Rachel Zeppinick Woodland Hills Real Estate

Woodland Hills California Real Estate - Home Sales For The Month Of April - Woodland Hills And West Hills

List Date list price Sale Price C.O.E Days on Market

8/14/2007 375,000 377,500 4/18/2008 237 Sold as a short sale
3/11/2008 399,900 405,000 4/16/2008 7 Foreclosure sale
3/ 5/2008 399,950 370,000 4/10/2008 16 Regular Sale
1/22/2008 425,000 395,000 4/25/2008 52 Regular Sale
12/31/2007 445,900 425,000 4/ 3/2008 80 Short Sale
3/18/2008 464,900 464,000 4/29/2008 25 Regular Sale
9/ 8/2007 465,000 426,000 4/22/2008 194 Regular Sale
2/15/2008 474,900 474,900 4/15/2008 25 Four closure
11/12/2007 475,000 450,000 4/ 7/2008 111 Regular Sale
6/30/2007 479,000 475,000 4/ 4/2008 245 Regular Sale
3/14/2008 479,999 464,000 4/25/2008 18 Regular Sale
12/7/2007 489,000 489,000 4/19/2008 125 Regular Sale
9/11/2007 509,000 395,000 4/30/2008 184 Foreclosure
5/3/2007 509,000 490,000 4/24/2008 186 Short Sale
2/8/2008 515,000 455,000 4/ 9/2008 22 Foreclosure
12/18/2008 549,000 525,000 4/6/2008 72 Regular Sale
1/22/2008 549,900 525,000 4/4/2008 34 Regular Sale
1/25/2008 569,900 570,000 4/2/2008 33 Foreclosure
2/5/2008 599,950 585,000 4/15/2008 35 Regular Sale
8/21/2007 644,000 592,760 4/ 1/2008 202 Regular Sale
10/19/200 649,950 649,950 4/ 3/2008 122 Regular Sale
11/13/2007 679,900 650,000 4/28/2008 112 Regular Sale
2/8/2008 749,000 700,000 4/ 4/2008 27 Regular Sale
1/13/2008 749,900 800,000 4/11/2008 8 Regular Sale
11/29/2007 749,900 740,000 4/11/2008 95 Regular Sale
5/22/2007 885,000 868,000 4/17/2008 283 Regular Sale
4/ 3/2007 960,000 960,000 4/ 7/2008 338 Short Sale
2/ 2/2008 999,000 942,000 4/16/2008 59 Regular Sale

Average Price: $543,000 for a 3 Bedroom House
Average Price: $693,000 for a 4 Bedroom House
Average Time On The Market: 93 Days

Copyright © 2008 By Rachel Zeppinick, All Rights Reserved. Home Sales For The Month Of April In Woodland Hills and West Hills. * Contact Rachel Zeppinick for Customized Listing package, showing of available homes at short sales and foreclosures, the best your money can buy.

Visit my profile to find out more about our services. Call us today at 818.288.7255. Contact us by email if you prefer by clicking on email me on the right side of this page under my profile.

P.S. If you are listing your home as a short sale in Woodland Hills California make sure you hire an agent who knows how to do short sales and has the experience to get the job done. We are doing successful short sale packages. Call us at818-288-7255 to find out more.

Woodland Hills California Real Estate - Woodland Hills California Part # 6 - We Have An Offer

In order to understand the entire short sale process please read the Short Sales In Woodland Hills California Series we have posted here:

Part # 1 : What You Need to know if you are buying or Selling

Part # 2 : Do You Qualify to Do a Short Sale In Woodland Hills California

Part # 3 : What You Need to Have In Your Short Sale Package

Part # 4 : The Process of The Sort Sale What's Next

Part # 5 : Myth and truth about Sort Sales Offers

We have reached the point that a buyer has made an offer and submitted all his/her collaborating documentation. The seller and his/agent have put together all the required seller documents for the short sales in Woodland Hills California package.

The sellers agent is making sure that all documents required by the lender are filled out correctly and most impotently that all documents have the loan number on every one of them . The agent now will contact the lender and will get the instructions of how to get the package to that lender. Most lenders out there want the documents faxed. If they want you to express mail the package to them, you have to make sure you have a duplicate package prepared. Many times the express mailed package is signed for but it ends up in the lender's black hole. They seem to lose faxes of a package that in many cases contained over 100 pages, So make sure you have a back up.

Super Tip:A good way of dealing with the loan number on the documents, I would recommend buying one of those stamp kits at Office Depot so you can easily place the loan number on the stamp and stamp all the pages of the short sale package instead of hand writing the loan number on 80 to 100 pages of documents.

When the Short Sale package is delivered to the lender the agent will call the lender to make sure that they are in posation of the package. This important action by itself is an act in patience! Some lenders are easy to reach and some are a nightmare. Sometimes you are on hold for over an hour just to get to the right person to find out only if the package is there! Please do not work in short sales if you short tempered or are impatient as your blood pressure will elevate high while on the phone with some lenders.

Super Tip: Make sure to call the lender early in the morning, be on that phone before every body else starts calling. Be the first in line!

Once we get someone on the phone to confirms that they have received the package and they are in posation of our authorization letter from the seller, we can talk to the lender. The first thing we do is to confirm that this is the lender that is actually the holder of the note for this property. In some cases the lender that our sellers were sending their payments to had sold the note to another lender and that lender in turn sold it to someone else. Some time from the time of giving the lender notice that we were doing a short sale a note may end up being sold twice in a period of just a couple of weeks. The lenders were considering that loan a hot potato!

Super Tip: To stay on top of things make sure that you call ahead of even getting an offer to the lender to confirm that they are still in fact the lender. Notes are being sold every day.

Some of the lenders out there service their own loans and some of them use a servicer to handle their paper work and collects the mortgage payments. In this case the servicer will take care of all the short sale paper work and act on behalf of the lender. holder. For instance, for example, the servicer is GMAC and the note holder is Deutch Bank. GMAC is like the negotiator for Deautch Bank.

There are also companies that just do Short Sale processing and negotiations that lenders will contract out their short sales to. You will get the best results from these companies.They will get paid only upon the completion of each short sale so they are quick to respond to us. It is usually easier to get right through directly to the negotiator on the file.

And then there are these lenders who are trying to do it all themselves. These lenders own the note, service the note and handle all aspects of the Short Sale. These tend to be the hardest to get through to. They are totally swamped with files and they do not have experience in doing Short Sales. You are getting a salaried employee who knows little to nothing about the real estate business. Most of the time by the time these lenders do something with your short sale package the buyer is long gone!

Super Tip: Don't worry about losing the first buyer. Once you got a counter offer from the lender you will know exactly what they will accept for the property and the next buyer that comes along will be able to close quickly. More on that in the next post, Part 7.


Disclaimer: This post is not intended to be or to provide legal advice. We recommend that you speak to your tax accountant regarding specifics and to find out if this is the best option for you in your situation.

Copyright © 2008 By Rachel Zeppinick, All Rights Reserved. Short Sales- Part # 6 We Have An Offer. * Contact Rachel Zeppinick for Customized Listing packages.

Visit my profile to find out more about our services. Call us today at 818.288.7255. Contact us by email if you prefer by clicking on email me on the right side of this page under my profile.

P.S. If you are listing your home as a short sale in Woodland Hills California make sure you hire an agent who knows how to do short sales and has the experience to get the job done. We are doing successful short sale packages. Call us at818-288-7255 to find out more.

Woodland Hills California Real Estate - Woodland Hills Schools - Vocational

"The best kept secrets" in the west Valley is the campus of the West Valley Occupational Center, located in Woodland Hills this school is serving 15,000 students a semester and continues to be relatively undiscovered . The school was founded by Calvin Dellefield in 1969, the school set on a 19 acre campus was designed as an alternative school for adult students looking to acquire skills quickly and inexpensively before going out to look for a job.
Through the years the hillside campus has done much more than just train workers. The campus benefited the community by helping people support families and turning them into valuable citizens of their communities, training workers that in turn became taxpayers.

West Valley Occupational Center has ESL division that helps immigrant students lean the English language and help them adapt better to their new country. Kids who failed in traditional schools West Valley Alternative Work Education Center gives them one more chance to succeed.
Altghout some of these classes could be taken at a community College or adult education school, West Valley school's focus is on getting his graduates jobs right after they finish the program.

The focus on getting jobs has forced the center to grow and change classes as industries have changed, classes as bicycle repair and print shop have been replaced with classes teaching hybrid-car repair and computer studies.

Some courses have come full circle like motorcycle repair classes. This course was big in the 1970's and 1980's , and made a come back because of rising gas prices.

When the Real Estate market was at its peak, a real estate class had more that 100 students. The classes are down to 40 now.

As layoffs in and around the San Fernando Valley continue the last year the school has seen a rise of 10% in enrollment as adults change occupations.
The rise in enrollment did not change the fact that the center had no new construction in the past 30 year sand many classes are conducted in bungalows, but the centers student dont seem to mined.
Clark Jackson was an auto upholstery student at the center 30 years ago and enjoyed the school so much that he decided to come back as a teacher and has spent 21 years in the role. He got the call 21 years ago that the program was going to be shut down because they could not find an instructor, Jackson answered the call, he could not let the program go away. He gets pleasure by watching his students develop " their entrepreneurial Spirit."

Copyright © 2008 By Rachel Zeppinick, All Rights Reserved Woodland Hills Schools - Vocational. * Contact Rachel Zeppinick for Customized Listing packages.

Visit my profile to find out more about our services. Call us today at 818.288.7255. Contact us by email if you prefer by clicking on email me on the right side of this page under my profile.

P.S. If you are listing your home as a short sale in Woodland Hills California make sure you hire an agent who knows how to do short sales and has the experience to get the job done. We are doing successful short sale packages. Call us at818-288-7255 to find out more.

Woodland Hills California Real Estate - Sellers Want To Sell Your Home? Think Like A Buyer
Buying season is upon us, Southern California housing market is turning around, home sales have increased for three month in a row. raising hopes that the housing market is turning around. Sellers in the San Fernando Valley that their homes are for sale are hoping to get properties sold before property prices go lower as a result of lower prices caused by sales of foreclosed homes and short sales.

So if you are the seller trying to sell now you need an edge convincing these prospective buyers that your home is their dream home. The most important decision you need to make is setting the initial selling price.

Rules to follow to get your home sold

1. Forget The" I am Gorgeous inside" riders to get traffic. Evaluate your home from across the street and find its best and worst features and work on the latter. Find the best color to underline its best image.
2. List the repairs the home needs first. Spend you time of work that increases your home curve appeal, such as cutting the grass and getting rid of the weeds.
3. Clean all mold and mildew on the house, side walk, roof and drive way.A simple solution of bleach and water will do the job.
4. Don t leave landscape tools around, put them away.
5. Clean the windows and gutters in front of the house with a pressure wash, don t forget the siding and decks.
6. Make sure you spruce up your back yard too.
7. Put low-voltage lighting along the driveway and important landscape elements.A variety of solar powered elements will work well. add an attractive lamp to a porch.
8. As we all know kitchen and bathrooms sell homes, make them as fresh, modern and bright as possible, Make sure they are odor and leak free. A fresh coat of paint will do wonders.
9. Become a master of illusion and make your home look as spacious as possible by removing clutter and unnecessary big pieces of furniture.
10. Dust everything
11. Prospective buyers will look inside your closets, so make sure they are tidy.
12. Make sure all the light bulbs work, open all drapes and blinds and let the light shine in.
13. Put your pets away , their cages and feeding bowls too.
14. Wash the dishes and put them away, same goes for the laundry.
15. Set the mood with soft music and candles.
16. Put away your family photos, let the buyer see himself in the home not you.
17. Clean the fire place.
18. Remember: look at your home from a buyers prospective.

Copyright © 2008 By Rachel Zeppinick, All Rights Reserved. Sellers Want To Sell Your Home? Think Like A Buyer. * Contact Rachel Zeppinick for Customized Listing packages.

Visit my profile to find out more about our services. Call us today at 818.288.7255. Contact us by email if you prefer by clicking on email me on the right side of this page under my profile.

P.S. If you are listing your home as a short sale in Woodland Hills California make sure you hire an agent who knows how to do short sales and has the experience to get the job done. We are doing successful short sale packages. Call us at818-288-7255 to find out more.

Short Sales In Woodland Hills California- This short sale series is to help sellers, buyers and their agents understand the complexity of using the Short Sale process as an alternative to Foreclosures.

What You Need to know if you are buying or Selling

Do You Qualify to Do a Short Sale In Woodland Hills California

What You Need to Have In Your Short Sale Package

The Process of The Short Sale What's Next

This post Is about how do we Make a decision regarding the amount we are going to offer on a short sale, myths and truths about the right prices on short sales.

There is a hough amount of wrong information regarding how much you can buy a short sale for. There are people who are watching too much late night TV, seeing these so called gurus that tell you how to get rich fast by buying real estate at 50 cents on the dollar and with no money down.

MYTH- The lenders have so many properties and are so desperate they will accept any low amount that is offered on a short sale.

TRUTH- The lenders prefer to work out a feasible agreement with the homeowner. Lenders have a formula they use to determine the amount they are willing to lose and what the actual net proceeds they will accept at a short sale closing.

MYTH- Lenders are just siting and waiting for your low offer!

TRUTH- Lenders have a policy they follow, the policy is : The seller's agent submits a short sale package, with the short sales offer from the buyer, At that time the lender orders a BPO, the BPO is a Broker's Price Opinion, This is not a regular appraisal, the lender is paying the agent somewhere between $50 to $100 to do a BPO, versus $400 to an appraiser. That usually takes 5-10 days to complete.

Once the BPO is back they figure out their formula , the lender sends us a statement with the amount they need to net from the property, the BPO is usually the amount of similar properties sold. The lender will accept about 5%-15% less

MYTH- You can offer as low as 30 cents to 50 cents on the dollar of what the listed price is.

TRUTH- The above statement is NOT true. The lender will take a small discount off of the BPO value. They want the offer to be right below market value.

The list price is not your starting point in the negotiations on a short sale offer. You must pull up the county records and check to see how much the owner owes to the lender. You will look to see if a notice of default has been filed. You will also need to take into consideration that if this house is in in default there are other bills they most likely have not paid for and affect the sale of the property.

Those are:

• Unpaid Property Taxes

• Second notes or home equity lines of credit

• Unpaid HOA fees and related attorney's collection fees

• Title insurance

• Real Estate Agents' fees

All of these are going to have be paid at the closing. The seller is not likely to have these amounts of money at closing, the additional expenses will be part of the lenders closing fees, which they will have to approve and be reduced.

Once you know the amounts the seller owes on his/her property you will have a a picture of as to how to structure your offer.

If this short sale is in Woodland Hills California it is very likely that you could get the property for 70 cents on the dollar on what the seller loans are, NOT what the list price is. The list price is usually very close to market value. This is where the misunderstanding comes in for most offers.

You must look at what is owed to the bank versus what the market value is; the list price. The lender is actually reducing the loan down to the market value which can be a reduction of up to 50% it depends on the market area you are in, some have dropped that much in the last couple of years.

Many times you can get a better idea if you are a buyer by making an offer on a property that has equity in it and the seller is motivated to accept a lower than market value offer. When making an offer on a short sale you must have allot of patience. If you need to be in a house at a certain time , trying to buy a short sale that is at the very beginning of the process and there is no BPO yet on the property, its most likely not in your best interest to pursue the offer.

You can ask your agent to find short sales that already have a BPO from a previous offer, and the original offer is no longer on the table. In this case you know the amount the lender will accept as his bottom net and you can decide if you want to pursue with buying that property. In this situations we can close the purchase rather quickly, usually within 4-6 weeks.

So make your offer based on TRUTH not MYTH.

Disclaimer: This post is not intended to be or to provide legal advice. We recommend that you speak to your tax accountant regarding specifics and to find out if this is the best option for you in your situation.

The information provided herein is supplied by several sources and is subject to change without notice. Woodland Homes and Estates Blog does not guarantee or is any way responsible for its accuracy, and provides said information without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. Entries on Woodland Hills Homes and Estates Blog represent the opinions and ideas of the author(s). .

Contact : Rachel Zeppinick @ 818.288.7255

Copyright © 2008 By Rachel Zeppinick, All Rights Reserved.Short Sales- Part 5 Short Sale Myths and Truths About Offers. * Contact Rachel Zeppinick for Customized Listing packages.

Visit my profile to find out more about our services. Call us today at 818.288.7255. Contact us by email if you prefer by clicking on email me on the right side of this page under my profile.

P.S. If you are listing your home as a short sale in Woodland Hills California make sure you hire an agent who knows how to do short sales and has the experience to get the job done. We are doing successful short sale packages. Call us at818-288-7255 to find out more.