of their mother in a conference room at Intero Real Estate Services' Menlo Park office, Jane and Judy recall playing host at broker tours for their mother, baking cookies for open houses and summers spent filling in for missing receptionists. "If your mother is an accountant or a physician, she goes off to work in the morning and comes home again at 5," said Pat. "But in real estate you're working all the time. It's very visible."
Click here for the complete story.
