Ray Henson, GRI, e-PRO, CDPE, 916-698-8414

I have a mobile home listing that I took over for a friend. We have had it on the market for about a year at the price the lender set as their lowest price they would accept in a short sale. Originally, the lender, 21st Mortgage, stated that we could sell the property and my client could pay back the difference between the sales price and the loan amount. California recently passed a law that said a lender cannot require repayment as a condition of a short sale. 21st Mortgage has changed their policy. They say they will no longer do short sales in California, period.

There recommendation is to raise the price substantially and market the loan as assumable. They want me to sell a mobile home over price and have a borrower assume a loan at a higher interest rate and longer duration than he can get on his own in today's market. Hmmm, not one phone call in all this time and they want me to raise the price.

Has anyone ever dealt with this company before and have any advice or options? Does anyone have any advice for short sales in regards to mobile homes in general?

Thank you, Ray

The Sacramento Association of Realtors hosted a credit repair class led by Jay Broderick of The Law Offices of Legal Paradigm this week. He mentioned that over 75% of credit reports have some sort of error in them, which could raise your cost of financing. In about 25% of cases, the error could be big enough to affect your ability to qualify for a loan. Bankers, lenders, merchants, employers, and insurance companies are all increasingly using credit reports for their purposes. It just makes good sense to check your credit report periodically.

The best way to check your credit report is to get the report directly from one of the credit reporting companies, Trans Union, Experian or Equifax. You can request a report by phone (877-322-8228), at the website www.annualcreditreport.com or you can request a report in writing. I hate automated phone systems so I requested a report online. It was very easy and takes only a few minutes.

The credit report is free :o). Your credit score is not :o(. The Experian score costs $7.95 and, since I am somewhat cheap, I passed on the credit score and reviewed the report. Thankfully, there were no errors on my report that I can see. The report does show all my credit history, but there is some other good information in the report too. The report explains how different items, like account age (the older, the better), credit inquiries (the fewer, the better), and negative information affect your credit score. There is also information regarding the Fair Credit Reporting Act, information regarding state law and information for remedying the effects of identity theft.

Identity theft is another very good reason to check your credit report periodically. You get one free copy per year from each of the three credit agencies. If you request your report from a different agency every 4 months, you can monitor your history regularly and for free. What if you find that identity theft has occurred? Mr. Broderick mentioned that the quickest way to overcome identity theft is to file a police report that is very specific regarding the issue, then send the police report to the credit agencies. The agencies must remove the identity theft promptly (two to three months). By the way, requesting your free copies from the credit agencies does not hurt your credit score. It is not considered a credit inquiry. It is considered a consumer disclosure.

So a card that has a longer history, helps your score. A new credit card or account can hurt your score. A card that is not used for over 6 months does not help your score. It is better to use the card to buy something small, every so often, then pay the card off immediately. For the same reason, do not close an account, just use the account for small purchases and pay the card balance off right away. It is good to use your credit cards, but do not use more than 30% of the credit available on any of your cards. Using more than the 30% can hurt your score. Of course, if you do not have the discipline to keep your balances low and the credit paid on time, get rid of the credit account. I try to pay my credit cards off each month. The interest rates are way too high.

This year my tax bill came in for one of my properties and the assessed value came in at $152,000. I purchased the home in 1990, have done some upgrades, but there is no way the property is worth that much. I decided to challenge the assessed value and, to my surprise, the process was very easy.

If you think your assessed value is too high, then you need to challenge it before the end of November. The form must be filed by November 30. It is a simple, one page form and there is no charge to file the form. You will also have to submit at least two comparable properties that sold in your area between Jan. 1, 2011 and March 31, 2011. I submitted five properties and included a Comparative Market Analysis for my review. I sent this packet in the mail last Friday. Monday, I received confirmation that they received my packet and that it could take up to a month to receive the results. Today (Thursday), I received the results. The process took less than a week from start to finish. They reduced the assessed value on my property to $120,000. It is not the $105,000 that I think the property is worth, but it will still save me about $450 in property taxes this year. That is not bad for about 1-2 hours of work.

You can find the form at www.assessor.saccounty.net. Make sure you get the Decline-in-Market-Value Residential/Agricultural Request for Assessor Review (Prop 8) 2011-2012 Assessment Year. There is also a very good frequently asked questions page on the website. If you would like to call the assessor's office with questions, the number is 916-875-0455. You can call a Realtor to get the required comparable property reports and a Comparative Market Analysis. If you are in Sacramento County, I would be glad to help. You can call me at 916-698-8414 or email me at rayhenson@kw.com

What happens if you disagree with the results of the review? You have the right to appeal. It is a formal process and may involve an appeal meeting. Again, you have to fill out a form, there is a small fee involved and you have to apply before Nov. 30, 2011. That is way too much work for me, but if you are interested, you can find more information and the form at www.sccob.saccounty.net/pages/assess.html or call 916-874-8174.

Good Luck!!!

Average Home Prices

• 4/11 $191,000
• 5/11 $198,000
• 6/11 $189,000
• 7/11 $206,000
• 8/11 $194,000

Price per Square foot

• 4/11-8/11 $104 to $109 up 4.8% (4 months)
• 8/10-8/11 $115 to $109 down 5.2% (12 months)

As you can see, our market has been down over the last 12 months, but has risen some in the last four months. We have also seen our inventory shrink from 2.8 months to 1.9 months in the last four months. Inventory has been low for the last few months, especially in the $100,000-$200,000 price range. It has made for a very competitive market for buyers. It is common to have multiple offers on the same property.

The majority of homes sold have been short sales at 51%. Bank owned or foreclosure sales have made up 19% of sales. 70% of our sales are made up of disstressed properties. The remaining 30% of sales are traditional sales, including plenty of flip sales.

Elk Grove Zip Code Map

I was showing houses today and, believe it or not, I walked by this without even noticing the very creative use of a garage door opener the first time through.

Now it maybe just a bit unsightly, but imagine yourself eating a Hungry Man TV Dinner when the doorbell rings. Just press the opener button and yell, "Come on in!" You have all the bases covered! You may want to consider this the next time you have an old opener laying around. Waste not, want not.

It really was a pretty good way to start my Monday.