House Sales after summer

It's quite traditional in this area that the buying of houses starts to decrease after the summer months.

It stands to reason that most people find the summer months the easiest time to move. The weather is in your favor. Have you ever moved when it's raining? I have it can be a concern to you as you manage your furniture in the rain. I've had to sit some big pieces out in the rain while we decide where they will go inside. Fortunately in California the rain is not as prevelant as in Melbourne Australia.

Summer is also a time when children are off school and parents feel it is easier to settle them into a new environment and sometimes get them mentally prepared for a new school. Summer is also a time when parents can manage some time off work to make these moves.

If however some of these issues do not affect you waiting till the holiday season and the winter months can be off benefit. The only down side is that the inventory also decreases and with the current changing market you may see more REO's and more short sales and less regular sales.

It appears that REO's and Short Sales tend to require more work than a regular sale and typically do not have reports with them. However, if you can find a non-REO or non-short sale and you like it - don't wait because you along with someone else thinking the same as you will grab that opportunity. It's definately easier to deal with an owner than a bank when it comes to negotiating.

Summer buying - real estate specials

I have had a very busy Summer, despite the market seeming slow it has been busy for me. With two properties on the market and many buyers out there shopping.

My gorgeous little home in Sunnyvale still sits and waits for a new owner. It is not a short sale or a REO (bank owned) property. The current owners are looking to move out of the Bay Area and go and retire. This place is perfect for the family that is wanting to buy into the Real Estate market and give up renting. Or the buyer who is looking for an investment with rental potential in a good area. We started our home out at $540,000 and we are now down to $510,000 - time for you to act now and buy this lovely little 3 bedroom 2 bathroom (Jack and Jill style) home. visit my website to find out more www.feain.com

Coming Soon

Coming soon my listing in Sunnyvale, a three bedroom two bathroom single family residence. The property has over 8 different types of fruit trees. The house is so bright with floor to ceiling windows in all rooms. It has an Eichler feel about it. One bedroom has had the carpet taken up and the floor boards are exposed and been varnished. The rest of the house still has carpet and it would be well worth exposing those wood floors as well.

This home is close to 101 and Lawrence Express way. The home has doubled glazed windows and is very quiet inside. The home requires a little work done to it. Definately the carpet needs replacing or hardwood floors exposed. The kitchen was renovated 5 years ago and the tiles and paint work was done more recently. The Bathroom though it states there are two bathrooms on title - it's actually a jack and jill situation. Meaning you can enter the bathroom from 2 ends and both ends have their own washbasin and toilet. There is a bathroom that separates these and as such you can get into the shower from either end. Very groovy!

To learn more please feel free to call me.

what's in what's not

The Real Estate Magazine this month had an article on what is in and what is not as far as homes goes.

It's obvious that everyone loves a granite kitchen but is that in? It is if that's what you can afford - now to be honest any kitchen is in - most women at the end of the day prefer to be able to design their own kitchen. I've always said that women want a "virgin" kitchen. That means no other person has cooked in it and you have not inherited any other persons grease. Am I right?

The obvious trend at the moment is to extend the out doors that you might have and create your own little oasis. Costco has some great furniture at the moment that allows you to make your outdoor area into your new extended living area. It is worth the investment and can enhance your own yard at this very time with summer approaching.

Color is also something that seems to affect the market. For sometime it's been that dirty brown and dirty blue that has been the trend but that is slowly changing and we are seeing a return to oranges and also turquoise.

Mind you I'm always of the belief that there is buyer for every home - it's just all about price.

Why I love Santa Clara

Last year I did the Santa Clara Citizens Police Academy class. It was a 13 week program open to SC residents or people who work in the city. The Police force of SC do a great job through this program of educating local people on what a great job they do.

The program basically has speakers from each department with in the police force explaining what and how they go about their job. The speakers range from Chaplaincy to First Responders, from Traffic Patrol to Emergency Preparedness. Every area is covered and explained and there are lots of hands on activities and involvement by the participants. There is an evening called "Red Man" and a visit to the County Goal and best of all a chance for you to go out with an officer on his/her patrol. I took the swing shift and got to know parts of Santa Clara I never knew existed and most of all got to see some fine officers deal with some unusual circumstances from kids stealing alcohol at Safeway in Rivermark to Domestic violence. However, I think everyones highlight was Police Academy Saturday. Can you imagine 10 hours of fun, driving police cars, shooting police firearms and role playing scenarios. Plus having the Police chief serve you burgers!

You might read this as Santa Clara PR exercise. Yes that may be true but at the same time it's a good exercise and we as residents should be proud of our police men and women of Santa Clara. Fortunately, for us we have the monies to ensure that we hire the best.

Fairfield Santa Clara - disgust

It amazes me the greed that developers can have or should I say cities? It's hard to say what came first the developer or the city council? Chicken or the egg scenario though sometimes I think it is a case of them both lining their own pockets and sometimes being one of the same thing.

Tonight I got a letter from the Fairfield group who are going to develop the old Kaiser location on Kiely & Kaiser Drive. There are plans to develop over 800 residential buildings - apartments, townhomes, town houses and houses! Clearly 280 of them are for sale and it looks like the rest are for rent! Charming a Ghetto in our own neighborhood and clearly no decisions made about environmental impact on schools, parks and traffic. Let us not forget the poor brown owl or the ground squirrel - how will they survive?

I recommend if you live near this proposed project, which seemed to have been bulldozed through Santa Clara council you get involved - here is a good link to some concerned citizens

http://liveforeverodt.com/santaclara/2008/01/17/fairfield-residential-meets-with-residents/

Valley of Hearts content

I had a friend who listed a property before Easter, they put it on the market at Easter and had so many people come through this last weekend.

Over 55 one day and 75 another day. Some with agents some without. Doesn't matter a lot of traffic and you tell me there is nothing out there! I don't think so . I believe there is a firm offer on the house and one the sellers are happy with and there is still another offer coming through as a back up. How awesome is that? Perfect, actually sweet.

I liked what my agent friend told me - he asked his clients in an ideal world what would he really want as his selling price. It pays to tell the universe what you are looking for, I believe. Let the universe know because if you don't tell it how will it know what to deliver. Well a price was said and as ridiculous as it sounds - that is what was offered. So Yippee. You may ask about contingencies? Well they sound pretty tight and even if something were to go wrong there is a back up offer on the books. Again like I say SWEET.

Keeping Records

My current clients have kept every record of every project they have done on their house. All I can say is

SWEET ....

It's so nice to be able to talk to the guy who installed the roof and discuss the details of the type of roof they have.

I also spoke to the company that monitors termites and pest control of their company!

Makes it much easier to sell and I dare say easier to talk about because we have records.

Sweet

Happy St Patrick's Day

Well it's the one day of the year I can say I'm Irish! With such an Irish family name I need to have some Irish in me!

Truth is I married into an Irish family - it's nearly pure Irish with a little Scottish tainting in there to make it not too in-breed! My German/Dutch heritage just strengthened the pot I guess.

It's one of my boys favorite day - he loves his Irish heritage and takes great pride in his bloodline.

So to y'all "Top of the Morning and have a great St Paddy's Day"

Buyers out and about

I held an open house in Sunnyvale at a cute little property on Taylor Street. It wasn't my listing it was another agents listing. I did want to hold it open to get a feel for the market and also because it's such a darling place. If I was a young single gal it would be the type of place I would love to live in. Three bedrooms, one bathroom, large backyard - big enough for a dog. There was more to it but I don't want to go on. You can find it on the MLS listings service if you are interested or curious or go to Don's website http://donaldtanner.com/

I held it open because it was an easy place to talk about and easy to talk to visitors to the property. What I learnt was that there are loads of interested buyers out there looking. However, a common complaint I have is buyers don't take the time to go talk to a lender before looking. As a result they don't know really what dollar value they can go look at. For all I know the three of four people that expressed some interest in the property were actually not able to buy or might even be better off looking at something more than $650K.

If you are going to buy and are serious take time to talk to a lender and find out how much it is going to cost you to buy. What's it going to hurt you? It's not as though you are getting a shot in the arm. Find out if you even want to be in the market looking. Don't waste your gas driving around properties till you know how much you can afford.

My two cents - and I hope it makes SENSE!

Fifty living

I have a new listing coming up in the Sunnyvale area. What a great gem of a house, with wonderful large windows that make the place to bright and breezy.

One of my pet peaves when I came to the US was that a lot of the homes do not have living rooms with overhead lights. There must have been a time when having lamps was considered 'cool' or 'novel'. I find it dark and inconvenient. This home has large windows from the ground up. Not only does it give a light and breezy appearance it also saves you having to turn on your lights when you don't need to.

This little gem also has wonderful hardwood floors under the carpet. Currently only one room has the hardwood floor on show - so you know that the others are going to be gorgeous because they have been protected by carpet for years. Again another fad that came into being; cover the hardwood floors.

There is a definate "Eichler" feel about this little gem.

ahh the past ... the wonderful fifties and sixties ... don't you just love it.

Short Sale Waiting Game

Right now the biggest issues regular Sellers are facing is competing against the short sale price.

But let's think about this? Is it really a competition or an inconvenience to buy a short sale? Here are some facts about short sales that might change your mind.

Most of the short sales I visited this week looked like they had never had any work done to them, and for some reason there is a build up of 'trash' around the house from the outside. Forget about the inside. Why is this? I guess depression sets in and care flies out the window.

Short Sales now involve the mercy of the bank to negotiate with the intended buyer. You already seem to have a deal and the bank has already stated in a sense they are willing to take a loss. It's as if the bank should move on cut to the chase and do the deal. But the bureaucracy of banks (and any other institution) now involves 'departments'. As each department signs off and passes on their slip of paper to another minion the paper trail gets longer. The time in getting accepted takes .... forever.

I mentioned to another realtor, who works out of Sacramento, that it may take 5 to 8 weeks before you here something here in the Bay Area. Her response was here in Sac it's 5 to 8 months! Great, you get the picture of the future here in the Bay Area right?

So you think you've got yourself a bargain? Maybe but you've also got yourself a waiting game. Perhaps during this game you realize there are better deals and what's even more sweet at the moment is that the houses that don't involve short sales are priced according to the Short Sale - so look at those and skip the short sale and the hassle. Be a smart buyer not a smarta$$ buyer would be my tip. It's like the spaving theory. You buy more to save! Get 3 for 2 deal. Right now your short sale buys you paper work anguish, dealing with bank minions in India, and a house that has had no or little maintenance by it's previous owner due to the fact they had no extra cash to maintain it.

Save yourself the hassle and buy a regular listing in a currently low market. Go shopping and get a bargain but avoid a short sale - be a smart shopper.

California or bust

It amazes me the countless times I hear people say that California is the answer to their dreams.

I think the image that California has is that it is the answer to a lot of peoples dreams.

Well if you think of it that way it probably is. What young actor hasn't considered that Hollywood will be the start of their career. And what young engineer doesn't consider Silicon Valley the start of their dreams?

Do I love California...? Oh man, the weather here beats most places. The coast is to die for. But can most of us afford to live here? I doubt it but we still make it happen.