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Home Lorraine or Loretta Kratz-Certified Negotiation Experts,

Lorraine or Loretta Kratz-Certified Negotiation Experts,

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Local Home Depots Offer Free Home Improvement Workshops.

10-06-09
Lorraine or Loretta Kratz-Certified Negotiation Experts,

Interior painting, fall planting tiling floor, walls and drywall installation, doors that do not hang correctly. Many other home improvement topics will be covered. Contact 800-430-3376 for times, locataions and topics.

Local Free activities ----- San Diego County.

Composting Workshop:

Solana Center For Environmental Innovation offers free composting workshops taught by its master composters. 10AM to Noon, on Saturday. Located at the City Heights Community Garden, corner of 43rd Street and Wightman Avenue. 760-436-7986 Ext 222.

Balboa Park Walk:

Learn about palm trees in the park 10AM on Saturday --meet at visitors center in the House of Hospitality on El Prado walkway. Free. Balboapark.org

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Drum Roll -- Please --- September Sales Numbers for San Marcos, California !

10-05-09
Lorraine or Loretta Kratz-Certified Negotiation Experts,

Here is the statical data for the month of September 2009 sales in the community of San Marcos, Ca.

Detached homes sold in zip code 92069 31

Detached Homes sold in zip code 92078 40

Attached Homes sold in zip code 92069 19

Attached Homes sold in zip code 92078 22

Total homes sold for the month of August Detached - 71

Total homes sold for the month of August attached - 41

Sold homes including detached and attached 112

Sales were up in the month of September 2009. Its shows the market is improving in San Marcos. For additonal inforamtion contact Crescent Moon Realty, or Land N Sea Auctions. @ 1888-882-1198 Ext 111

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What Do You Do With All The Business Cards You Collect?

10-04-09
Lorraine or Loretta Kratz-Certified Negotiation Experts,

Yes, what do we do with most of the business cards we collect. It seems that it goes hand in hand, being in the business of doing real estate --- that we collect all these cards. The other day, I was reviewing the cards that I have saved and I notice that they come from all walks of life. I had duplicates and triplicates of some cards. I had some that just have a name and a telephone number (haven't a clue who they might be). I find that some have magnets attached or they have adhesive so you can attach them to?. Now on to size, there are some that are the size of a small page out of a paper back, others that are the size of postage stamp, or they are cute with a motif of some sort, they are designed like a house, clothes pin, or broom.

So, once these cards are in your possession --- what next?

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No New 21-Day Turn Around Requirement For Short Sale Approvals!

10-03-09
Lorraine or Loretta Kratz-Certified Negotiation Experts,

Recently enacted Senate Bill 306 does not require lenders to review short sale requests from sellers and their agents within 21 days. The new California law, which addresses certain escrow procedures, has been mischaracterized by some practitioners as landmark legislation calling for a 21-day turnaround for short sale approvals.

The new law inserts a short payoff amount request into the existing payoff demand law which generally requires a lender to respond to a request for a payoff demand statement within 21 days from when it is requested, typically by escrow. The new law essentially requires, after a short sale has already been approved, for the lender to respond to a request for a short-pay demand statement within 21 days. The lender's response to escrow can be a short-pay demand statement or even, depending on the circumstances, a written statement electing not to proceed with the proposed transaction.

Another provision of SB 306 may also cause confusion. In practice, a lender may approve a short sale subject to its review of a closing statement prepared by escrow, but the lender does not review that closing statement promptly. Under the new law, if a lender fails to approve the closing statement within four days, the closing statement shall be deemed approved, but only if it is "not clearly contrary to the terms of the short-pay agreement or the short-pay demand statement provided to the escrowholder." The new law does not bind a lender to a short payoff amount in an offer that the lender has not approved.

Senate Bill 306 contains other technical changes in real estate related laws, such as, but not limited to, the following:

  • Expanding the existing requirement for a lender to contact certain borrowers to explore options for avoiding foreclosure at least 30 days before filing a notice of default, to include not only owner-occupied residences, but also owner-occupied residential property with two-to-four dwelling units.
  • Extending the existing requirement for a lender to record a notice of sale from 14 to 20 days before a trustee's sale. This provision does not change existing law requiring a lender to wait at least 20 days after mailing a notice of sale before conducting a trustee's sale.

This new law comes into effect on January 1, 2010. The full text of Senate Bill 306 is available at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/09-10/bill/sen/sb_0301-0350/sb_306_bill_20090806_chaptered.pdf.

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New Rules Coming Soon!

10-02-09
Lorraine or Loretta Kratz-Certified Negotiation Experts,


Beginning Oct. 1, new rules adopted by the Federal Reserve will go into effect, requiring greater diligence on the part of mortgage lenders and brokers who issue high-cost loans for borrowers with less than favorable credit. The interest rates on these loans are at least 1.5 percentage points greater than the average prime mortgage rate. The regulations, which were finalized in July 2008, prohibit lenders from making a high-cost mortgage without verifying that a borrower could repay the loan in the conventional way, and not through a foreclosure sale.


During the height of the market, subprime lenders often would offer loans without requiring borrowers to provide proof that they could make the monthly payments. In some cases, borrowers used stated income loans, which allowed some borrowers to fabricate annual income figures and buy homes without down payments.

Although many believe the Federal Reserve's new rules represent one of the more substantial efforts on the part of the federal government to combat such lending practices, some consumer advocates are concerned. According to a policy associate at the Center for Responsible Lending, the new regulations do not cover option ARMs, which enable borrowers to choose from several monthly payment options during the loan's early years.

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