Kitchen before Laminate

I have always loved hardwood floors for their beauty. I have always hated hardwood floors for the care they required. After a terribly bad experience I had with hardwood floors in a duplex I rented when I was quite young, I have always carpeted everything. Today hardwood floors still seem to be the desired look when getting your home ready to sell, but there’s a whole new breed of flooring out there today.  Laminates seem to be the new trend in flooring.

I had my first introduction to laminate flooring when I listed a house in Mountain View. You walked in the front door right into this huge living room that was absolutely beautiful. The whole living room and hallway had been done in this fairly light colored laminate which I could not tell from hardwood. My clients were the first to give me an education about the new kind of flooring.

Next time I ran into it, my boyfriend’s son had turned his living room into a bar type environment. He had a bar with stools, and a pool table, etc. He chose to do his living room in this rather dark colored “Bamboo”. He installed it all himself and it came out so beautifully, he’s chosen to go on and do the rest of the downstairs in this type of flooring. I can’t even explain here how “rich” it looks.

Now we’re remodeling our mobile home (See my post “When  Real Estate Meets a Sociopath“). After learning how easy it is to install and care for, I went on a hunt for Laminate flooring for our kitchen and dining area. We can’t afford much, but that’s another thing that is so great about this stuff. It doesn’t cost nearly as much as the old “hardwood” floor. Like anything you need to educate yourself a little bit on what kinds of flooring are available, and of course shop around.

We ended up at Bay Area Flooring Live. He’s located in Willow Glen and just moved into his new showroom about a month ago. He’s got different kinds of the flooring actually laid down in his floor so you can see some of the different textures, what it might look like in your house. He has a ton of samples. The hard part for us was what color to pick. He doesn’t carry a bunch of inventory but is more of a “broker” for factory direct flooring, so his prices are really great. He’s also very knowledgeable about what kind of flooring is best based on the project you are doing. Thank goodness for his help because there was so much and many different kinds to choose from, I had no clue what I was doing!

I’m really excited. We went and visited him last week and will get the flooring in this week. The color we picked needed to pull together the “dessert sand” color the last guy painted the kitchen walls, yet go with the white cupboards and off white carpeting in the living room. I didn’t want anything too light as we needed some contrast, yet nothing too dark as the mobile home has a tendency to be a little dark already. We ended up with “Golden Teak”.

If you live anywhere in the San Francisco Bay area and are looking to remodel or give your home a bit of a “lift” go visit John at Bay Area Flooring Live. Tell him Lauri sent you and take a look at all the Laminates, the new trend in flooring.

If you’re really asking “Have we hit the bottom of the California housing crash?”, I would have to say I don’t think so, not yet. Millions of homes are still being foreclosed on, and despite what everyone says, banks are still not truly working with their customers. While working on loan modifications on one hand, the banks are taking the homes to the courthouse steps with the other.

If you’re asking “Should I sell my home now before it loses any more value?” I would say that this is the slow time of year to sell even in a good market. It’s true, your home may lose more value if you hold on to it going into 2011. As I said, I personally don’t believe we’ve hit market bottom yet. Right now rates are at an all time low, which allows more buyers to buy, giving the seller a larger market. Historically, around the middle to end of February rates start to rise knocking people out of the affordability circle. You also widen your market if you are willing to do a little ‘creative financing’ such as carrying back a note for part of the money you receive and having the buyer pay on an installment contract.

Last but not least, if you’re asking “Is this the time to buy a house?” I would say it’s a great time to buy if you’re planning on being in it for awhile. Unless you’re buying a fixer upper way below market and doing the work yourself, the days of flipping it right back out and making a huge profit are a little slower these days. If you buy a home planning to raise a family, or stay located in that spot for the next 5 to 10 yrs., opportunities abound.

You have the advantage of the lower rates, and this time of year most sellers who have their home on the market are sincere about really wanting to sell. The inventory may not be as large, but neither is the competition for the same house. Sellers tend to be a  little more negotiable when there aren’t any offers coming in.

If you’re just curious about what’s happening in your neighborhood because you’re trying to keep track of where you are financially, equity wise, I would be happy to give you a full report of the activity in your neighborhood for free. No obligation. Just remember, I only deal with the Santa Clara County, California area. I can be reached at 408-313-3270 or at LauriBeamish@gmail.com

Of course not every program is going to solve the problems of every home owner. The Treasury Department introduced the HAFA program to provide a viable option for homeowners who are unable to keep their homes through the existing Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). The HAFA program took  effect on April 5, 2010.

HAFA provides incentives in connection with a short sale or a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure (DIL) used to avoid foreclosure on a loan eligible for modification under the HAMP program. Servicers participating in HAMP are also required to comply with HAFA. A list of servicers participating in HAMP (including HAFA) is available at: www.makinghomeaffordable.com/contact_servicer.html.

What is great about this aspect of the Make Home Affordable program is the fact that

1. The lender can use the same info they already collected from you for a loan modification
2. They are given incentives to work with you regarding a short sale or Deed-In-Lieu-of -Foreclosure.
3. It allows homeowners to get pre-approved short sale terms before the property is even listed. This should help streamline the process and make the home much easier to market.
4. It allows the homeowner to be fully released from future liability for the first mortgage debt (no cash contribution, promissory note, or deficiency judgment is allowed). This is a BIG one folks!

They also have allowed for incentives for the home owners:

Provides the following financial incentives:

• $3,000 for borrower relocation assistance;
• $1,500 for servicers to cover administrative and processing costs;
• Up to $2,000 for investors who allow a total of up to $6,000 in short sale proceeds to be distributed to subordinate lien holders, on a one-for-three matching basis.

So, between the three, you think you’ll be able to make your home affordable?

As Realtors we are reminded all the time about safety when it comes to holding open houses, but here are some open house safety tips for home sellers.

You are trying to sell your property and have decided to hold an Open House. While an open house can be a great sales tool, but it also exposes you to numerous unfamiliar people for the first time. Stay safe by practicing these guidelines.

I would say the number one tip is to hold the open house with someone. As they say “there is safety in numbers”. If you can get a spouse, neighbor, someone to sit with you through the open house hours. Not all agents, buyers and sellers are who they say they are. Predators come in all shapes and sizes. We tell our children not to talk to strangers. You need to be aware of who your are talking to also. If you have a gut instinct something isn’t right, follow your gut.

Strangers will be walking through your home during showings or open houses. Hide any valuables in a safe place. For security’s sake, remember to remove keys, credit cards, jewelry, crystal, furs and other valuables from the home or lock them away during showings. Also remove prescription drugs. Some seemingly honest people wouldn’t mind getting their hands on a bottle of Viagra, uppers or downers.

Call the local police department and ask them to have a squad car drive by during your open-house hours.

• Check your cell phone’s strength and signal prior to the open house. Have emergency numbers programmed on speed dial. Make sure your cell phone is fully charged.

• Determine several “escape” routes that you can use in case of an emergency. Make sure all deadbolt locks are unlocked to facilitate a faster escape.
• Turn on the lights and open the curtains. These are not only sound safety procedures, but also great marketing tactics.

• If you were to escape by the back door, could you escape from the backyard? Frequently, high fences surround yards that contain swimming pools or hot tubs.
• When prospective buyers begin to arrive, jot down their car descriptions, license numbers and physical descriptions. (In theory this is great practice, but you may not have time if several buyers show up at once).  At an open house, be alert to the pattern of visitors’ arrivals, especially near the end of showing hours. In some areas, a group of thieves will show up together near the end of the open house and, while a string of “potential buyers” distracts the seller, the rest of the group walks through the house, stealing any valuables they come across.

• When showing the house, always walk behind the prospect. Direct them; don’t lead them. Say, for example, “The kitchen is on your left,” and gesture for them to go ahead of you.
• Notify a friend or a relative that you will be calling in every hour on the hour. And if you don’t call, they are to notify the police immediately.
• Inform a neighbor that you will be showing the house and ask if he or she would keep an eye and ear open for anything out of the ordinary.
• DON’T leave personal information like mail or bills out in the open where anyone can see it. Be sure to lock down your computer and lock up your laptop and any other expensive, easy-to-pocket electronics, like iPods, before your showing.
• You are responsible for your pets. If possible, animals should be removed during showings. Be aware that buyers and agents are sometimes attacked, and the owner will be held liable. Maybe you have a dog, cat or bird that isn’t allowed outside. Accidents happen. You wouldn’t want to find your pet out in the middle of the street.

Finally, whether after an open house or a standard showing, make sure that all doors and windows are locked. Thieves commonly use open houses to scout for valuables and possible points of entry, then return afterward.

I hope these Open House Safety Tips For Home Sellers help keep you aware and safe. As always, if I may be of service, don’t hesitate to contact me.

A new bill is on the floor of the Senate that again is meant to help distressed homeowners in foreclosure.  SB 1275 would help homeowners avoid foreclosure while seeking a loan modification.

Everywhere you turn you hear that lenders don’t want your house, don’t want to foreclose and carry your house on their books, would rather do anything than foreclose because it costs them so much money. Yet as I listen to the every day horror stories, I find it so hard to believe that “banks are more co-operative than ever”.  It seems amazing to me that there is even a need for the bill such as the one above, but these lenders who “don’t want your house” will go right on through with the foreclosure while you are in the process of negotiating with them! Anyone who has tried to get a loan modification or even a short sale with an offer in hand, knows these things take time and persistence. Half the time when it comes to the lender the old saying “the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing” is ever so true.

Most of the time until you’ve started missing payments, the lender won’t even talk to you. Once you have their attention because you haven’t paid in a couple of months, then it takes forever to get answers back to your requests for any kind of loan adjustments.

If you want to save your house and you have any chance of doing so, you have to stay vigilant. You cannot drop the ball for a second. We don’t know the fate of this bill that is on the congress floor right now. Many are opposed to it. If you want to save your house, it’s up to you to be very pro-active. Don’t wait for someone to ride in and save you, as you can tell by looking at all the notices still flooding the newspapers, it’s likely not to happen.

If I can be of service and help with any of your questions regarding foreclosure, selling your home, or any other real estate needs, please feel free to contact me at 408-313-3270, or by email through this blog.

What the heck?

It’s pretty scary times for real estate out there, and I don’t just mean because of foreclosures and big drops in value causing people to lose all their equity. It’s scary because on one side you have people who still think like it’s 2005, on the other side you have “real estate gurus” coming out of the woodwork teaching creative financing and doing deals like they did 30 yrs. ago, and then in the middle you have the government relaxing standards and doing the same kind of loans that got us here in the first place.

Then I see a question posted in one of the Real Estate forums from someone wanting to know about hiring a Realtor or a real estate attorney to help with the paperwork on a piece of property she’s buying. One of the answers she got was from someone saying to let the other agent do the paperwork, and the title company handle everything. That’s how they bought theirs and there was never a problem. While I concede that there are many deals between people that didn’t use either a Realtor or an attorney that turned out OK, there are many that turned into nightmares. In a transaction described like the one above, who is looking out for her interest? What recourse is she going to have against the seller if she has the seller’s agent write up the contract? Do you think that agent is going to worry as much about taking care of her as he is the person that actually hired him and is paying him? I don’t think so. While we have a code of ethics that states we have to be “fair and honest” in all our dealings, do you think everyone really is?

Then we have the ads on Craig’s List where investors love to advertise to buy homes. One I read yesterday specifically said “No Realtors or attorneys”. Now why do you think that is? I understand they want to save on costs so they don’t want to pay commissions, or a lawyer a fee for looking over the paper work, but do you think it might be also because all their contracts, etc. may be geared their way with no concern for the seller, or buyer, whichever the case may be?

Remember the old saying “Desperate times call for desperate measures”? Don’t be so desperate you make your situation worse instead of better. If you’re in a situation where you need some help with a contract most Realtors will look it over for you for free (like me. LOL) in the hopes of either getting your business in the future or a recommendation to your friends on what a nice person they were. Take advantage of the service.

I have a buyer that has a friend whose a Realtor, but until I came along no one ever went through the contract with him and his wife to know what they were signing. It’s like hiring a stock broker. No one is going to watch out for your money with the same love and care that you are, and the same is true when it comes to getting involved with buying or selling real estate. It’s your job to make sure you are protected. No one is going to cry with you when you get yourself into a mess. All the courts care about is what you signed your name to. It’s up to you to make sure it’s something you can “live” with.

If I can help with any of your real estate needs, please feel free to contact me by phone, email, or leave a comment below. I’d be honored to help in any way I can. Like I said, it’s pretty scary times in real estate right now.

We’ve moved into the fall and holiday season of the year. This is the time of year when kids are back in school and traditionally the buying season has basically ended for real estate. Even when mortgage rates are already low, they tend to dip a little more this time of year, trying to entise buyers to keep purchasing. Statistics already show a decline in purchases for August compared to July, and Sept. will be lower than August. The one thing that may present a difference is the first-time buyer tax credit due to expire next month, but many buying Silicon Valley real estate feel the $8000.00 is just a drop in the bucket when it comes to cost.

The National Association of Realtors are fighting hard to get Congress to not only extend the deadline, but to expand it to include anyone buying a home and raising the credit itself. Time will tell if Congress will pay attention or not.

I have a story I would like to share about a recent experience I had as a representative of a buyer and hope as a home seller you don’t see yourself in it.

My clients put in an offer on a house priced over a million dollars. The offer was approximately $65000.00 under the listing price, but by my estimations very generous as I figured the house to be almost $100,000.00 over priced. The sellers (heirs of an estate) were interested in a counter offer coming down in price by on $10,000.00. One of the sellers had read in the media how homes were selling and (at least temporarily) prices were going up.

The prices in this particular area had decline 3.2 percent in the last month. Even so, against my advice on value,  my clients were willing to hit the million dollar mark but not take any money out of their pocket if the house didn’t appraise. The sellers still would not accept.

Now it is a month later, housing prices again declined in that area by 3.4 percent which means the property actually declined basically over $71000.00 and some change in the 2 months we had been fiddling with this property.

In my professional opinion:

1. The property will never appraise for the asking price or even close to it
2. We’ve moved into the slow season. The seller will be lucky to see another offer for a while.

There is no mortgage to pay off on this house. The home is vacant.

While looking at a comparative market analysis given to you free by any Realtor is a fine place to start, you also need to pay attention to the other statistics in your market to decide what the true selling price of your house should be. It won’t do you any good to get an offer on your overpriced house and it doesn’t appraise, and then the buyer can’t obtain a loan. Have you ever heard the expression “stepping over dollars to pick up dimes”?

Yesterday I was watching People’s Court on TV. There were two women, one who sold a house to another. Both women used attorneys vs. Realtors. When the woman who was buying the home did the usual walk-through a couple days before the close of escrow, it was quite aparant the woman who was selling the house was not leaving any time real soon. As should have been done, the lawyers provided for a seller rent back for 2 weeks to allow the seller more time to move. They also tacked on a heavy penalty to the seller if she didn’t move within the 2 weeks, which she didn’t.

They held the money for the 2 weeks rent in escrow, which was correct, but they didn’t have both buyer and seller sign a release of the funds with instructions for the money to either be released to the buyer on the date the 2 weeks were up, or to be pro-rated between buyer and seller according to how many days the seller stayed. That was the first mistake. The poor buyer went through weeks of calling escrow, trying to get a hold of the lawyers to release the money, etc.

The reason they ended up in small claims court is because the seller wouldn’t pay the penalty rent for the extra 10 days she stayed over and above the 2 weeks rent back. When the seller finally did leave, she left a ton of trash and all kinds of stuff in the property that the buyer had to pay to have removed. While this kind of thing can happen to anyone, the attorneys were both done with the transaction once the house closed escrow and the buyer couldn’t get either one of them to help her any longer. They ended up in small claims court.

Now, don’t get me wrong. This transaction could have gone this way even if they had used a Realtor. Many Realtors are in a hurry to collect that commission check and would have closed the deal also. Once you close escrow on a house, if the seller is still occupying the property, you have to go through regular legal channels to evict them just like you would any tenant that refuses to leave a property. What should have been done here to truly protect the buyer was to not close escrow until the seller was out of the property. At the very least it should have been explained to the buyer what all could happen if they close escrow while the seller was still in the property, and let the buyer decide what she wanted to do. In the meantime the buyer is paying on a mortgage to a house she can’t even occupy yet.

When I first got into real estate many moons ago, I was told “You wouldn’t want a Realtor defending you at a trial, and you don’t want a lawyer doing your real estate transactions.” Once you close escrow on a home, you have lost all leverage to have things come out the way they should. If things aren’t right when it’s time to close your transaction, don’t let anyone intimidate you into closing anyway. After it’s all said and done is not the time to get what was promised in the contract.