San Jose Real Estate * Santa Clara County * Richard Gonzalez * Real Estate Broker * Realty World Powerhouse Brokers

Procrastinators assemble!

Here are a few of the Valentine’s activities happening this weekend at Santana Row for those of you who have waited to the last minute to make plans with your significant other.

Dining at Santana Row is always fun.

Click here to see all Valentine’s dining specials at the Row

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Burke Williams is having a spa promotion that should sit well with anyone who loves a little TLC.

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Pinkberry has a promotion though 2/19. I personally havent tried Pinkberry but there is always a line out the door. Share one with your honey.

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Swing Your Sweetheart this Sat, Feb 13th from 3-5pm in Park Valencia! Professional instructors from Cheryl Burke Studio will be teaching a complimentary dance class. While you’re there, enter to win a Romance Package including a night stay at Hotel Valencia, dinner for two on The Row & complimentary dance classes from Cheryl Burke Dance!

I decided to create an ongoing video update of the Santana Row neighboring area sales and will continue to do so on a quarterly bases to help you track sales activity along with financing terms used in the area. The video can be viewed on my youtube channel and can be viewed by clicking the video below.

Until November of 2009 Bank of America / Countrywide short sales were difficult to navigate and a communication challenge to say the least. Our average time to receive an approval ranged from four to six months. As a result Bank of America created a partnership with equator.com thus reducing the short sale approval timeline from 6 months to 45 days.  For this reason and because there continues to be confusion with the process I decided to provide 3 steps to successfully initiate a B of A short sale and navigate through this new system.

One small task at a time

Step 1 . Listing agent must Register on equator.com  once your REALTOR has informed B or A that you are short selling your home. B of A will then assign the short sale to your REALTOR in the equator.com system. Your REALTOR will then upload a laundry list of documents one task at a time. Tasks are the basic process initiated by B of A to ask for the necessary documents needed to start the short sale. Your REALTOR will be asked to upload the following:

• Purchase contract
• MLS information
• Buyer Pre-qualification including social security numbers
• Picture of home
• Authorization from seller to allow REALTOR to talk to B of A

Step 2. Seller needs to notify B of A that they want to start a short sale. equator.com will provide a password to the seller and the seller must have an email address of their own to access the system.

Step 3. Seller must upload independent of each other (one task at a time) the following documents.

• 2 yrs tax returns
• 2 months bank statements
• Pay stubs for the last 30 days
• Hardship letter
• Financial statement

Challenges:

• There are still many people who don’t have an email address or are not comfortable uploading documents into the system.
• Sellers will get blocked out of the system if they have too many failed attempts at accessing with an incorrect password(it happens all the time).
• Sellers must respond as quickly as possible when given tasks. Failure to do so will slow the process down and may stall the process until requested documents are uploaded.

Goal:

Once B of A receives the information they will begin processing your short sale. 2010 is primarily expected to be a short sale year as banks begin to develop new processes to handle the paperwork involved.  Knowing what to expect and being prepared is key when navigating the B of A short sale system.

Mortgage Protection for Silicon Valley homebuyers

The California Association of REALTORS has decided to extend this offer to 2010 and while the media continues to announce the Federal tax credit I am concerned that message is not getting out to everyone. Most buyers are unaware of this great program for first time homebuyers and have not registered themselves for this complementary program.

I have even talked to REALTORS who are unaware of this program and should be advocates for this piece of mind. The program is available to all first time homebuyers who used a REALTOR and are member of the California Association of REALTORS.

If you already closed escrow you can still take advantage of this program by filling out the application and including a copy of your purchase contract and HUD 1 final closing statement.

Whats the benefit you say?

Through the C.A.R. Housing Affordability Fund’s Mortgage Protection Program, first-time home buyers who lose their jobs due to layoffs may be eligible to receive up to $1,500 per month, for six months, to help make their mortgage payments. A qualified co-buyer also can participate in the program, and receive a monthly benefit of $750 per month for up to six months.

Who Qualifies?

• TO QUALIFY FOR THE MORTGAGE PROTECTION PROGRAM APPLICANTS MUST: ·
  
• Be a first-time home buyer – someone who has not owned property in the last three years (includes co-buyer).
• Open escrow April 2, 2009, or later, and close on or before December 31, 2010 (purchase agreement cannot be dated before April 2, 2009)

• Use a California REALTOR® in the transaction (fee for referral does not qualify)

• Purchase the property in California

• Be a W-2 employee (cannot be self-employed)

Fill it out sign it, have your REALTOR sign it and mail it. It’s as simple as that. Don’t forget to add this to your list when you close escrow.

http://www.car.org/members/hafmainpage/carhafmortgageprotection/

Buying a Silicon Valley home in 2010 can be a challenge but if it’s on your list of resolutions then here are a few tips that you should know to prevent you from falling off the wagon during the process.

Short Sales

The buzz of the 2010 real estate industry is Short Sales. I attended a hand full of conferences last year and short sales were the topic of discussion on everyone’s mind including all the major banks and asset managers of REO properties.

In November Bank of America / Countrywide for instance partnered with equator.com a REO management tool used by REALTORS and asset managers to handle the sales of foreclosed properties. The management system is a task based system that helps to speed the processing of REO’s and now short sales beginning with Bank of America.

Equator.com has now begun to reduce B of A’s timeline for short sale approvals from six months to 45 days. Lightning fast by our experience negotiating short sales with Bank of America over the past two years. This trend will continue as investors look for ways to streamline the slow daunting process we have grown accustomed to in a short sale.

TIP: Short sale buyers should always investigate who the note holder is before making an offer. Knowing who the note holder is will help set your expected timeline for a successful close of escrow. Wachovia short sales are lightning fast because they own the loans and have decision makers in every county. Others like WAMU can be a challenge to say the least and are currently taking up to 5 months for a short sale approval once you are in contract.

REO

Inventory levels are very low but there may be a significant influx of REO properties from shadow inventory that banks are apparently holding. Some even continue to speculate that we will have a tsunami of inventory hit the market based on data from the Royal Bank of Scotland that shows over 3 million home owners 90 days past due and half of them are in foreclosure.

The reality is that the Silicon Valley will not likely see a large influx as a result of this inventory. Most of it is centered around the conforming $417,000 and lower price range. Waiting for REO’s to fill the void in Silicon Valley may keep a buyer on the sidelines for most of if not all of 2010.

TIP: A FHA 203k loan is an excellent loan that includes the cost to repair and remodel a REO home. It really is a great product and should be your primary loan option if you are intent on purchasing an REO home. 203k loans are great negotiation tools because the seller only has to repair health and safety issues leaving you room to negotiate while most other buyers are unable to participate.

Presentation of your offer

I recently listed and sold a home in Gilroy and received 40 offers on the home. During the process of evaluating the offers with the sellers I did my best to help the buyers agents in presenting their offers in hopes of giving every buyer an opportunity . What I realized is that merly making an offer is not enough and helped me make important adjustments in the way I submit offers.

Your offer should always have the following additional information:

• Pre-Approval letter – Preferably from a well known financial institution or an approval from your mortgage broker with the lenders name that you intend to use. If possible a conditional approval would be better but some lenders will not provide that unless you are in contract.
• Proof of funds to close – It’s critical to show the seller and the listing agent that you have the financial means to close escrow.
• A cover letter to the sellers – A letter with a picture of your family introducing yourself and telling them how much you love their home and will continue to give it the love they did. Provide details about your appreciation of the sellers upgrades and if possible any similarities that you may have with the sellers(kids, job industry, neighbor relationships, ect.)
• Comparable sales - Have  your REALTOR provide a list of three sold and pending comparables to make your case why your offer should be considered. Firing off low ball or high offers to a seller will most likely put your offer on the rejected pile because you submitted an offer with a purchase price that will not appraise.

TIP: Communication between your REALTOR and the listing agent is essential. Establishing a relationship with the listing agent is critical and can increase your chances of successfully negotiating with a seller.

Most buyers are taking up to a year to get into a home. Don’t be discouraged if you are still looking in September, the persistent buyer always finds a home.

Happy New Year and happy hunting for your home in 2010.