Glenn Gaspar

A "Pre-Sale Inspection" means that it will require the seller of a home in Cerritos to have the property inspected by a city building inspector, and this is to be done prior to entering into an agreement to sell the home. The city council states that they wish to have this inspection performed in order to "protect the new owner(s) against undisclosed restrictions on the property and illegal construction additions or alterations."

In reality what the city is doing is creating a method in order to generate revenues for itself. Plain and simple.

In the state of California when a Buyer makes an offer for a residential property. The purchase contract will inform the Buyer that it is recommended that they perform a home inspection on the property they wish to purchase. Reason: to discover the same concerns the city mentions.

Further more the "Statewide Buyer and Seller Advisory," which is an additional form when making an offer, will share with the Buyer the 32 total inspections which they could/should consider performing if needed for the property they are considering.

This meeting will be held at 7PM at City Hall (18125 Bloomfield Ave. Cerritos, CA) so should you wish to voice your opion on this matter...Please do. Speak to sellers of homes in Carson or South Gate regarding this inspection. They will share with you what a typical city department can do or not do when they are needed.

Time after time I have come across Short Sale Listings which read as "Active" though when calling into the listing agent I discover that the seller has accepted an offer, but the listing agent still has the property as "Active." From my perspective this is incorrect and a major change or educational email needs to be sent out to everyone regarding this matter.

Dear listing agent: Once your Seller has accepted an offer, whether a Short Sale or not, you have 48 hours to change the status of your listing from "Active" to "Pending or Backup Offer." Even though the bank still has to agree to the terms of the Short Sale offer, you have an accepted offer agreed to by two parties one being the seller and the other a buyer.

From my conversations with our local MLS department they have informed me that a listing agent who has an accepted offer must make a change to identify the "true" status of the property. They have informed me that if the listing agent wishes to continue generating offers for their Short Sale listing, they then should change the status to a "Backup Offer."

This really does makes sense to me for it will present a true picture as to the status of the property, while informing interested agents of the possibility of their offer being considered.

The City of Buena Park is presently (as of July 2, 2009) accepting applications from non-resident and individuals not working within the city of Buena Park for the First Time Homebuyer Program.

The program offers assistance to first time buyers (one who has not owned a home over the past three years) as a deferred second mortgage, simple interest 30 year loan. The maximum amount for this loan is $100,000 which can be used to purchase a single family home, condominium or townhome in the city of Buena Park.

Between the dates of May 1 and July 1 applications were being accepted from Buena Park residents and individuals who do work within the city.

To obtain and review the application for this program just click here: <A HREF="http://www.buenapark.com/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=1341"> Buena Park Homebuyer Program Application </A>. Time is of the essence!

The goal of the program is to help first time buyers with obtaining funds, as a second deferred loan, for their down payment, non-recurring closing cost and for other cost associated in the purchase of their home.

In order for a buyer to obtain funds for this program they will need to qualify based on the guidelines. The one major challenge which I see here, and why there is still money available in this program is that the buyer will have to come in with at least a 20% down payment. But when you take into consideration that this is a second position simple interest loan, with no monthly payments until the property is sold, refinanced or change of title occurs....Not bad. Now food for thought: After the tenth year the interest on this loan is forgiven, and after 30 years of ownership the principle on the second is forgiven.

For more information on this program I am providing you a link here to the city's web site: City of Bellflower HAP site Good Luck!

What I am referring to is the First Time Buyer Program which the city of Long Beach, CA had available for buyers titled "Second Mortgage Assistance Program."

How this program worked was that the city of Long Beach would provide a deferred payment second mortgage loan up to $275,000 to qualified buyers purchasing a single family home, townhome or condo within the city's target redevelopment areas.

Now I was informed by a representative of The Long Beach Housing Development Company that they were expecting more funds later this year around the month of October. Plus that they were seeking other sources for additional funds to obtain for this program.

To obtain additional details about this program and/or to discover when the new funds arrive just click here The Long Beach Housing Development Company.