Erin Attardi, Realtor - Sacramento, CA

When I was in kindergarten, my dad took my class on a field trip to the Nimbus Fish Hatchery. It was one of my most memorable field trips when I was a kid, and is probably part of the reason that to this day I love fishing! This coming weekend, you can check out the Nimbus Fish Hatchery, among other recreational areas at the The American River Salmon Festival!

The event is this weekend, Saturday October 11th, and Sunday October 12th, is FREE! Parking is $9 dollars, or you can take advantage of the complimentary shuttle services from RT's Light Rail Station on Folsom Blvd. at Hazel Avenue. There is also a free bike valet service.

The festival has all ages fun - like live music, magic shows, puppet shows, face painting, educational programs, fish and wildlife exhibits, great food, and more!

I may see you there!

Per a press release from Governor Schwarzenegger's office, he signed several real estate and lending related bills today. Yay for California! A brief summary of some of them;

SB 1461; real estate licensees required to publish license info in certain advertising
SB 870; allows CalHFA to structure a refinance program
SB 1055; mortgage debt forgiveness similar to the federal legislation
SB 1675; provides the California Department of Veterans Affairs with the discretion to structure the terms and conditions of any authorized debt issuance

Good stuff...to see other state and federal legislation pertaining to the real estate industry, click here.

Get ready for another long-winded blog...I am often asked these question by sellers facing the possibility of attempting a short sale of their property. Having successfully closed several of these, I will tell ya'll what I know to be true based on my experiences.

-Who pays agent commissions? In a short sale scenario, the lender(s) who agree to forgive debt and allow a short payoff of the loan(s) pay the agent commissions. Sometimes these are re-negotiated by the lender(s) during the process. For example, if the seller and listing agent agree to a 6% total commission (3% to the listing agent, 3% to the selling agent) initially when the property is listed, the lender may re-negotiate that fee later to perhaps 5% total (2.5% / 2.5%) or less.

-Who pays title, escrow, and transfer tax fees? These are negotiable between buyer and seller when the offer is initially negotiated (before it is submitted to the lenders for approval). For example, perhaps the buyer and seller agree initially that the seller will pay for 100% of title and escrow fees, 100% of county transfer tax, 50% the city transfer tax. The lender(s) may negotiate that the buyer pay a different split of these fees...however the portion that is paid by "the seller" is absorbed in to the overall debt forgiveness and short payoff. So basically, again, the lender(s) pay these fees in some.

-Who pays for inspections or certifications? These are negotiable between buyer and seller when the offer is initially negotiated (before it is submitted to the lenders for approval). I have seen this vary widely from the short sale lender(s) agreeing to pay for pest inspections, pest clearances, roof certifications, etc., to lender(s) that do not agree to pay for any inspections or clearances. A lot will depend on the circumstances with the condition of the property, how many loans are involved, the buyers loan program, if the property is in default, the length of time of negotiation, etc. As a safety net - buyers, do not expect that lenders will grant these requests. Generally short sale properties are sold "as-is."

-Will the lender(s) give the buyer credits for closing costs? These are negotiable between buyer and seller when the offer is initially negotiated (before it is submitted to the lenders for approval). I have seen this vary widely from the short sale lender(s) agreeing to pay up to 6% closing costs for the buyer (including an instance of seller-funded downpayment assistance...which is now a long shot thanks to HR 3221), to the lender(s) rejecting those requests. Again, much will depend on the circumstances surrounding the sale of the property.

-Who pays delinquent property taxes or liens? Sellers - if you have not been paying your property taxes or county utilities, you really need to let your agent know this ASAP! I work closely with the title company on this to make sure that we know of any lien issues in advance, but because it can take several weeks or months to get approval, new liens may pop up during the lender negotiation process. When I negotiate short sales, one of my worst fears is that after the short sale is approved an unexpected lien will pop up. This has happened to me before, and for lack of a better way of describing it - this sucks! If you can let your agent know in advance that these items are unpaid, it will save lots of headaches all the way around. IF WE KNOW in advance that these liens exist, there is a great chance that the short sale lender will absorb these costs into their overall debt forgiveness and short payoff. IF WE DO NOT KNOW in advance that liens exist, once the short sale is approved - this will halt the transaction until we can find a way to pay these liens. The seller is often financially unable to pay them, the buyer does not want to pay, the agents commission has already been reduced, and the lender has already taken a loss on the loan. Sellers - communicate with your agents.

Unless asked to carry an unsecured promissary note (which has not happened in any of my short sales), the seller usually pays nothing out of pocket to close the transaction. The seller can not make any money from a short sale either. Hope that answers some frequently asked short sale questions...cheers!

I am often asked this question. Well, the stats are out for Sacramento County for August 2008, and for the first time in a LONG TIME, there was an increase in the median home price. Keep in mind that certain micro-markets within Sacramento County have had ongoing increases to the median price for the better part of 2008...this county-wide increase is very exciting though. This is not exactly enough information to consider a trend, but exciting nonetheless. The average price for Sacramento County also increased (graph not shown - increased from $235k to $241k). What else is happening from a statistal standpoint? The overall number of closed sales in Sacramento County decreased a bit from July 2008 to August 2008 (1,784 closed in August / 2,060 in July), but the pendings went up substantially (2,539 pending in August / 2,238 in July). REO's still dominate a large percentage of the pendings and solds. County-wide, there is 3.9 months of listing inventory. 6 months of inventory is widely regarded as a balanced buyer/seller market. Stay tuned...