I must say, I am impressed with the speed with which some of the President's programs from the Stimulus Package are hitting the market. It's quite a change from last year — remember back in Feb 2008 how we were all in a lather about the new conforming loan limit going up to $729,750? Well [...]
"Ah, if I'd only followed CNBC's advice, I'd have a million dollars today — provided I started with a hundred million dollars." Hilarious line from Jon Stewart (watch clip below or here). He lambastes Rick Santelli from CNBC, who think we "shouldn't bail out loser homeowners", but rather we should bail out winners like AIG. [...]
So, this is more of a warning of something you may receive in the mail, that in my opinion is a trying to scam uninformed homeowners, and kind of a total crock of you-know-what. So in the mail today, I get this official looking letter from "Property Tax Reassessment", from a p.o. box in Los [...]
Just got some very educational content from Joe Lederman, from the Mesothelioma Cancer Center. What does that have to do with real estate, you ask? Can you say, asbestos? If, like many residents of the Bay Area, your house was built before the mid-1970's, then the presence of asbestos is something to get yourself educated on. [...]
A little Econ 101 for the day….So with the economy in the news every day, more attention is being focused on the Federal Reserve than ever before. Let's look at some of the facts, and understand exactly what they do and how they do it. The Federal Reserve System was created on December 23, 1913 [...]
As first-time homebuyers grow curious about the home-buying process, they often turn to friends and family for advice about purchasing a home. While these sources can provide useful tips and information, they also may perpetuate some common home buying myths. While family and friends may have the best intentions when sharing their purchase experiences, [...]
And here's why. There is a new refinance fever hitting the consuming public. Why? Because the record low delivery rates have let to incredibly low home loan rates. Have you heard about the rumored 4.5% fixed rates that might become available from the gub'mint under a new stimulus program to get the housing market to [...]
First off, some major props to John Cannon with Intero Mortgagefor some great insights. So yesterday, the Federal Reserve cut its target for a key interest rate to the lowest level on record and pledged to use “all available tools” to combat a severe financial crisis and prolonged recession. The central bank on Tuesday said it [...]
Income tax, sales tax, estate tax, excise tax, alternative minimum tax…and just when you thought you'd paid them all…along comes your property tax bill as a homeowner. But did you know that the National Taxpayers Union estimates that as many as 60% of homes are assessed for too high of a value, resulting in an [...]
As a follow on to yesterday's post on overpriced listings, I came across this very well written Forbes article, which, if you're selling your home, you should definitely soak it up (and yes, I did "borrow" their picture for yesterday's post as well.) Here are the five tell-tale signs: Your home is priced well above neighboring properties. [...]
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