You would think you couldn’t tell much difference the way the cities flow together one right after another along the Peninsula, but I love living in Santa Clara. I actually lived in the city of Santa Clara about 30 yrs. ago, not too far from City Hall, but didn’t really appreciate it then.

Unlike San Jose with such a vast area and so many people, Santa Clara has been able to maintain that “small town” feel. Since moving here last October I have received “quarterly reports” on how the City is doing. Guides on City services available, activities, etc.  I love the fact that the city of Santa Clara has it’s own electricity vs. going through PG& E. Thank goodness the people saw through that proposition on the ballot last June!

Santa Clara is a great place for Seniors. They have a beautiful new center and if you are over 50 yrs. old it costs nothing to join. Due to budget cuts they have had to cut back on some of the hours that it used to be open, which is really a shame. I think they could probably charge a small yearly membership fee and they would still have plenty of people wanting to join.

The city of Santa Clara also seems intent on reminding people to support their local businesses. Obviously there is a method to their madness, more revenue to the City, but it’s still great for the small business owners in the area.

Santa Clara feels “clean” and safe to us since we’ve been here. We live in a rental neighborhood and we all know how bad some of those can be. I’m sure Santa Clara has some parts of it that are worse than others, but I have to say that I very much enjoy the beauty and the feeling I get living in our area. We have my mother with us also, so naturally I have to be concerned about her safety as well. Around here it doesn’t seem to be a problem.

To see if you also would love living in Santa Clara, feel free to contact me by phone or email any time.

With all the stuff I’ve been through in the last few years, closing my brick and mortar business, going through foreclosure, etc. I have been studying everything I can get my hands on just about concerning real estate, finances, business management, time management and so on.  Obviously, I’m never to old to learn. LOL. One of the people I have taken a few courses from is named Mark Joyner.

Mark has a series of courses named “Simpleology“. I started with his very first in the series Simpleology 101, 102, & 103. Since then he’s gone on to do many more great and informative courses. Recently he has offered to give his “Simpleology: The Science of Money” away for free in exchange for some publicity and feedback on the course. I just got it myself yesterday and can’t wait to dive into it based on what I have learned from him so far.

I would suggest if you are interested in learning a few secrets about the “Science of Money“, especially if you could use some really good instruction, head over there now and sign up before he takes the offer away.  Just go to

https://czsecure.com/delavo/funnels/130/

and pick up your copy. Wouldn’t it be great if we all learned the money game and never had to worry about bills and debt again?

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.

Working the Foreclosure Help Center it sure is hard to tell when the media states that the number of foreclosures is going down. This time when I volunteered, it was busier than I had ever seen it before. This week they are opening a second branch downtown San Jose. With the looming layoffs due to budget cuts at all levels, city, county and state, they are anticipating needing even more people to help more people in crisis. Thus the California real estate housing crisis continues.

According to Washington research group Center on Budget & Policy Priorities who just did a research study, 43 states are in trouble with their budgets. Of course in order to close those budget gaps, the states starts cutting funding to the counties which in turn starts cutting funding to the cities. Along the way everyone starts cutting programs. At this point it turns into a rather vicious cycle. As the different levels cut programs, they cut jobs and people, making the housing crisis even worse.

This along with the fact that the banks are still rather uncooperative when it comes to dealing with their customers regarding lowering loan balances or loan modifications, it sure makes it tough to get a recovery on sure footing. I had a lady in the office the other day had been working for months on a loan mod with her bank. She had been paying the agreed upon payments for 9 months on time, only for the bank to come back and tell her she didn’t qualify for the loan modification. Now mind you, this lady has been making these payments for 9 months already! I swear, I would love to understand the logic.

If you have your own horror story about trying to work with your lender, or if you feel the foreclosures will continue in record amounts, please feel free to share in the comments below. If I may be of any assistance to you, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

How many does this make now?

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.

It’s always fun to buy a brand new home that has just been built or is being built. You get to pick out the amenities, choose whether to have a fourth bedroom or a den, and the list goes on. It’s almost like getting the home custom made. Right now in this economy many builders are giving incentives to new home buyers that in a normal environment might never happen, just to get their homes sold. Some new home builders have even taken substantial losses. It’s in these cases that the new home buyer needs to be aware of PTFs, or “Private Transfer Fees”.

Private Transfer Fees are the fees a builder/developer puts on a property usually through the CC & R’s that pays the original builder/developer a fee in the future every time the property sells. In Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area where real estate is rather expensive, these fees can be substantial even at just 1%. Being aware of whether or not the property you’re purchasing has a clause like that could make a difference to the new home buyer when negotiating the price. In the future depending on how much appreciation the home gained when you go to sell, it could actually break a deal.

Just recently the Governor of Minnesota signed a law prohibiting such fees, as have 9 other states. Two more are considering a ban. In California though, Private Transfer Fees are still legal. There have been some adjustments to the law making disclosure of the fees more prominent. Yet there are many exemptions, just like any other property transfer disclosure, such as if you buy your newly built residence from a bank who had taken the property back in foreclosure.

Anytime you buy a property and hopefully are going through an escrow, you should receive a preliminary title report. In that report are “exceptions” to the coverage. Its these exceptions you should be interested in and where you will likely find any PTFs, or Private Transfer Fees that go along with the property.

If you have had any experiences with this kind of fee, feel free to tell your story below. New home buyers really do need to be aware of PTFs that could effect their property forever.

To help distressed homeowners, I didn’t need to be certified. I’ve been through the whole experience which would teach me more than book learning ever did, but I decided to take the course offered by the California Association of Realtors and now I am “certified” to help homeowners in distress. LOL. Do you feel better now? I can actually put the letters “SFR” after my name like a doctor or a dentist or something. Wow!

Now, getting over myself, if you are in distressed homeowner in trouble, either your mortgage is more than your house is worth, or you’re on the brink of not being able to make your house payments, call me. It doesn’t cost you anything to pick my brain and I’m not the “pushy salesman type”. You either choose to work with me or you don’t. Facts are still facts and I’ll be happy to help you any way I can.

Feel free to leave a comment below or contact me direct.

Lauri Beamish   408-313-3270  or lauribeamish@gmail.com

Get free reports, advice, etc. at my website: http://www.siliconvalleyrealestateonlineinfo.com

These days everything is working for homeowners if you just know where to look, or pay attention to the news. Obama keeps stepping up to the plate when it comes to the “Making Homes Affordable Act”.

I felt so bad today. I called a friend of mine in Arizona and since his wife died recently, he needs his mortgage to come down only $100 a month. He’s an old Country Wide loan that now belongs to B Of A. They have been with B of A for many years. When my friend went to B of  A they turned him down because he wasn’t behind in his payments, even though he knew he soon would be if  they wouldn’t help him.

He found (or somebody found him) a company that charged him $4500.00 up front to take care of his mortgage. You could have knocked me over with a feather when he told me that. I have been sending him updates, told him to go to FHA, and this is what he chose. I am now hoping to God it works for him.

I am telling you people, and especially people in California, it is illegal for anyone to be charging you upfront fees without DRE approval. They revoked all approvals given to mortgage brokers, and no one may be approved unless they post some kind of bond (according to the attorney general) and I’m not even sure about that.

If you have someone approach you that wants to charge you before they have done anything, Please check with your lawyer. So many scam artists are taking advantage of peoples fears and lack of knowledge right now. Don’t be one of them.

If I can ever help, if you have any questions, feel free to call me anytime. It doesn’t cost you anything to become knowledgeable.

Looking for a home?

Everyone’s aware of the first time home buyer tax credit of $8000.00  and the existing home owner buyer tax credit of $6500.00, but are you aware of a very small window of opportunity where you could actually take advantage of a possible $18000.00 in tax credits?

If you’re looking to buy a home, especially if it’s for the tax write off because you have nothing to protect your earnings from Uncle Sam, this may be a great opportunity for you.  It’s good even if you already own a home, but if you’re a first time home buyer that has been sitting on the fence thinking about purchasing, it’s even better for you. The thing is though, you have to move quickly.

If you have been thinking about buying a home and have been watching the market for any time at all, then you should know the first thing to do is go get pre-approved for a loan by a lender.  If you have no idea which lender to go to, ask friends that own homes for referrals. Just remember, if you go to your bank, they have the strictest guidelines. If you go to a credit union, they are next, and the last but not least would be a mortgage broker or mortgage banker as they have many sources to find the loan that is right for you, and a lot more flexibility. You do not want to get “Pre-Qualified”. You want to get “Pre-approved”. If you find the house you want, especially if it’s a bargain basement house, you want to have an advantage to being able to purchase it.

We all knew about the federal tax credits, but under a newly enacted California law, you may be eligible to receive an extra $10,000.00 in tax credits if you are a first time home buyer or if you are a current homeowner purchasing a brand new home never lived in before. (Obviously trying to help out all the building contractors going under).

The basic guidelines are the same. You have to have a house under contract by April 30th and close by June 30th. (There is a little discrepancy in that the state law is May 1, but if you wait until then, you may lose the federal credits).

I am not an accountant, and there is no way I could possibly know a “blanket policy” when it comes to everyone’s tax situation, so you definitely need to consult your CPA or tax attorney.  If you are looking to buy a home, live in it for 5 years or more, this may be a great opportunity for you. If you’re buying a home thinking you’ll own it for a year, sell it and get rich, not so much.

For a ton of free information on buying or selling your home, be sure and visit my website at Silicon Valley Real Estate Online. If you’re a homeowner in trouble, feel free to contact me as I have “been there done that”, and I can help. If the governments going to give it, take advantage of the $18000.00 Tax Credit possible loophole. Why not us!

Homeaid Northern California is putting on their 1st annual benefit show starring the extremely funny Dana Carvey.  Tom Vacar of our own Chanel 2 will be the Master of Ceremonies.  What a great opportunity to have lots of laughs and do some real good at the same time.

Homeaid Northern California, one of the region’s most active homeless agencies, is celebrating it’s 10th anniversary. They are a completely non-profit organization and $100.00 of the ticket price is tax deductible.

The event takes place at the Lesher Center’s Hofmann Theater stage in Walnut Creek on May 6th, 2010 at 7:30 PM.  It really sounds like a great evening. Dana Carvey is expected to bring many of his most memorable characters such as the Church Lady, Garth from Wayne’s world and much more.

To get more information, or to become a sponsor for the event you can go to: http://www.homeaidnc.org  They have various levels of sponsorship available. This is a great chance to spread your name through out the community if you are a local company.