I just sold a nice 2 bedroom and 2 bathroom condo in Newark in a nice community. This was another very smooth transaction. One item I did learn in this transaction that seems to be a new guideline as of October, is that if one borrower is going to owner occupy the home and there is a co-borrower involved who is not going to owner occupy the home, then the person that is going to occupy the home has to qualify on their own. What is the logic of that you ask? Good question! If the borrower who is…
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Added by Karen List on November 29, 2009 at 2:12pm —
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President Obama signed the federal tax credit into law. It is expected to contribute approximately $22 billion to the economy, Congress overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan measure this week extending the $8,000 home buyer tax credit to April 30, 2010, with a 60-day extension if a binding contract is in place prior to the deadline. The legislation is part of a larger bill that also extends unemployment benefits.
More people will be eligible to take advantage of the new law in that existing homeow…
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Added by Karen List on November 6, 2009 at 10:00am —
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This home was another fairly smooth transaction with a very sweet couple buying their first home. Although, there are a couple of interesting things about this transaction. This home was a foreclosure. The buyers competed for this home in a multiple offer situation and got it. During inspections, we did come to find out that the previous owner wasn’t the most skilled when it came to remodeling and such, so there were some funky things and surprises that the previous owner did to the home, which…
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Added by Karen List on November 5, 2009 at 10:00am —
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This was a fun sale. The buyers went into contract in June and just closed the transaction last week. They actually watched this home being built from start to finish and were very involved in getting to choose everything to suit their own taste. They even got to choose where some outlets went and such, among many other things. They were able to shop in the design center and got periodic updates as the home progressed. It was very exciting to see their home at foundation level and then to see th…
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Added by Karen List on October 27, 2009 at 10:00am —
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Yay! A smooth transaction!!! A home I just sold in San Jose for $575,000 was a VERY smooth transaction. There were 5 offers and amazingly, we were NOT even the highest offer, but they went with us. The seller and agent told us that they liked our ‘package’ and felt most comfortable with us, even though we were NOT the highest bid. Apparently, professionalism still pays off. They remembered my clients from the open house and liked them a lot and they said I presented the offer and myself very wel…
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Added by Karen List on October 19, 2009 at 10:00am —
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Where do I start? This sale was interesting from Day 1. This home had been on the market for some time and it was over priced. My clients viewed the home, but at the time, were not interested due to the high price. After some time, the seller did a price reduction and it renewed the buyer’s interest. The buyer made an offer for $690,000 and $10,000 credit. The seller’s agent told me that if we increased the price by $5,000, the home was ours.
I spoke to the buyers, they agreed to do so, we amen…
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Added by Karen List on October 13, 2009 at 10:00am —
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This was another successful short sale closing. The roller coaster ride started in March! It took 5 months for the first and second lender to approve this short sale. While we were waiting for the second to approve the short sale, the deal almost went to the foreclosure department, and required one payment, which the BUYER paid to keep the deal alive. The payment was well worth it, in that we did get the approval. Once we got the approval from both lenders, the transaction was relatively smooth…
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Added by Karen List on October 6, 2009 at 10:00am —
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This one comes with quite the story. My clients originally saw this home when it was a short sale listing. They made a bid, competed with about 6 buyers, and got the acceptance. The listing agent told us it was already approved at the listing price and we would have an approval for the transaction within 72 hours.
Not only did THAT not happen, but we waited for an entire MONTH with no approval. Then one day, I get an email at 1am in the morning that the home had just gone to foreclosure in the…
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Added by Karen List on October 6, 2009 at 10:00am —
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These buyers are an adorable young couple who I just adore. This transaction was smooth in the beginning, but just crazy towards the end due to the endless paperwork that Wells Fargo required from them just picking their accounts to death. Wells Fargo required them to explain every single deposit over $100 for 3 months. These buyers were FHA buyers, minimum down payment of 3.5%, and the seller paid $12,000 towards their closing costs. They competed with 3 offers. The transaction itself went very…
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Added by Karen List on October 6, 2009 at 10:00am —
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There are some great programs for buying new homes in San Jose (and other areas as well) that are ending VERY soon. For many of the San Jose city programs, the buyer must have a ratified contract by 4/24/09. Yes, that is VERY soon. But, if you are interested in new construction in San Jose, it may be worth moving fast. The city incentives range from $40,000-$110,ooo from what I have personally seen with the programs. And, there is also still MCC money as well. Plus, until the funds run out, buye…
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Added by Karen List on April 15, 2009 at 3:01pm —
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FHA financing is a great option for buyers that do not have at least 10% as a down payment and/or do not have FICO scores of at least 720. And, there are some important things to know about FHA financing so that when a FHA buyer goes through the process, the stress and frustration is at a minimum, since the buyer is already prepared for the FHA process.
First of all, the main qualifying factors for a FHA loan is that the LTV (loan to value) can not be more than 96.5% of the purchase price, mean…
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Added by Karen List on March 26, 2009 at 11:34am —
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I found some great information on the San Jose Chamber of Commerce website that I wanted to share that has some cool statistics that I thought was really interesting.
Did you know that the San Jose Metropolitan Area (Santa Clara County) ranks first in the nation in median household effective buying income ($62,614) among all metropolitan areas? Source: 2005 Survey of Buying Power, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine.
Did you know that the city of San Jose is the 10th largest city in the…
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Added by Karen List on March 10, 2009 at 11:52am —
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Here’s the skinny in simple terms:
The tax credit is for home buyers (either spouse if filing jointly) who have NOT owned a principle residence during the three-year period prior to the purchase. Ownership of vacation property or rental property does not disqualify home buyers from this program.
The maximum credit is $8,000 or 10% of the home purchase, whichever is less.
The credit is available for homes purchased on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 31, 2009.
There is no recaptur…
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Added by Karen List on February 26, 2009 at 3:50pm —
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There are many “professionals” who have come out of the woodwork making a business of doing loan modifications for people. Some are doing them illegally and some legally. Buyer beware! I have blogged about it before and in this blog, I want to simply give you the easy steps that you can do yourself if you want a loan modification.
First, you call your bank and ask to talk to the loan modification department and customer service will directly you appropriately. You ask for a loan modifcation, th…
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Added by Karen List on February 3, 2009 at 9:04pm —
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I work with TONS of buyers and there are some things that seem so simple and logical that sellers should do, but don’t, when showing their home to potential clients. Of course, there are many things that buyers find important, like the floor plan, size of bedrooms, closet space, etc. But, what I am focusing on here are the things that the seller can do given the home they own as it is, without remodeling and/or changing the floor plan and such.
You have 30 seconds to make a first impression…The…
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Added by Karen List on January 4, 2009 at 4:43pm —
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This is GREAT news for first time homebuyers. If you are a first time homebuyer, you will definitely want to read this. And, if you know a first time homebuyer, please pass information this along to them:
Who is Eligible
*The $7,500 tax credit is available for first-time home buyers only.
*The law defines a first-time home buyer as a buyer who has not owned a home during the past three years.
*All U.S. citizens who file taxes are eligible to participate in the program.
Who is not Eligible
*Fir…
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Added by Karen List on August 6, 2008 at 9:00am —
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