Fremont, CA

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You can play in the snow with your family without having to drive all the way to Lake Tahoe or Reno.

At Leland Meadows you can have fun in the snow. They have inner tubes that have tow straps on them so you can be towed up the hill and then you slide down. So much easier for us older folks who do not want to drag the tube, while we walk up the hill. For the younger and more energenic, you can still do it the old fashioned way.

My Family and some friends enjoyed both the towing as shown on left and the old fashioned way pictured below. If you like to ski (like I do) you can also visit dodge ridge which is about 15 to 20 minutes away. Go to www.snowplay.com to find leland meadows and you can find dodge ridge at http://www.dodgeridge.com/site/index.php You can play for the day and go home or if your prefer you can stay at one of the wonderful cabins or hotels and spend more days in the snow.

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The FHA has come up with some new rules when it comes to their loans.

Beginning April 2010, the up front mortgage insurance will increase from 1.75% to 2.25%

There will be no more spot appraisals. So it will be harder to get an approval on a condo.

This is a big one. Effective for all case numbers issued on or after February 1 of this year, all previous FHA condo approvals will be eliminated and condominium projects must be recertified by HUD.

You can pretty much forget about buying a condo until the project has been blessed by HUD or one of HUD's approved lenders.

Going forward there will be two approval methods for FHA Case numbers ordered after February 1, 2010;

Hud Review and Approval Process (H-RAP)

DE Lender-Approval and Review Process (DEL-RAP)

On another note>>>
For all purchase contracts dated after February 1st, 2010, FHA has waived the flipping rule.
Private Sellers & Investors can now sell their properties to FHA buyers without having to wait 90 days.

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Smart consumers, taking advantage of the historically low interest rates, the very good home prices and also, the extended and expanded tax credit, are helping to water a housing market growth. This is in turn helping the economy in general. According to several surveys, most of the current home owners say they would use the tax credit money to pay off existing debt, do home improvement, or invest it, or put it in savings.

Helping to energize the housing market is the reason behind the homebuyer tax credit and the recent extension and expansion. Consumer spending is, of course, the real water for the nation's economic growth, and a lot of consumer spending is fueled by the growing housing market, along with new jobs, and confidence in our country's rebound from the recession.

More times than a few, we pulled up to the next house on our tour only to find that there was someone already waiting there in a car or van. They seemed motionless at first. Quietly, these car sitters waited for me to pull up, and then watched me get out my supra key box and approach the home. I guess once I showed signs that I was a real estate agent they pounced.

"Are you the agent?" or "Open House Today?" They exclaimed. I had to say, "no." I was not the listing agent nor was I their agent. As I opened the door for my Fremont home buyers, they, the stalkers, assumed they were going to see the home and take their time with it. In they went wiping their feet with a sort of look that I don't necessarily have the words for.

This happened four times today until finally one of my Fremont home buyers, the husband chimes in and says, "Uh, this isn't and open house. You need to get an agent." Kudos, naturally, good agents are worth their weight in gold I thought to myself. Then, Mrs. Fremont home buyer takes a gentler approach saying, "You should call Jeff. He's really good. You need to get together with him. Oh, he does loans too. You need to be approved or the seller will not really look at your offer." Wow, double kudos. My Fremont home buyer lessons sunk in.

When the day rolled to an end, I thought, will these stalkers call me? I doubt it, but truth be told, they should really get with an agent. Think of it this way:

• The stalkers waited around hoping to get inside a house for sale.
• My clients were being escorted by a professional to see 11 homes in 2 hours. Keys in hand at the door.
• The stalkers had to rely on a flyer if there was even one there or try to find the info in the Internet.
• My clients knew all the info already; heard the stats straight from me as I was able to compare the info to other homes I had professionally closed escrow with.
• The stalkers, if they found a house they liked, would have to call the listing agent to make an offer. This can be risky and perhaps tempt the listing agent to just close the deal without thoroughly negotiating for the Fremont home buyer/stalker. Sometimes it happens.

I was very polite as were my Fremont home buyers during these strange ambushes, but I could not help to feel a bit taken advantage of. I was not put out, and I do not want my readers to think I'm ranting. Truth be told, I felt it was a funny occurrence running into these folks with their presumptuous dispositions. I thought I would let you know.

If you are stalking, please consider the FREE benefits of having a buyers agent as mentioned above as opposed to your current method of house hunting.

If you have an agent, good for you. The agent really cares about your transaction. Any business owner or agent wants to get referrals after doing a great job http://www.tricityhome.com/ondemand.html and they can only get them from caring about you and your transaction.

If you do not believe me, ask my current Mr. & Mrs. Fremont homer buyer. They really stuck up for having an agent. I later told her that it was very nice of here to say that to strangers about me and to keep up the good work.

On Tuesday, Jan 11, the Fremont City Council voted to join the California FIRST financing program. As reported in last week's issue, California FIRST is a voluntary program that provide loans to homeowners to finance energy efficiency upgrades. The loans are repaid through a special property tax assessment.

Recently the City of Hayward joined this program and Bay East staff testified in favor of the California FIRST program and urged Hayward to involve the REALTOR® community in designing and marketing the program. Bay East offered the same support and cooperation to the City of Fremont.

Remember .... "Dream Green"

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