Posts Tagged ‘intero real estate’

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Intero Insider: Celebu-Drama & Real Estate. Who Cares?

By Gino Blefari | June 9th, 2010 0 Comments

I read a lot. Lots of news, mostly. Blogs, real estate-related news items…that sort of thing. I owe it to Intero’s clientele, as well as our team of real estate professionals, to stay abreast of the most current information. Have you looked at the “news” this morning, though? I was pretty disappointed.

Why?

Because a search of the top real estate “news” items right now returns a glut of useless stories about Jesse James & Sandra Bullock listing their home for sale. A crush of chatter about the divorce of Al & Tipper Gore and what they plan to do with their real estate holdings during the proceedings. There are even stories about how the characters from Sex & The City have risen to the upper echelons of New York real estate throughout the course of the series.

That’s just embarrassing. There are serious, weighty issues with which our industry should be dealing with and on which it should be reporting. But they’re not getting talked about all that much.

If you’ve been affected, whether by foreclosure, strategic default, or if your credit has taken body blows as a result of this mess, do you really care about Sandra Bullock’s real estate “woes”? Of course not.

You have problems of your own to deal with.

If you’ve gone through a foreclosure and have lost your home, there are several things that you should do. The first thing is to meet with a financial planner to determine a long-range plan to help you recover financially. This plan could include something as simple as setting up a plan with Consumer Credit Counseling, or as complex as declaring bankruptcy. It will certainly involve formulating a workable budget, something to which you can strictly adhere.

The next thing is making certain that you follow that plan to the letter of the law. Missed payments are not an option, as each one will hamper your ability to rebuild your credit. Without that, purchasing another home won’t be an option.

Another thing that’s imperative, especially with ever-tightening lending standards is to save, save, save. 100% financing, especially for those who have damaged credit, is a thing of the past. If you’ve got a credit score that’s less than perfect, it’s very likely that you’ll have to make a down payment of about 20% on your next home purchase, so minding your pennies is of the utmost importance.

It’s important to note that, even if your credit isn’t rock solid, lenders are looking for a consistent track record. If you’ve had problems in the past, but have been consistent in making payments and in making good on your debts, you’ll have a much better shot at securing a new mortgage in the future.

If you are concerned about how you can rebuild your credit and your financial life, talk to your financial advisor, your Intero real estate professional, or your attorney. It’s not an easy process, but it’s one, with a bit of time and effort, that can be done.

As for Sandra Bullock’s beach house? I’ll leave that to the E! News network.

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Mortgage that Matters: THE GREEK-AMERICAN AND OUR MORTGAGE MARKETS

By Rick Soukoulis | June 3rd, 2010 0 Comments

As a Greek-American, I have being watching the financial crisis and the upheaval it is creating in Greece with what I think is a different perspective than many other Americans have.  I want to share a perspective on what another Greek-American is dealing with and how his actions affect our mortgage market.

In the 1960’s a Greek economist named Andreas Papandreou was teaching economics at UC Berkeley. His American-born wife wanted to spend some time in her native country, and Andreas had the chance to be a visiting professor at Cal for several years.

The family lived in the Berkeley Hills, and their son, Georgie, played baseball with his neighbors, joined the Cub Scouts, and went to Cragmont Elementary School, one of Berkeley’s public schools.

He was a typical ten year old, carefree, living the life of an American boy, much like Tom Sawyer and every other kid.

Where is he today?

Today, he goes by George rather than Georgie, and today he has the worst job in the world: He’s the Prime Minister of Greece.  He’s often referred to in the press as The Beleaguered George Papandreou.

What’s going on over there, and why is it making the front pages with scary headlines?

Essentially, Greece ran huge deficits and is close to national bankruptcy. Like all governments, it finances itself partly by selling bonds, but their financial house is in such disorder that they might not be able to sell new bonds or refinance old ones.

Like individuals that accumulate too much debt, the Greek government is cutting expenses, but government workers are unhappy seeing their wages cut.  A general strike shut down Greek airports, tourist sites and public services and some 50,000 demonstrators marched against the planned public spending cuts and tax rises.  You’ve seen the violence on TV.

Because Greece is part of the Europeans Union (EU),  people are deeply concerned that their problems will spread to the rest of Europe. The global markets are very scared, and when this happens, nervous investors turn to the strongest currencies and deepest markets in what is referred to as a Flight to Quality.

This has meant global investors moving their money to the dollar, and in buying up U.S. Treasuries as a safe haven, bond prices have risen and rates have dropped.

What happens to Treasury bond rates almost immediately happens to mortgage rates, and you’ve already noticed how mortgage rates have dropped pretty significantly of late.

I don’t know if Greece will be kicked out of the EU or if they’ll solve their fiscal woes.

I do know that as long as there’s financial turmoil around the world, in Greece or elsewhere, people will turn to the U.S.

This should big a great summer selling season!

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Intero Insider: Can I live here?

By Gino Blefari | June 1st, 2010 0 Comments

What are you really looking for when you decide to buy a home? Shelter, of course – a place you can call home that is comfortable, safe, and reflective of your own tastes.

And in that regard, looking for a home online can be pretty satisfying. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of websites displaying property listings today. Most of them give you basic information along with a few photos.

When you see one you like you might choose to move to the next step and contact a Realtor.

But what most buyers are looking for – and where most real estate websites fail – is an answer to a simple but important question:

Can I live here?

Answering that question requires something more than a list of properties for sale.

What you need is information that allows you to decide if the place in which a property exists meshes with the way you like to live life.

You may want to know:

Is there a good coffee house close by?

Are there day-care options near this property?

Is the elementary school within walking distance?

These are the things that get to the heart of the matter – the lifestyle factors that make a house a home.

We understand this at Intero and built technology to support this sort of decision. When you conduct a property search on Interorealestate.com you will see a clear list of properties (along with some very cool mapping tools) but you’ll also see a link on the left side of the page that says “schools, cafes, groceries and more.”

You can then choose from over two dozen types of amenities – from banks to restaurants – and display them on a map. 

Of course, the best way to truly understand a property and its neighborhood is to work closely with a good Realtor, but with this view you can get much closer to an answer to that all-important “Can I live here” question.

Happy searching!

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What you Need to Know About Green Home Certifications

By Tadas Narauskas | May 27th, 2010 0 Comments

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the greenest of them all?  As if we didn’t already have hundreds of eco labels to worry about every time we visit a store, now there are green home certifications that are mushrooming up all over the Bay Area and the country.  Understanding these new ways of classifying quality and operation costs is becoming a must, especially when you build, remodel or in the market for a home.  Yet another chief reason for being able to decipher these new terms is to avoid growing generalizations or greenwashing.

Frankly, most folks could careless about “green” homes. Very few want to pay extra for labels they don’t understand.  And why should they?! Price and quality are and should be the two high priority areas of concern.  However, green homes address much more than just fancy “eco-friendly” building materials.  They also encompass elements like energy efficiency, indoor air quality, water efficiency, materials use (recycled, reclaimed, sustainable), community and environmental impacts.

Third party sources play an important role in verifying that green homes are truly are as they are cracked up to be in their marketing.  Here are the three most prevalent green home titles you are most likely to see in our Bay Area neighborhoods:

Green Point – This rating program is a child of Build it Green, a non-profit based in Berkley.  GreenPoint uses a scoring system where a GreenPoint rater evaluates a home’s green features “allowing homes to be compared on a level playing field.”  The program rewards building professionals and homeowners who create green homes by allowing them to brand their products with a recognizable seal of approval.

Be aware though; it doesn’t take much to get yourself a “GreenPoint” title.  When you see this little word “Elements” next to the rating (up to 50 points) it means only a small part of the house has some sort of green feature.  When you see “Whole House,” stated next to the score, this is more exciting but again, pay attention to the score.  Some “green” homes are notorious for focusing on energy efficiency but very little attention is given to indoor air quality.  I’ve seen it and smelled it, it’s a fact.

LEED – (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) is an internationally recognized voluntary green building certification system from the US Green Building Council. It verifies that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance across all the metrics that matter most: energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.

LEED homes have the potential to use 20-30% and some – up to 60% less energy.  Certifications have various levels of “greenness” and are categorized into Certified, Silver, and Gold & Platinum. Neither of these certifications is easy or cheap to get.  When you see a home owner or builder boasting a LEED seal of quality, rest assured they had to jump through some serious hoops to get it.

Energy Star – It is very likely that up until now, you thought Energy Star applies only to your appliances and electronics.  I was very surprised to find out that it pertains to homes also.  To earn the ENERGY STAR, a home must meet strict guidelines for energy efficiency set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. These homes are at least 15% more energy efficient than homes built to the 2004 International Residential Code (IRC), and include additional energy-saving features that typically make them 20–30% more efficient than standard homes.

There you have it, the most common green home certifications in Bay Area.  As a general rule, it is always a good idea to dig deeper when you see a home that claims to be “green”.  Always look for third party verifications and other proof.  Let’s leave the “greenwashing” to the household cleaning product industry.

More on Green Homes:  http://SanJoseGreenHome.com

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Intero Insider: Out of the Ashes Rises the Phoenix…Or At Least A Parakeet

By Gino Blefari | May 25th, 2010 0 Comments

I love finding the silver lining in things.

No matter how desperate a situation might look, there is almost always something positive, glimmering no matter how faintly, beneath the surface.

I have long postulated that the Federal Government’s stoppage of investment in mortgage-backed securities could result in rising interest rates. And I still believe that to be the case.

We seem, however, to have found a silvery lining in the specter of that cloud.

As you are likely aware, our friends in Europe are going through a bit of a financial crisis of their own. Greece is deeply in debt and has no earthly idea how to get out. The rest of the European Union doesn’t want to help them out, but Greece’s troubles are having a crippling effect on the, until now, untouchable Euro, whose value is dependent on the economies of all of the countries that use it.

The result? International investors, now wary of stockpiling their cash in European markets, have sent the U.S. an unexpected windfall in the form of mortgage rates that are now at near 50-year lows.

How low, do you ask?

Freddie Mac, on Friday, the 21st, said that rates averaged just 4.84% last week. Far from shabby, that’s the lowest since December 2009. In fact, I’ve heard reports of mortgage officers locking in loans with rates as low as 4.25% — fixed — which is as low a rate of which I’ve ever heard.

Did you miss out on the Homebuyer Tax Credit? As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, it’s OK if you did. In the long run, that $8000 won’t take most people all that far. But a mortgage interest rate of below 5%? Now that is something that’ll save you some big money. A one-percentage-point decline in mortgage rates can save you hundreds of dollars each month. Over a 30-year period, that could translate into a lot of money. Real savings.

Also, lowered interest rates will increase buyers’ spending power. For each percentage point mortgage rates decline, buyers can spend about 10% more on a home. The extra bedroom or bump-out for which they’d been hoping might now be within their reach.

Take heed, though. It’s tougher now to qualify for a mortgage than it has ever been. Underwriting standards are tough. Not everyone is going to qualify, I’m afraid.

How long will things stay this way?

That’s a great question, and unfortunately one which has no answer. But I can tell you this: it’s unlikely that these rates will last for very long. If you have questions, contact your mortgage lender, your financial advisor, or your Intero real estate professional. They can point you in the right direction. If you’re looking to buy a home (or to refinance your current mortgage), it would seem that there is no time like the present.

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The Intero Insider: All politics (and real estate) is local

By Gino Blefari | May 18th, 2010 1 Comment

Former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill stated, famously, that “All politics is local.” The same could be said for real estate.

This is true for many reasons, but for my purposes today, I’m going to focus on just one of them.

Home values.

For my money, there’s nothing that compares to a local expert. Someone who knows the markets in which he or she works. Local agents know the neighborhoods in which they do business in a way that a big box company simply can’t. They know that home prices don’t vary simply from state to state, nor from city to city. They know that home prices are specific to neighborhood and that making sweeping generalizations about the real estate market in a given area might get you in the right ballpark, but they’ll rarely hit a home run.

I’ll give you an example.

Earlier this morning, while I was getting ready for the day ahead, I was watching a popular morning news program. On it, a nationally-recognized real estate figure was encouraging first-time homebuyers to use online tools like Zillow and Trulia to decide what a fair price for a home in a given area might be.

Now, I’m not going to knock Zillow and Trulia. Each of these tools is in business because it’s brought something new and innovative to the real estate table. But the fact remains that the information they make available for home values is very often wrong. Dead wrong. Sometimes, its values are dramatically below actual market price, sometimes they are far above.

These services simply cannot provide the perspective that (A) a human being and (B) someone who’s intimately familiar with an area can.

When you work with a real estate professional, work with someone who understands the subtle nuances of the neighborhoods in their market area. Work with someone who knows that homes on the side of the street with water views are going to cost more than those on the side of the street with no view (for the record, Zillow can’t tell the difference).

Work with someone who’s going to know which price constitutes a great deal for his or her clients.

At Intero, we pride ourselves on being this type of company. We take pride in being a hometown company whose agents live, work, and play in our market area. We take pride in knowing that our real estate professionals understand the market data that really matters, and we take pride in knowing that our agents know the tiny details that will make the biggest difference to you.

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Intero Insider: The News Is Up! And It Is…Good?

By Gino Blefari | May 12th, 2010 0 Comments

Yesterday, the good folks over at Zillow released the results of its First Quarter 2010 Survey. Was the news good? Sort of. Maybe. A little.

First, the facts:

Home values in California appear to be on the rise. During the First Quarter of 2010, home values in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Ventura County showed marked increases.

Nationwide, home values continued to decline in the first quarter of 2010. The Zillow Home Value Index showed a 3.8% decline for the same period last year — this makes thirteen consecutive quarters with year-over-year declines. In 106 of the 135 markets tracked, home values fell.

Negative equity is rising steadily. In the Fourth Quarter of 2009, 21.4% of single family homes had mortgages that were “underwater” or “upside-down,” meaning that more was owed on the mortgage than the home was worth. In the First Quarter of 2010, that number rose sharply to 23.3% — nearly ¼ of all mortgages on single-family homes.

Foreclosures reached an all-time high in March 2010. According to Zillow’s survey, more than one out of every 1,000 U.S. Homes — a startlingly high number — went into foreclosure that month.

It is interesting to me to compare this national level data with what I am seeing here in Silicon Valley at the Street level, which is always, in my opinion, the most useful way to look at the housing market. Here I am seeing lots of signs of market vitality. Recently, a listing in Cupertino received 14 offers. A listing in San Jose received 6 offers just this week. This seems to be going on at both the entry level – where one might expect to see such things – but also towards the higher end.

This is information that, especially if you’re planning on selling a home, is very important for you to understand. You need the big picture, but also the picture in your neighborhood or on your block.

Please talk to your Intero real estate professional. We’ll make sure you have all of the facts, and every tool at our disposal to make sure that you make educated decisions about your home sale. We’ll tell it to you the only way we know how: like it is.

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Intero Insider: HAFA Spells Relief … Or Does It?

By Gino Blefari | May 4th, 2010 0 Comments

At the beginning of April, the Federal Government introduced new measures aimed at helping Americans avoid foreclosure. Sort of lost in all of the news about how great the real estate market’s been doing, Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA), are designed to help struggling homeowners who, regardless of effort to keep their homes, simply can’t afford to.

“A short sale would really help … if only the bank would agree.”

Now, maybe it will. Banks already participating in the Government’s HAMP program are required to participate in HAFA, as well. Mortgage holders have been notoriously difficult to deal with when it comes to short sales. One hand doesn’t know what the other is doing, approvals take virtual eternities (if they ever come at all), homeowners who’re feverishly trying to sell their homes or face the spectre of foreclosure are lost in a sea of confusion about how to proceed in the process.

With a glut of foreclosed homes (over a million at last count), banks are having to rethink their options. Each foreclosure costs banks upwards of $100,000 more than a short sale, but until now, they’ve not been enthusiastic about approving them.

The HAFA program should make things a bit easier on everyone. Whether it’ll work is another matter altogether.

The new guidelines institute a timeline, so that all parties involved will know about what they can expect and when. Sellers will be able to get pre-approval and know what the absolute bottom-line acceptable prices will be. Junior lienholders, who typically get left out in the cold and who are, typically, the factors in denying short sales, will be able to recoup some of their losses. Improvements are definitely being made to the system (although “system” is far too precise a word to pin on the old way of doing things).

A major benefit to HAFA is that it will, hopefully, allow homeowners to leave their properties with their heads held high, and with their dignity intact by fully releasing them from the liability of their loan.

In California, which has been one of the 4 states hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis, there’s a bit more to the program.

The recipients of $700 million dollars in additional aid, the State of California has proposed assistance to low-to-moderate income level homeowners through means such as principal write-downs for those who owe more on their home than it is worth (it’ll be interesting to hear reactions from people who are in the same situation but who are still making their payments on time), relocation assistance, subsidized mortgage payments, or temporary aid for the unemployed who are at risk of foreclosure.

They are, sadly, many more homeowners affected by this crisis that won’t be helped, for one reason or another, by this program or any other.

If you’re a homeowner in distress, please contact your lender. Ask your Intero real estate professional. Find out what alternatives you have before it’s too late.

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The Intero Insider: Missing Out On The Tax Credit Is OK. Really.

By Gino Blefari | April 27th, 2010 0 Comments

Ah, yes. The Homebuyer Tax Credit. It ranks right up there with health care reform and Eyjafjallajökull as the most-discussed news item of 2010. The proverbial dead horse has been beaten to a fare-thee-well, yet still keeps coming back for more.

The tax credit has, I think, driven many buyers who were on the fence about whether or not to purchase a home into the marketplace. It’s been something of a boon to those who have been able to take advantage of it. If you were able to qualify, that’s a great thing. $8000 (or $6500, if you were already a homeowner) is nothing at which to stick up one’s nose.

But is it, on its own, a reason to purchase a home? Absolutely not.

Everywhere I turn, I see advertisements, blog posts, and the like reminding people that the deadline for being able to claim the tax credit is rapidly approaching. To claim it, you must, in fact, be under contract by Friday, April 30, and you must be able to settle on that contract no later than June 30, 2010. At this point, however, any potential homebuyer who hasn’t been in the trenches and actively looking for a house — and looking seriously — should bide their time. They should not, under any circumstances, rush to sign a contract on a home by Friday, simply so they can claim an $8000 credit.

Why?

Because that $8000 isn’t worth the heartache and sleepless nights that will come with making a $300,000 mistake. Because of the pressure associated with meeting this deadline, lots of people are going to dive headlong into a decision that they’re not actually ready to make.

Any REALTOR worth his or her salt will stand up and say so. A good REALTOR — one who’s really looking out for his clients’ best interests — will not urge that decisions be made on a factor that, in the long run, won’t matter all that much.

And if you miss the credit? Don’t worry. The real estate market will, most likely, adjust once the credit expires. The bustling spring sales market will start to ebb. Sellers of real estate will have to consider absorbing some of the letdown, either by conceding some closing costs or, perhaps, agreeing to helping buyers buy points on their mortgages, or agreeing to other credits that will entice buyers to sign when the time is right.

A good REALTOR will understand these things and a good REALTOR will advise his clients of those options of which they might not have been aware.

So, yes. The Homebuyer Tax Credit was nice while it lasted. But don’t fret about having missed it. It’s OK. Really.

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Intero Insider: Wait – I Still Owe What?

By Gino Blefari | April 21st, 2010 0 Comments

Each day, the news brings us tiny glimmers of hope that the economic woes that have turned the real estate market into a morass of unpalatable realities might just be behind us. Each day, however, there seem to be items served alongside those glimmers that give me pause.

These items, after making me take several deep breaths, have me advising my clients, customers, and Intero agents that patience will be the better part of valor when it comes to economic recovery.

We know that millions of Americans, and lots and lots of Californians among them, have lost their homes to foreclosure. Going through that process is more difficult than most people can possibly imagine. It’s a pride-swallowing siege that affects every aspect of your life. Once it’s done, however, it’s done and, typically, people can begin the process of rebuilding their lives.

Unless they can’t.

What if, after going through a foreclosure and having a mortgage discharged, you also have a second mortgage to pay? What then?

California is a non-recourse state. This means that any loan taken for the purpose of buying a home is discharged once a foreclosure has taken place. Debt collectors cannot pursue borrowers for loans in default that were used to purchase a home.

Loans that were taken for other purposes? Lenders can, and often do, do whatever it takes to collect what is owed.

If a second mortgage was taken and that money was used to help finance the purchase of a home, then it’s non-recourse debt. But often, banks and lenders won’t tell the borrowers that. There’s a loophole in the legal speak that governs such things that says that there’s nothing preventing the borrower from “voluntarily” repaying the debt. So lots of people who’re not under an obligation to repay find themselves on the receiving end of dunning calls and letters and struggling to make payments when and where they can.

If a second mortgage was taken and it was not used as part of a home purchase? Well, those monies are due and payable, regardless.

Whether lenders will try and collect is another matter altogether.

In California alone, almost $500 billion in home equity lines of credit (or other such loans) were taken out by homeowners. Banks are going to collect when and where they can. Sadly, a borrower’s personal net worth may be the deciding factor in their decision to pursue or not to pursue.

So, what are the options?

Well, one is to pay the debt if you’re able. If you can’t, my best advice would be to consult with an attorney to discuss your options.  You may find your attorney will tell you that a short sale would allow you to negotiate part or all of your deficiency away.  If this is the case, find a certified short sale agent within any of our offices to help guide you through the process.

There are options, but it’s best to explore them sooner, rather than later. If you have concerns relating to foreclosure or your ability to borrow money to purchase a home, please consult your Intero agent. The road to recovery is a tough one, but it can be ridden. We all just have to be patient.

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