SDblog

We had been showing clients bank-owned homes in Riverside for quite a while.  Most of them were overpriced and in horrible condition.  Most didn't even have working kitchens.  It would be tough to finance them, even if they WEREN'T overpriced.

We waited a couple of week and went out again.  The first house we went to was very reasonable priced.  It was bank owned, but apparently it had been in such wretched condition that the bank had gone in and painted, re-carpeted, put in new tile flooring, new kitchen appliances, and redone the bathrooms.  We were really liking this house, when we all went to the back yard to check it out and the swimming pool.

While we were looking at all the good and bad features, I happened for some unknown reason to look down at my feet (I was standing on grass) and I saw a little plastic GI Joe.  I thought it was interesting because the client has a son named Joey and he is a G I.   The clients got this kind of shocked look on their faces and they said, "oh my gosh!  we found a G I Joe just like this one in the yard of the first house we bought when we first got married!"  And they still had the first one!  When we got back to their apartment, the Mrs. brought out the other GI Joe, and they were identical except in size.

We made the offer on that house, and we had to fight for it and go up above asking price because it was such a good deal, but we are in escrow.

G I Joe, and other things like him, often have a LOT to do with buying a home.  Buying a home to live in is quite an emotional experience, and very personal.  I love it that these lovely sweet clients found G I Joe again, and a home they love.

Jan Farley

OUR LISTING AT 8798 Wahl Street, Santee CA 92071 has been reduced to $189k!  This is the lowest priced 3Bedroom/2Bath townhouse in Santee, and it is the best location in the complex!  Only one attached wall on one side, and Mission Trails Park on the other side!  This is a short sale - act quickly!  It will move fast at this price!  Call or email for a private showing!  858-699-7480  jan@coastline-realestate.com .   

With all the hoopla of raising the FHA limits that was supposed to help people refinance out of their high rate, adjustable rate sub-prime mortgages, I bet you are wondering how that is going?

Well, it is going about how I thought it would - it is making a difference in some cases where people have sufficient income they can document and a little bit of equity, 3% equity to be exact.

There are some problems that are causing this to not work so well in most cases in San Diego County.  The number 1 problem is, our shrinking home values.  All of these loans require an appraisal, and that is where the problem is coming in.  With all the bank-owned foreclosures being dumped on the market, it is causing the appraised value of homes to be lower and in a large percentage of the cases, the appraised value is too low to be able to refinance.

This is not a new problem - that's the problem we were having all along.  If the values had stayed up more, we wouldn't have needed FHA limits increased to bail people out.  Full docs loans with a little equity have always been available.  So how do we fix THIS problem? 

Congress has some ideas, but the mostly involved the taxpayer taking it in the pocketbook, and I'm not sure that is a great idea.  We are already taking it in the pocketbook at the gas pump, for electricity and natural gas prices, and increased costs of goods also associated with the gas prices (think how much it costs truckers to fill up now - yikes!).  Generally when it comes to mortgages and real estate, congress gets it all screwed up anyway - they really don't understand real estate and mortgages, being the elites they are. 

So should we do ANYTHING?  Yes - a better law would be to compell lenders to approved short sales in a very timely manner.  Set up some federal guidelines and time frames and make them stick to it.  Short sales are just so hard and time consuming to get approved, many buyers and their agents shy away from making an offer.  So the bank ends up with the property and dumps it, and loses more than they would have if they would have just taken the first offer that came in several months earlier.  This would stop the super-fast errosion of people's equity, help them with their future credit issues, and make life a little easier for everyone. 

What do you think?

Thanks, Jan Farley