Kendyl's Open House

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Northwest Glendale Real Estate Hotsheet

click here for disclaimer and chart explanation

Wow!  Look at all the activity!  I guess the entire neighborhood read my last blog post and said, “She’s right!  Let’s get off the dime and list our house today!”.  My mother was right.  The pen (or in this case, the electron) is a mighty tool - LOL!

First off we have 721 Glenwood.  I think this is the house right next to the auditorium, or, at least, it is very close.  Tough location, that.  But, it has a pool and 3 bedrooms and a guest house, so I guess it is possible.  The agent says the bedrooms are a very good size.  Good sized compared to what?

1144 Allen is a duplex, 2 beds each unit.

1652 Bel Aire is that house on the corner that has been “for sale by owner” for the past several weeks.

1553 Ridgeway is an English style home with an unpermitted bedroom, 1/2 bath and office.

1362 Ruberta is another house I told you all would sell quickly.  The buyer is very lucky!

*******

Kenneth Rd. is running into some problems.  The buyer is asking for things the sellers do think they should have to give.  While this is a classic situation at anytime, it is exponentially so during a transition market.

In either a buyer’s or a seller’s market the discussion is often resolved by sheer market forces.  The stronger party gets their way,  a sale if the sellers are in power or the house if the buyers are.

In a transition market, or in certain individual cases, there is no clear cut power holder.   The key to working though this basic disagreement is to stay out of the judgment of “right” versus “wrong”. This is an argument that can have no happy ending, for in most cases both parties have a degree of legitimacy to their position.  Rather, one should focus on a dollar figure and ask, “how much money can I give/get in order to move forward with the deal?”.  When you take away the emotionally charged element of what the other party “deserves”, you stand a much higher chance of reaching a fair and happy compromise.

I am carefully working my way through just this situation on Kenneth Rd.   I know, that in the end, all parties will be satisfied.  Or they will part ways.  Did you say you wanted another chance to buy Kenneth Rd.?  Call me

You’ve heard of foreclosed properties - and I wrote a nice tutorial on buying them here, but have you heard of short sales?

What is a short sale?
A short sale means that the homeowner can’t sell the home for enough money to pay off the bank. Therefore, the bank must agree to take less money than they are owed - or foreclose on the property

Why would the bank do this?
Often, it is less expensive for the bank to accept a short sale rather than to foreclose. A foreclosure takes longer (and time is money), the property is often trashed by the departing occupant and the home is ultimately sold to a wholesale buyer at a deep discount.

That being said, it is never a sure thing for a bank to authorize a short sale. All parties involved have to convince the bank that

1. The home owner will walk away an d let the bank foreclose if they don’t get short pay approval
2. The prospective buyer is qualified and bone fide
3. The offer is the best the bank will likely see

It often takes a bank several days to a few weeks to approve a short sale.

Why bother buying a short sale?
Only if you are getting an outrageous deal. Let’s be clear, these home owners didn’t just wake up yesterday in financial trouble. The home has often been neglected or has major renovation that is incomplete. There is often, though not always, one major factor inhibiting it’s potential resale value such as small yard, poor location or hard to fix floor plan problems.

However, there are gems along the way and a smart buyer who has taken the time to learn the inventory can really scoop a deal.

How do I find a short sale property?

Click HERE for the whole article…

Here’s your summery of yesterday:

Today I am at my Broker’s Open on 1434 Lee Dr. I’ll be there 10 - 2 pm. I’m baking chocolate chip cookies!

Here’s the excerpt from my Foreclosure page:

Yesterday I said I was going to give you tutorials on buyer distressed properties. Let’s start with forclosures

The allure of foreclosed properties to a would-be real estate investor is nearly irresistible: Buy valuable properties for pennies on the dollar with little or no risk of your own money, work when you feel like it, and grow rich.

Countless seminars and how-to books promise to turn even the most novice buyer into a high-powered real estate investor through the magic of foreclosed homes. The trouble is the dream of instant, safe, trouble-free wealth often turns out to be like most things that sound too good to be true — a scam. If easy money was to be made, everyone would be getting rich off of foreclosures.

True, some people do, just like some people get rich in the stock and commodities markets, oil wells and foreign currencies. But, just like these other forms of investing, profitably buying and selling real estate takes research, knowledge, experience, money and time. And nearly every deal with a huge profit potential also comes with an appropriately sized risk.

Beyond get-rich-quick seminars and informational classes offered by nonprofit agencies and local sheriff’s offices, few, if any professionals are available or willing to teach novice investors the ins and outs of foreclosure sales. Why should they show you how to buy a great property at a deep discount instead of doing the deal themselves?

Still, if you are willing to go it alone and invest the time and cash required to deal in foreclosures, your first step should be…

For the full article click here.

Ok, we had a little technical difficulty out there in Blogland, but we are back on line. Did you miss me?

Lisa sent me a link to this very cool website, www.zipskinny.com. This website lets you enter in your zip code and it give you a demographic breakdown of what is in your area. This is pretty nice in itself, but the fun part is entering in the zip code of, say, your bother-in-laws house and comparing the stats. Tons of fun!

Here’s the zip skinny on 91202 and here is the link for 91201. The information is pulled from the 2000 census data and is just meant for fun.

You can easily do a comparison of 91201 and 91202 (and I won’t comment on who comes out better. I don’t play favorites here!).

These propositions provide a one time property tax benefit by preventing reassessment when a senior citizen (age 55 years or older) sells his/her existing residence and purchases a replacement residence worth the same or less than the original property. This proposition either applies to the principal claimant of the original residence or a spouse who resides with the seller who must also be 55 years of age at the time of sale.

WHY WERE THEY ENACTED?

These propositions were set forth to encourage senior citizens to “move-down” into smaller residence and not be penalized by having to pay higher property taxes. When a senior citizen acquires a replacement worth equal or less than the original he/she will continue to pay approximately the same amount of annual property taxes as before.

WHO DO THESE PROPSITIONS WORK?

When the homeowner purchases or constructs a new residence it will not be assessed if he/she qualifies. The Assessor transfers the factored base value of the original residence to the replacement residence. Prop 60 requires that both the original and replacement homes be within the same county. Prop 90 was later enacted to broaden the effects of Prop 60.

Prop 90 enables homeowners to transfer the principal residence to include other counties, as long as that county has implemented the initiatives. (A listing of counties participating is listed down below)

WHEN ARE THESE PROPOSITIONS EFFECTIVE?

The replacement residence must have been purchased or constructed on or after November 5, 1986 if the original was located in Los Angeles County. If the original was located in any other California county, as long as the county is participating, the replacement residence must have been purchased or constructed on or after November 9, 1988. Claims must be filed two years following the purchase or construction of the replacement residence. When claiming the exemption the claimant must own and occupy the replacement property. Also, claimant must file for a Homeowner’s Exemption on the replacement property, this is not granted automatically.

How to Claim Tax Relief

Claim forms are available from several sources.

Online: assessor.lacounty.gov

Phone: 213.893.1239

Email: helpdesk@assessor.lacounty.gov

Claim forms may also be requested by mail or in person at any Assessor’s office.

Prop 60/90 Eligibility Requirements

* The replacement property must be the owners principal residence and eligible for the Homeowner’s Exemption. The original property, at the time of it’s sale, must have been eligible for the Homeowner’s Exemption, or entitled to the Disabled Veteran Exemption.

* The seller of the original residence, or a spouse residing with the seller, must be at least 55 years of age, as of the date that the original property is transferred.

* The replacement property must be purchased or constructed on or after November 5, 1986 if the original was located in Los Angeles. If the original was located in any other California County, the replacement property must have been purchased or constructed on or after November 9, 1988.

* The replacement property must be purchased or newly constructed within two years (before or after) of the sale of the original property.

* **NEW** The claim must be filed within 3 years of purchasing or completed new construction of the replacement property. If a claim is filed after the 3 year period, relief will be granted beginning with the calendar year in which the claim was filed.

* This is a one-time filing. Proposition 60/90 relief cannot be granted if a claimant or spouse was granted relief in the past.

* Proposition 60/90 relief includes, but is not limited to: single family residences, condominiums, units in planned unit developments, cooperative housing corporation units, or lots, community apartment units, mobile homes subject to local real property tax, and owners living in premises which are a portion of a larger structure.

* In most instances, if more than one owner of an original property is eligible for Proposition 60/90, they must choose among themselves which one will use the benefits.

COUNTIES CURRENTLY ACCEPTING PROPOSITION 90:

Alameda Ventura

Los Angeles San Mateo

Orange Santa Clara

San Diego