Peter Nielsen

I attended my first real estate auction last Sunday in San Francisco. As a classic car buff, I've been to many auto auctions, but never a huge real estate auction such as this. The two are very similar, minus the exhaust fumes! This one was held in the ballroom of the Hilton Hotel. I would guess there were over 700 people there. It was very well organized, with huge screens at the front of the room projecting the property being bid on at the moment. Homes sold at a rate of about one every 2 minutes, and hundreds of them sold, most at about 1/2 of their previous high value. So, bargains were definitely had. I was particularly interested in a home in American Canyon, where a friend of mine purchased in November for $350,000. The one at auction was identical. Built in 2002, except for some weeds in the lawn, a couple of loose doorhandles and some paint touch-up needed, it appeared to be in turn-key condition. It sold for $215,000.

There was a room full of lenders there who pre-qualified buyers in the morning, and took loan applications from buyers once the auction got underway. My advice to someone who wants to get a deal at auction is to talk with your Realtor, who should have access to the auction calendar for your area. Go with him/her to preview the homes you may be interested in. Once the gavel drops, you're in contract, and you don't have the usual inspection contingencies, so you definitley want to get inside the house and know what you're buying before you go to the auction!

To learn more about foreclosures, visit my website at www.MarinRealtyExperts.com/BuyingForeclosures/REO's. If you are interested in purchasing a foreclosure in Marin County or elsewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area, I can send you a list of such homes.

Peter Nielsen PH: 415-299-0487, EMail: Peter@MarinRealtyExperts.com

Well, I finally heard back from the Las Vegas investor the other day and he's ready to proceed. In the interim, we did accept the offer from the 2 ladies, with the provision that we can accept a better offer should it come in before the bank approves the short sale. However, since we have the ball rolling with the conventional short sale, we're going to see if we can push that through. There are 2 loans on the property. The holder of the first told me that we need to close escrow by Feb 27, just 11 days from now, since they are planning to sell of a package of loans on that date, this one included. Before either bank will negotiate, however, they want to see a preliminary closing statement (called a HUD1) which the title company can prepare. However, since they need the numbers regarding outstanding liens, such as taxes and HOA dues, etc, they can prepare this until they get a Preliminary Title Report. Since the Buyers chose Fremont (where they live) as the location of the title company they want to use, it was necessary for them to contact a title company in Benicia to get this. The person that does the "prelims" was out of the office, and even though she has back-up and we put a "rush" on the order, it didn't come through until Friday night at 6:30pm. Since today (Presidents Day) is a holiday, the title company is closed, so I need to wait until tomorrow to get the HUD1 to begin negotiations with the banks. Stay tuned for more...

You can see Part 1 and other postings on the blog on my website at www.MarinRealtyExperts.com.

Peter Nielsen 415:299-0487

In a post dated Jan 23, 2009, I described a 1BR condo in Benicia, CA that I listed for $115,000. The seller paid $312,000 and owes nearly that amount since she purchased it with nothing down 2 1/2 years ago. I thought you might be interested in following the progress of a short sale such as this. Shortly after I posted it, I received a verbal offer, followed up by an email from a Las Vegas buyer with investor cash who wanted to buy it sight unseen, since it's is a good cash flow opportunity. I asked him to submit an offer, which came in the form of a short couple of sentences in an email. He doesn't use agents, but wanted half the commission. He later changed his offer to one in which he would pay a few thousand dollars, submitting an Equity Purchase Agreement with the idea that for this amount she would turn over title along with the right to sue the lenders for misleading lending practices. With this he did provide a 1-page formula contract intended for use in Nevada, which I reformulated to an offer on a California Assoc. of Realtors Equity Purchase Agreement (10 pages standard form) with an addendum to cover the unique aspects of his offer. He was happy to work with the California contract and was to review it and get back to me with any suggested edits, but that was the last I heard of him. Meanwhile, we received another offer from 2 ladies that wanted to buy with all cash to have the benefits of the cash flow. More on that offer in the next installment... You can see the condo that this story revolves around on my website at www.MarinRealtyExperts.com/900_Cambridge_68.

Peter Nielsen, 415-299-0487

Mary Southall's column in today's Marin IJ indicates that of all the Marin condos on the market, half of them are either in escrow or have offers-to-buy pending. My experience confirms that. I have an investor that wanted to put in an offer on a bank-owned condo in the Canal area of San Rafael last week. When I called the listing agent, I was told that there were already 3 offers on this property! Mary goes on to say that "dwindling inventory means more competition for the same homes. When competition for the same product increases, the price of that product rises. The window of opportunity for first-time buyers has not closed but it is shrinking." With condo prices in many cases 25-40% lower than they were a couple of years ago, and with interest rates as low as they are now, renters that have good credit should definitely think about buying. With FHA loans, all that's needed is 3.5% of the purchase price as a down payment.