SAN FRANCISCO, May 12 -- Trulia.com, the best place to start a real estate search (http://www.trulia.com/), today announced the launch of a dedicated real estate advertising network that will give ad partners access to approximately 10 million monthly unique visitors across Trulia's network of targeted real estate sites. The Trulia Ad Network (TAN) will provide unprecedented local reach with a highly targeted and engaged audience at a time when real estate advertising dollars are making a drastic shift from offline to online. Interested parties can learn more at: http://www.trulia.com/network

The Trulia Ad Network is launching with a collection of premium online real estate publishers, including Oodle, Homes & Land and The Savvy Source, with local audiences and content focused on real estate and related life events. Advertisers benefit from broad consumer reach across an aggregated audience of home buyers, owners and real estate enthusiasts; advanced contextual, behavioral and geo-targeting capabilities ensure that advertisers reach their target audience.

Real estate advertising budgets are shifting rapidly online, a reflection of the Web's lower cost and efficiency in reaching the target audience:

For the rest of Trulia's press release, click here.

Over the weekend, the King of Pop narrowly averted foreclosure when the billionaire real estate investor Thomas Barrack struck a deal to buy a $23.9 million loan on Neverland Ranch from Fortress Investment Group, which was ready to auction it off.

Just who is this white knight that saved Michael Jackson's notorious property from falling into the hands of some real estate bottom-fisher at the 11th hour?

Click here for the complete story.

AS if home buyers do not have it good enough already, finding a house for sale on the Web is becoming easier.

The triple threat of a weak market, legal pressure and increasing competition has compelled real estate professionals to offer their information more freely online, putting cracks in a walled garden of data that stood strong while the industry enjoyed its breakaway growth. It also presages an end to the days when sellers must list their homes with a broker so buyers can see them.

The trend revolves around the nation’s roughly 900 multiple listing services, or M.L.S.’s, where local brokers post information about homes they are selling. In years past, these services were highly restrictive about where and how that information could be distributed — for instance, frequently not permitting Web sites to display M.L.S. listings alongside for-sale-by-owner homes, bank foreclosures or other properties not represented by real estate agents.

Now, these organizations are connecting more freely with sites like Zillow, Terabitz, ZipRealty, Redfin and others. And while these sites do not have all the M.L.S. data, they have enough to give users more of a one-stop site for real estate shopping than ever before.

Click here for the complete story.

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."

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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.

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...

Stacy Aquilino RE/Max
415-244-8785

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."

Click here for the complete story

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.

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.

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.”

Enjoy

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.

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.

Click here for the complete story

SOLD

2411 Green St San Francisco / Pacific Heights / asking $ 3,000,000 sold for $3,500,000

PENDING - Closes middle of May

2663 Divisadero St San Francisco / Pacific Heights asking $ 8,950,000

Previously listed for $9,850,000 - on the market for more than 248 days

In Contract

Gone in 60 days with more than 3 offers...

33 Clementina #3 San Francisco / South Beach $ 1,425,000
Over asking of course...

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

Thanks Paul!

For other interesting facts, click here.