Sherry Peckhoon Sim, Broker/Owner Covering the Beautiful Central Coast CA

Despite efforts by California Association of REALTORS and National Association of REALTORS to fight for an extension of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and FHA conforming loan limits, Congress failed to extend the $729,750 loan limits and allowed them to expire Sept. 30.

This means the maximum loan amount that Fannie, Freddie, and FHA will buy or guarantee is $625,500, and anything above that amount will be non-conforming and will require a jumbo loan. These loans typically carry a higher mortgage interest rate and require a higher down payment, increasing the monthly payment, which will particularly be hard on middle-class buyers and sellers.

Check out the attached link on changes in the loan limits for your area.

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If you like more information about real estate in Cayucos, Cambria, Morro Bay, Los Osos, San Luis Obispo, and surrounding areas, the housing market, or assist you, friends or family in a home search or sale, please phone or text me at (805) 234-4315 or email me at Sherry@SherrySim.com or visit www.SherrySim.com.

Serving Cayucos, Cambria, Morro Bay, Los Osos, San Luis Obispo, Pismo Beach, Avila Beach, Shell Beach, Arroyo Grande, Atascadero & rest of San Luis Obispo County.

Information provided as a courtesy and deemed accurate at time of posting but not guaranteed.

All content ©Copyright by Sherry Sim2011. All rights reserved

Is your information on the Internet considered public info?

In addition to background checks, searches on Google, LinkedIn, Facebook, now a new company, "Social Intelligence" ploughs the Internet to gather all sorts of information about you - what you might have said or done online in the past seven years.

A dossier would be organized with examples of professional honors and charitable work, together with negative information that meet specific requirements.

Racist remarks, drug involvement, sexual content, references to bombs or weapons and violent activities are considered negative information.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, "Social Intelligences" was determined to be in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The company's goals was to perform pre-employment checks that would help companies meet their obligations to conduct hiring practices while protecting the privacy of job candidates.

Concerns about the service indicated that "employers should not be judging what people did in their private lives when they were away from work". The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Houston also cautioned that "Things that you can't ask in an interview are the same things you can't research".

If I can provide more information about real estate in Cayucos, Cambria, Morro Bay, Los Osos, San Luis Obispo, and surrounding areas, the housing market, or assist you, friends or family in a home search or sale, please phone or text me at (805) 234-4315 or email me at Sherry@SherrySim.com or visit www.SherrySim.com and www.ShortSalesAndREOs.com.

Serving Cayucos, Cambria, Morro Bay, Los Osos, San Luis Obispo, Pismo Beach, Avila Beach, Shell Beach, Arroyo Grande, Atascadero & rest of San Luis Obispo County.

All content ©Copyright by Sherry Sim2011. All rights reserved

Bike-friendly Los Angeles passed a pioneering law that would protect bicyclists from harassment by motorists. The ordinance makes it a crime for drivers to threaten cyclists verbally or physically.

Harassed bicyclists could sue in civil court without waiting for city to press criminal charges. The law was passed following a recent incident that involved a 63-year old bicyclist being struck and killed by a car on a downtown street.

Stories of harassment included motorists who threw objects, shouted insults, and others who tried to run bicyclists off the road. Over the past eight years, the number of cyclists have risen by 48%, resulting in increases in conflicts between motorists and bicyclists.

The League of American Bicyclists regarded the new law as "a groundbreaking move".

Perhaps bike-friendly San Luis Obispo might follow suit?

For more info, check out:-

(a) SLO Bike Club

(b) SLO County Bicycle Coalition

If I can provide more information about real estate in Cayucos, Cambria, Morro Bay, Los Osos, San Luis Obispo, and surrounding areas, the housing market, or assist you, friends or family in a home search or sale, please phone or text me at (805) 234-4315 or email me at Sherry@SherrySim.com or visit www.SherrySim.com and www.ShortSalesAndREOs.com.

Serving Cayucos, Cambria, Morro Bay, Los Osos, San Luis Obispo, Pismo Beach, Avila Beach, Shell Beach, Arroyo Grande, Atascadero & rest of San Luis Obispo County.

All content ©Copyright by Sherry Sim2011. All rights reserved

As of July 1, a new California state law requires homeowners to install carbon monoxide detectors. The Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act, Senate Bill 183, mandates that all single-family homes with attached garages, gas appliances, or fireplaces (by July 1, 2011) and multifamily or rental units (by January 2013) have the devices installed. Expect to see California appraisers call for this item as they do for hot water straps, smoke detectors, and other jurisdictional requirements. Help reduce re-inspection fees by having Borrowers and Sellers install this item prior to an appraisal inspection.


California
Cal. Health & Safety Code § 13260 to 13263 – Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act of 2010

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Requires State Fire Marshal to developed approved carbon monoxide device list. Prohibits marketing, distribution or sale of devices not on the approved list.

Cal. Health & Safety Code § 17926 to 17926.2 – Regulation of Buildings Used for Human Habitation

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Requires installation of approved carbon monoxide detectors in single-family dwellings by July 1, 2011, and for all other dwellings by 2013 if those dwellings contain a fossil fuel burning heater or appliance, fireplace, or an attached garage. Applies to rental property. Provides $100 penalty upon sale or transfer of noncompliant dwellings.

If I can provide more information about real estate in Cayucos, Cambria, Morro Bay, Los Osos, San Luis Obispo, and surrounding areas, the housing market, or assist you, friends or family in a home search or sale, please phone or text me at (805) 234-4315 or email me at Sherry@SherrySim.com or visit www.SherrySim.com and www.ShortSalesAndREOs.com.

Serving Cayucos, Cambria, Morro Bay, Los Osos, San Luis Obispo, Pismo Beach, Avila Beach, Shell Beach, Arroyo Grande, Atascadero & rest of San Luis Obispo County.

All content ©Copyright by Sherry Sim2011. All rights reserved

The California Housing Finance Agency announced this week that people who cashed out equity on their home now are eligible for three of the four “Keep Your Home California” programs.

MAKING SENSE OF THE STORY

* Keep Your Home California is a state-run program funded with $2 billion from the U.S. Treasury’s Hardest Hit Fund. It is designed to help low- and moderate-income people who are unemployed or owe more than their home is worth pay their mortgage.

* There are four individual programs that fall under Keep Your Home California. Eligible homeowners can get up to $50,000 in assistance from one or more of the four programs combined.

* Under the new rules, people who took equity out of their homes will be eligible for the unemployment mortgage assistance, mortgage reinstatement assistance, and transition assistance programs if they meet all the other program requirements. Homeowners who cashed out equity will continue to be ineligible for the principal reduction program.

* When the program first started, homeowners who had tapped the equity in their homes were ineligible for the programs. CalHFA decided to include these homeowners due to the large number of homeowners who were being turned away for assistance.

* Under the program revisions, homeowners who originated mortgages after Jan. 1, 2009 also are eligible for the same three programs. Originally, these borrowers were excluded because they also are excluded under the federal Home Affordable Modification Program, so CalHFA wanted to be consistent with HAMP.

* To qualify for any of the four programs, homeowners must fall below certain income limits, must be living in the home, and cannot own a second home, among other criteria. For additional requirements, visit “Keep Your Home California”.

Reproduced with the permission from California Association of REALTORS

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If I can provide more information about real estate in Cayucos, Cambria, Morro Bay, Los Osos, San Luis Obispo, and surrounding areas, the housing market, or assist you, friends or family in a home search or sale, please phone or text me at (805) 234-4315 or email me at Sherry@SherrySim.com or visit www.SherrySim.com and www.ShortSalesAndREOs.com.

Serving Cayucos, Cambria, Morro Bay, Los Osos, San Luis Obispo, Pismo Beach, Avila Beach, Shell Beach, Arroyo Grande, Atascadero & rest of San Luis Obispo County.

All content ©Copyright by Sherry Sim2011. All rights reserved