Recently, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law all of the five natural gas transmission pipeline safety bills passed this year by the Legislature. The new laws place California in the national forefront of pipeline safety awareness. In addition, the laws bring into sharper focus the lessons learned from the deadly gas transmission pipeline explosion [...]
House-hunting can be exhilarating and simultaneously cumbersome. Let’s say you’re offered a job here in Silicon Valley, but are completely unfamiliar with the multitude of local neighborhoods, of which there are hundreds. You may feel in over your head. One way to lighten your load is to use the process of elimination and prioritize housing [...]
As the first and longest running real estate podcast in the SF Bay Area, The Gory Details is back in October for its next installment of 2010. In this episode, Ed interviews the one, the only, Carole Rodoni. Carole is formerly president of Fox and Carskadon Realtors, COO of Cornish & Carey Real Estate, President [...]
Ok, so obviously there’s nothing in Les Propheties that I can think of that predicts any real estate market. But if I was Nostradamus, here’s what I’d predict: “ Your local housing market will be one of the following; up, down or the same.” Whoah, Ed….prolific yet prescient. How can you be so sure? Ok, [...]
Be forewarned — no, this is not about kidney harvesting, Nigerian Lottery winnings, or Bill Gates giving everyone lots of money for forwarding an email — there is an email making the rounds titled “HR 2454: CAP AND TRADE ENERGY BILL”, which purports that new legislation will require all homes to retroactively pass new energy [...]
An early Christmas present for many home buyers came in the form of the extension of the federal tax credit for home buyers, and was signed into law by President Obama Friday, Nov. 6. The tax credit, which was set to expire Nov. 30, has been extended through April 30, 2010 with a 60-day extension [...]
Because the FHA loan is becoming more and more popular in today’s changed market, I’m presenting a quick little article, courtesy of Brandon over at MortgageLoanPlace. So, first off, the FHA (Federal Housing Administration) does not loan a home buyer money; it insures the loan. This means that if the borrower is unable to [...]
So there’s this new law affecting the real estate and mortgage industry, called the HVCC – short for “Home Valuation Code of Conduct”, which went into effect last month, and is the byproduct of a legal settlement between NY attorney general Andrew Cuomo and Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac. Here’s how it was “supposed” to [...]
It seems like just yesterday – ok, maybe 2 or 3 years ago – when a new listing in Mt. Carmel that came on the market with a price tag higher than $1M didn’t raise an eyebrow. Heck, there were even some bordering close to $2M that I thought “well, if someone’s willing to pay [...]
The Beatles weren't singing about the US economy, but they may as well have been. So as everyone knows, this year the government unveiled its new $787 Billion Stimulus Plan to infuse the economy with money and confidence. That's some serious money! But have you ever wondered who's actually getting that money. What types of [...]
Realtor, Marathon Man, "Man of a Thousand Voices".
My Yelp Reviews