About Sacramento County, CA

Hidden Dry Rot Damage in Sacramento Apartment Community

Finding dry rot damages around your home or apartment community can be done by anyone who knows where to look. Sometimes the rot is out in the open in full daylight, other times it can be hidden in a dark corner behind some bushes.

Do you need help finding the problem areas on your property?

I have been out with buyers this past week looking at homes in the Elk Grove CA area and have been surprised at how quickly homes are selling. Although I know our Elk Grove foreclosure or bank owned listngs have been selling quickly...the last one had 15 offers within the first week it was on the market...I guess I have been surprised this weekend to see how many Elk Grove short sales have multiple offers within the first week or two that they are on the market also!

With our current inventory in the Elk Grove area down to 1.5 months and interest rates at all time low, if a home is priced right and in good condition, it is selling quickly. I was out with a first time home buyer yesterday; we found the home of their dreams and it had been active the day before. However, when I called the agent to let her know we were going to submit an offer, she said the seller had just accepted an offer. She had received 3 very good offers that morning and the seller decided not to wait!

The days of homes being on the market for weeks or even months, has passed. Buyers and agents need to pay attention to what is coming on the market every day. As a home buyer if you are not receiving daily alerts on new homes coming on the market, it is imporant to do so.

If I am to alienate anybody with my blog this morning, let's start out with a joke I heard. OK, a conservative, a moderate and a liberal walk into the bar. The bartender says Hello, Mitt.

Now we move to lawyers. First, let me say that many, many of my clients are lawyers. I'm not really sure why but I imagine it's because I tend to think first, act second. I don't go around clicking on every "like" button I see. But maybe it's because I like lawyers that I have so many as clients. Or, perhaps we have too many darn lawyers in the world, just like real estate agents.

Did you know that in California almost one person in every 35 people has a real estate license? That's a disgusting number!

Some of my clients hire a lawyer to do a short sale. Some do it upfront and others do it toward the end. I encourage it. For one thing, I am not a lawyer. I can't give legal advice. I can't tell you how many times a client has told me she understands that I can't give legal advice but . . . what about this, that, or the other thing? She's not asking for advice, she's asking for my opinion. Sorry, she's asking for legal advice. I can lose my real estate license for giving legal advice. Do you want me to lose my license, is that what you are suggesting?

I have no qualms sharing with short sale sellers what kind of red flags they should look for, what might possibly happen. And then I say, "Get legal advice because you can't count on anything I just told as I am not qualified to give you legal advice." Go talk to a lawyer. What is $200 or $2,000 or whatever as compared to the rest of your life? As compared to a deficiency judgment? As compared to thousands of dollars in taxes?

One of my clients asked yesterday why her best friend spent $900 for a divorce but my client's short sale, because she hired a lawyer, cost her three times as much. She wanted to know which was more work. A divorce or a short sale?

Hands down, I'm telling ya, it's the short sale. I would know. I've been divorced 4 times. As a Sacramento short sale agent, I've closed tons of short sales, and a short sale is a lot more work than a divorce. A short sale involves a lot more people. It's more painful. It's more time consuming. But at least -- unlike a divorce -- you're only gonna do it once. So, do it right.

If I think you need a lawyer, you can bet I will tell you. Not every seller in California does, unlike other parts of the country in which lawyers are mandatory. We have SB 458 and CA Civil Code 580e in California. Plus, some short sales are easier than others. But every short sale seller needs legal advice. You can't get legal advice from your short sale agent. If your agent tries to give you legal advice, you better fire your agent.

By Jane Hodges - Reuters

About a third of first-time buyers in 2011 got either a gift (26 percent) or a loan (7 percent) from their families to help finance their home purchases, down slightly from 2010, but consistent with assistance levels seen during the last decade, according to data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

But industry observers think the level of parental generosity is even higher, with some giving children money for home purchases so far in advance of a loan application that the gift isn't disclosed to lenders, or, if they've got the resources, buying homes outright for their adult kids and setting up an after-the-fact intra-family loan agreement.

In November, all-cash buys among first-timers hit a high of 13 percent, according to Guy Cecala of Bethesda, Maryland-based Inside Mortgage Finance, a mortgage industry newsletter publisher and researcher. That's up from 6 percent in 2009, when IFM first began tracking it. While the company's surveys don't ask about the source of cash, Cecala said that when first-time buyers buy outright, it's likely their parents who are purchasing on the children's behalf.

What's encouraging these all-cash purchases now? Home prices are way down - with the median price in November 2011 at just $164,200, down 3.5 percent from a year ago, according to NAR. Mortgage interest rates, too, remain at all-time lows. According to mortgage researcher HSH, the average rate on fixed 30-year loans fell steadily from 5.1 percent at the start of 2011 to 4.09 percent in December.

Many first-timers use FHA loans, requiring a 3.5 percent down payment or 10 percent down payment with poor credit, or VA loans, which require no down payment, but are eligible only to military personnel.

Indeed, in some markets, without parental help, many first-time buyers wouldn't qualify for the best rates or even a loan on the types of property for sale. To qualify for loans backed by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae, borrowers need a 740 credit score and a hefty 20 percent down payment — or else they'll pay private mortgage insurance and additional "risk-based pricing" fees on their loan, IFM's Cecala says. As the government rethinks the role of the two mortgage giants, these tighter lending standards may be here to stay, or be tightened further.

To be sure, many baby boomers want to help. More than a fifth of them have co-signed a home loan for an adult child or given a gift or loan to help them buy, according to a September survey by Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate and Research Solutions Inc. More than half of those earning at least $75,000 said they wanted to help their children finance a home purchase.