Diamond Bar, CA

The recent pullback in market price gives homeowners an opportunity to ease their property tax squeeze if the property was purchased after 2003.

Here a quick outline on how to lower your property tax:

1. Contact me to get 3 comps on the similar houses that was sold from January 1st to March 31. Those are the acceptable comps for the County Assessors to re-assess the value of your property.

2. If the value of the comps are lower than your assessed value, file an application with county assessor. Here's the link to the application:

Los Angeles County

San Bernardino County

Riverside County

For those who purchase bank owned or short sale properties, your assessed value may be higher than the purchase price.

Please be sure to take photos of the house prior repair/remodeling to support your argument on the true value of the property at the point of purchase.

Recently I have a client who was referred by her friend to a loan modification company that already modified her friend's loan. My client is trying to modify her option arm loan of $460,000. The modification company charges a flat fee of $4500 and requests $1500 up front.

Reading the contract of the loan modification company, it states:

"Service provided by the company are not guaranteed,

no particular result has been promised,

no prediction of result has been made,

other than that the company will modify or restructure the current mortgage to some unspecified degree.

No promise or guarantee implied or directly made by the independent contractor is the company obligated to maintain."

Any homeowner who is interested in modify the loan can call and talk to the lender's "Loss Mitigation" department and work with the lender directly FREE OF CHARGE!

From my current experience, lenders are very open and willing to work with homeowners to make sure that homeownser keeps the property. They already learned it the hard way knowing that they stand to suffer more lost if they take the property back. They know if they help the distressed owners now, they are helping themselves in return.

When you talk to the lender's Loss Mitigation department, just tell them the truth about your financial situation and they will help you determine your eligibility and guide you through the loan modification process.

It really does not make any sense for distress owners to pay a large sum of money to a loan modification company. Owners are better off keeping the money in their pockets and work with the friendly lenders themselves.

The more we talk about it, the more homeowners will be aware of their options and not fall into this type of loan scam.

Escrow company is a neutral third party who facilitate the transfer of the title from seller to buyer by holding funds or documents and distribute them accordingly to the instructions from both parties.

Escrow officer will obtain funds and documents from buyer, seller and lender, when all the terms of the agreement are met, escrow officer make sure money and papers wind up in the right hands.

Buyer is responsible to pay for escrow fee, loan fee, prorated property tax, prorated first month mortgage payment, appraisal fee, credit check fee, home inspection fee and other miscellaneous closing cost.

Seller is responsible to pay for escrow fee, title fee, prorated property tax, prorated last month mortgage payment, home warranty, termite repair fee, home repair fee and other miscellaneous closing cost.

Due to the fact that escrow company is a neutral third party hired by both parties, with the assistance of an escrow officer, the transaction can flow smoothly and reliably.

Recently, I have quiet a few buyers asking me about the difference between bank owned and short sale listings. To help clarify, here's a quick comparison chart:

Buyers can secure very good deals with both bank owned and approved short sale listings.

If you are searching to buy a house online, which of the following house will be more appealing?