Best time to buy a home in San Francisco
If you or someone you know is thinking of buying real estate; now, and I mean now, 4th qtr of 2010, it might be the very best time, possibly ever or at least for a long time to purchase a home Prices are down, interest rates are down that's a phenomena that happens very infrequently.
And you will have lots to choose from, the inventory in San Francisco is the biggest it’s ever been, especially for 4th quarter.
Follow this link to a story that was in the WSJ today about the credit market:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303443904575578410336931010.html?mod=ITP_moneyandinvesting_7advertise
if you haven’t developed a relationship with a mortgage lender because you aren’t sure who to call, please don’t just stab away on the net. You need a professional that is familiar and works in the San Francisco Market. You certainly wouldn’t go to the net and find an agent to work with you if they worked somewhere in Ohio would you. Same thing you need to stay local. My experience with those lenders that these unbelievable low rates that when it comes down to the last wire, when you’re expecting loan docs to be drawn all of a sudden that low rate program that they hooked you in with is gone.
I have been selling Real Estate in San Francisco for over 14 years, 11 here in San Francisco. I am the professional you need to get this dream of yours to become
There was a slight dip in prices from July 2010 to August 2010, but YOY we were still up in value by 2.1%! Where can you put your money and earn that kind of return. Let’s take a minute and do a little scenario. Let’s assume you bought a home in San Francisco last August 2009 for $900k, it appreciated at a rate of 2.1%, and presumably it is worth $918,900.now. Not bad.
Prices fell across all three price tiers on a month-over-month basis for single-family homes in the San Francisco MSA for the first time in six months as year-over-year gains also slid.
The bottom third (under $345,613 at the time of acquisition) fell 1.4% from July to August (up 10.3% YOY); the middle third fell 1.2% from July to August (up 6.3% YOY); and the top third (over $628,381 at the time of acquisition) fell 0.5% from July to August (up 2.1% YOY versus 2.8% in July).
According to the Index, single-family home values for the bottom third of the market in the San Francisco MSA returned to October 2000 levels having fallen 56% from a peak in August 2006, the middle third is back to just below April 2003 levels having fallen 34% from a peak in May 2006, and the top third is back to just below April 2004 levels having fallen 23% from a peak in August 2007.
Condo values in the San Francisco MSA fell 0.5% from July ’10 to August '10 and to a 2.0% gain on a year-over-year basis (down 26.4% from a high in December 2005).
Our standard SocketSite S&P/Case-Shiller footnote: The S&P/Case-Shiller home price indices include San Francisco, San Mateo, Marin, Contra Costa, and Alameda in the "San Francisco" index (i.e., greater MSA) and are imperfect in factoring out changes in property values due to improvements versus appreciation (although they try their best).
[Standard & Poor's]
Call me when you have some time and let's set a time to have some coffee and talk about how to start.
415 902 9199
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
what's all this about robo-signing? moratorium on foreclosures? can this help or hurt?
I double-dog dare you to watch a TV news show or spend more than 5 minutes on the web without hearing about the massive "robo-signing" foreclosure scandal that is rapidly encompassing the biggest banks in the country. Here are 4 things home buyers need to know about this breaking real estate news, and how it impacts them.
(Hint: I threw in a couple of bonus items at the end!)
1. What is robo-signing is, and what all the fuss is about? The phrase robo-signing refers to what we’re now realizing has been a very common practice in the banks’ foreclosure document processing divisions, where one person was essentially given the job of signing as many 10,000 foreclosure documents per month, by hand. These individuals were supposed to be reviewing the files, making sure grounds for foreclosure actually existed, signing the docs in front of notaries. But because of the volume of documents, what they actually did was just sign thousands of documents at a time, without even reading them, and ship them off somewhere else to be notarized.
If you do the math on an 8 hour workday, you'll see that that only gives the staffer 1.5 minute to review each file and documents to make sure the foreclosure is warranted. That's not humanly possible, which is how these staffers got the nickname “robo-signers”
Government regulators are very concerned that the banks may have been taking people's homes without following the proper legal procedures. As a result, 40 states' attorneys general are teaming up to launch a multi-state investigation, and the federal Comptroller of the Currency and federal attorney general may also get involved in investigating this issue.
2. Will the freeze will make the banks cancel buyer contracts on REO properties? Currently, the freeze impacts bank-owned properties that are owned and/or serviced by Ally Financial/GMAC Mortgage, JP Morgan Chase, and some properties that were owned by Bank of America. Generally, contracts to buy these homes are being put on hold and extended for 30 days. As well, the banks are often reaching out directly to buyers and offering them the option to cancel their contracts and recoup their deposit money.
3. Is it safe to buy a foreclosed home? There's lots of talk right now about the "clouds" that this scandal will create on the titles to homes that were foreclosed by the banks' foreclosure mills. And that makes sense: if the home wasn't properly foreclosed on in the first place, then the legitimacy of the bank's resale can be called into question. Normally, I'd say: Don't worry about it, buyer - that's why you'll get title insurance! But last week, 3 of America's largest title company insurers declared that they will not offer title insurance on a number of the homes that may have been involved in this scandal.
In the vast majority of cases – when the foreclosure was justified and a bona fide purchaser, someone who was not involved in the bank’s wrongdoing, has purchased the home, courts will not reverse these foreclosures or their sale to buyers. But if you’re in the market for a foreclosure, get clear on which bank owns the place as soon as you can, and run the property past your title insurer before you get too far into the transaction to make sure they can write a policy of title insurance on the property before you spend too much money on inspections and appraisals. (And see my Bonus Buyer Advice at the end of this blog post!)
4. How the foreclosure freeze will impact American home values, say after you buy. In the short term, these freezes might cause prices to stabilize, as we expect to see the supply of foreclosures for sale start to shrink. However, if these freezes stretch out for a long period of time, they could simply be delaying many inevitable foreclosures, which could delay the recovery of the housing market and home prices, over time. I wouldn't expect to see the freezes cause prices to drop much beyond where they are now, but if they stretch out, they could keep appreciation flat for a longer period of time.
P.S. - Bonus Buyer Advice from Tara: Don’t underestimate the deals you can get on non-foreclosed properties. You can often get just as good of a price on a better property with more flexibility on the seller’s part in terms of repairs and other negotiation points if you buy a home from an individual seller, as opposed to a bank-owned property.
(Hint: I threw in a couple of bonus items at the end!)
1. What is robo-signing is, and what all the fuss is about? The phrase robo-signing refers to what we’re now realizing has been a very common practice in the banks’ foreclosure document processing divisions, where one person was essentially given the job of signing as many 10,000 foreclosure documents per month, by hand. These individuals were supposed to be reviewing the files, making sure grounds for foreclosure actually existed, signing the docs in front of notaries. But because of the volume of documents, what they actually did was just sign thousands of documents at a time, without even reading them, and ship them off somewhere else to be notarized.
If you do the math on an 8 hour workday, you'll see that that only gives the staffer 1.5 minute to review each file and documents to make sure the foreclosure is warranted. That's not humanly possible, which is how these staffers got the nickname “robo-signers”
Government regulators are very concerned that the banks may have been taking people's homes without following the proper legal procedures. As a result, 40 states' attorneys general are teaming up to launch a multi-state investigation, and the federal Comptroller of the Currency and federal attorney general may also get involved in investigating this issue.
2. Will the freeze will make the banks cancel buyer contracts on REO properties? Currently, the freeze impacts bank-owned properties that are owned and/or serviced by Ally Financial/GMAC Mortgage, JP Morgan Chase, and some properties that were owned by Bank of America. Generally, contracts to buy these homes are being put on hold and extended for 30 days. As well, the banks are often reaching out directly to buyers and offering them the option to cancel their contracts and recoup their deposit money.
3. Is it safe to buy a foreclosed home? There's lots of talk right now about the "clouds" that this scandal will create on the titles to homes that were foreclosed by the banks' foreclosure mills. And that makes sense: if the home wasn't properly foreclosed on in the first place, then the legitimacy of the bank's resale can be called into question. Normally, I'd say: Don't worry about it, buyer - that's why you'll get title insurance! But last week, 3 of America's largest title company insurers declared that they will not offer title insurance on a number of the homes that may have been involved in this scandal.
In the vast majority of cases – when the foreclosure was justified and a bona fide purchaser, someone who was not involved in the bank’s wrongdoing, has purchased the home, courts will not reverse these foreclosures or their sale to buyers. But if you’re in the market for a foreclosure, get clear on which bank owns the place as soon as you can, and run the property past your title insurer before you get too far into the transaction to make sure they can write a policy of title insurance on the property before you spend too much money on inspections and appraisals. (And see my Bonus Buyer Advice at the end of this blog post!)
4. How the foreclosure freeze will impact American home values, say after you buy. In the short term, these freezes might cause prices to stabilize, as we expect to see the supply of foreclosures for sale start to shrink. However, if these freezes stretch out for a long period of time, they could simply be delaying many inevitable foreclosures, which could delay the recovery of the housing market and home prices, over time. I wouldn't expect to see the freezes cause prices to drop much beyond where they are now, but if they stretch out, they could keep appreciation flat for a longer period of time.
P.S. - Bonus Buyer Advice from Tara: Don’t underestimate the deals you can get on non-foreclosed properties. You can often get just as good of a price on a better property with more flexibility on the seller’s part in terms of repairs and other negotiation points if you buy a home from an individual seller, as opposed to a bank-owned property.
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