As a parent of children in the local schools in the San Lorenzo Valley (Felton, Ben Lomond, Brookdale and Boulder Creek) I was nervous when I first saw the school rankings of the local schools. We had decided to move back here in 2011. At the time SLV Elementary was struggling with a 6 on […]
Closing late……
I’ve always told my clients that the closing date is a “target date” because things can sometimes come up at the last minute that can delay the closing a day, or a week, or sometimes even longer. It seems like it’s RARE to close on time nowadays. The reasons for the delay are many. Sometimes […]
Credits or Fix
My normal rule of thumb is to spend as little as possible fixing the house up, but still get the job done. You don’t want to spend money on items where you won’t get your money back. For example, it’s not worth putting a pool in just to sell the home. However, I will suggest […]
The return of Alt-A?
THE RETURN OF ALT-A? If you haven’t heard the term, “Alt-A” before it’s because it’s a behind-the-scenes term that lenders use. Maybe you’ve heard of the terms “low-doc,” no-doc” or “sub-prime.” These are the loans most responsible for the real estate bubble and then crash of the early 2000’s. These loans were abused horribly to […]
Insurability Issues….…
INSURABILITY ISSUES… I’ve noticed that homebuyers often put off ordering their homeowner’s insurance policy until the week before closing. It is wise to investigate the insurability of both the home and the buyer as early as possible. That’s right, both the home AND the buyer need to be approved by the insurance company before they […]
Credit for Closing Costs
Credits for Closing Costs… Sometimes a buyer will ask a seller to pay for their closing costs. But, there could be a problem with credits for closing costs when the lender won’t allow credits to apply against some closing costs. Or when the buyer’s costs don’t add up to what was negotiated between buyer and […]
Solar News
Two items came to my attention recently in regards to solar power for your home that I thought you should be aware of. The first is that the federal tax credit that was set to expire at the end of 2016 was just extended for five more years. I’ve heard VERY little mention of this […]
Do Houses Shrink?
So why is it that the square footage of your home is different when it is measured for an appraisal than what the builder’s floor plan showed? And how come different appraisers will measure a home at different sizes? Unless you’ve added onto the home, I’m sure it’s the same size as the day you […]
Zillow and their Zestimates
Zillow is the most popular real estate site. Their most famous (or infamous) feature is their “Zestimate” of a home’s value. Their computer looks at the public records information about a house and then make adjustments based on recent solds. It’s just a ballpark figure, but some buyers and sellers treat it as the gospel […]
Interest rate update 2016
The Federal Reserve recently raised interest rates. That is the first time they’ve done that in about 10 years. Gasp! That must mean that we’ll all be paying higher interest rates and our hot real estate market will cool down, right? Actually, since the Fed raised rates, actual mortgage rates haven’t changed that much. Maybe […]