bet365 bonus

Short Sale Tips for Consumers

March 26, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Below are general tips prepared by the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.  However, these just skim the surface of information available through your REALTOR®.  As a member of C.A.R. your REALTOR® has access to this information in its entirety, and much more! 

SHORT SALE SELLERS

1. Hire a REALTOR®!
Not all real estate agents are REALTORS®.  REALTORS® are members of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® and voluntarily pledge to abide by the strict code of professional ethics.

2.Take a Proactive Approach
The short sale process can take a lot of time and effort on your part, so taking a proactive approach to your short sale may help you complete the transaction as quickly and painlessly as you can.

3. Knowledge is Your Friend
The short sale process may be new to many sellers and is much different than a normal transaction.  It is important to know what you are getting yourself into.

4. Do Your Homework
As early as you possible, determine your lender’s short sale requirements and whether you satisfy those requirements.

5. Get a Good Price For Your Home
Getting a good sales price not only improves your chances of getting your short sale approved, but may also have other advantages.

6. Submit a Complete Short Sale Package
Provide your lender with a complete short sale package containing all the required information and documentation in an organized manner.

7.  Be Patient But Persistent

8.  Avoid Scam Artists
Be wary of scams.  Your REALTOR® will help you avoid getting duped.

SHORT SALE BUYERS

1. Hire A REALTOR®!
Not all real estate agents are REALTORS®.  REALTORS® are members of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® and voluntarily pledge to abide by the strict code of professional ethics.

2. Knowledge is Your Friend
The short sale process may be new to many buyers and is much different than a normal transaction.  It is important to know what you are getting yourself into.

3. Do Your Homework
Gather and review as much information about a transaction as you can before writing an offer to purchase.  Your REALTOR® can help you identify which properties for sale in the Multiple Listings Service are short sales.

4.  Write A Clean Offer
This describes an offer to purchase that the seller is unlikely to take issue with.

5.  Understanding the Timing
A short sale may take a long time and it is important to understand the timing of the process.

6.  Prep as Best as You Can

7. Manage Your Expectations About the Property

8. Don’t Lose Sight of the Big Picture


The information being provided by CARETS (CLAW, CRISNet MLS, DAMLS, CRMLS, i-Tech MLS, and/or VCRDS) is for the visitor's personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties visitor may be interested in purchasing. Any information relating to a property referenced on this web site comes from the Internet Data Exchange (IDX) program of CARETS. This web site may reference real estate listing(s) held by a brokerage firm other than the broker and/or agent who owns this web site.

The accuracy of all information, regardless of source, including but not limited to square footages and lot sizes, is deemed reliable but not guaranteed and should be personally verified through personal inspection by and/or with the appropriate professionals. The data contained herein is copyrighted by CARETS, CLAW, CRISNet MLS, DAMLS, CRMLS, i-Tech MLS and/or VCRDS and is protected by all applicable copyright laws. Any dissemination of this information is in violation of copyright laws and is strictly prohibited.

CARETS, California Real Estate Technology Services, is a consolidated MLS property listing data feed comprised of CLAW (Combined LA/Westside MLS), CRISNet MLS (Southland Regional AOR), DAMLS (Desert Area MLS),CRMLS (California Regional MLS), i-Tech MLS (Glendale AOR/Pasadena Foothills AOR) and VCRDS (Ventura County Regional Data Share).

Copyright © 2013 CARETS®. All Rights Reserved.


CARETS data last updated at May 21, 2013 2:15 AM PT
Filed Under: Areas, Blog Tagged With: , , , ,

Owning vs Renting – 56 Must-read Reasons

March 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Rent Advantages

  • May be cheaper than a mortgage payment
  • Fewer (if any) maintenance costs
  • No down payment required (less deposit)
  • No real estate taxes (renters insurance optional)
  • Less stress (who cares, it’s not yours!)
  • Freedom to move or downsize when necessary
  • No risk of home price depreciation
  • Some utility bills may be included
  • “Free” amenities such as pool, gym, security
  • Money can be used for other, more profitable investments
  • Can’t be foreclosed on

Rent Disadvantages

  • Rental payment may exceed monthly cost of mortgage
  • No ownership or wealth creation
  • Payments never stop when renting
  • Rent will rise over time
  • Must deal with a landlord or management company
  • No tax benefits
  • Rules, regulations, and limitations
  • More temporary, less stability
  • Always at the mercy of the property owner
  • Pets may not be allowed

Ownership Advantages

  • You can build home equity and wealth
  • Status- Status-Status
  • Sizable tax deductions possible
  • Your space, your rules (pets welcome)
  • Ability to remodel, expand, tear down
  • Pride of ownership (social status, accomplishment)
  • Potentially better for children, family structure
  • Mortgage can improve your credit history/score
  • Ability to borrow against your home (HELOC or cash-out)
  • No more monthly payments once mortgage paid off
  • Fixed payments (if you choose a fixed mortgage)
  • Mortgages are the cheapest loans available
  • No landlord
  • Can exclude capital gains when you sell (partially)
  • Inflation hedge
  • Can rent out to others
  • Can sell and use proceeds for bigger/better home
  • Retirement nest egg
  • It’s the American Dream!

Ownership Disadvantages

  • Home prices may lose value
  • Could overpay for your property
  • Obtaining a mortgage (and finding a home) is a hassle
  • Not everyone qualifies for a mortgage
  • You must pay taxes and homeowners insurance
  • Total housing payment can be more expensive
  • Mortgage payment can rise (if an ARM)
  • Sizable down payment necessary
  • Maintenance costs can be excessive
  • Pricey HOA dues (if applicable)
  • You’re “stuck” in a home (long-term commitment)
  • Increased liability and responsibility
  • Transactional costs of buying and selling
  • Ownership is stressful!
  • Taxes and insurance generally rise
  • Your home can be damaged or destroyed (and not fully insured)
  • Can be foreclosed on and lose your home
Filed Under: Areas, Blog Tagged With: , ,

New rules aim to make mortgages safer via CNN Money

January 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment

We hope you are enjoying the week and getting ready for the weekend ahead! This is a very important news alert that will affect a lot of borrowers..

Federal officials unveiled new mortgage rules on Thursday meant to reduce risky lending and make it easier for borrowers to know exactly what they are getting into.

The aim of one rule is to keep lenders from issuing loans to borrowers who can’t afford to pay them off.

“When consumers sit down at the closing table, they shouldn’t be set up to fail with mortgages they can’t afford,” said Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The rules are meant to avoid the kind of mortgage mess that spawned the financial crisis and ultimately led to the Great Recession.

During the housing bubble, many lenders had lax underwriting standards. Banks often didn’t check documentation, didn’t require minimum credit scores and didn’t determine whether borrowers had income enough to keep up payments.

Now, when a loan meets new lending criteria outlined by the CFPB, it becomes a “qualified mortgage,” which will give protection for the banks from lawsuits filed by aggrieved borrowers or buyers of mortgage-backed bonds.

“It’s a set of standards that protects consumers from bad loans but it also protects lenders from lawsuits,” said Davis Stevens, CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association. “Lenders are not protected if they go outside the guidelines.”

The new rules will eventually change the process homebuyers go through in obtaining mortgages. Here’s what you need to know.

Which lenders do the rules cover? All companies that give out mortgages will be governed by the new rules — big national banks, savings and loans, community banks and credit unions.

“The rules will encompass most of the market as it exists today,” said William Emerson, president of QuickenLoans.

How is a “qualified mortgage” defined? The rules spell out what is called a qualified mortgage. To judge whether a loan is qualified, lenders must consider these factors:

 

  • Income and assets must be sufficient to repay the loan;
  • Borrowers must document their jobs;
  • Credit scores must meet minimum standards;
  • Monthly payments must be affordable;
  • Borrowers must be able to afford other debts associated with the property such as home equity loans;
  • Borrowers must be able to afford all home-related expenses such as property taxes; and
  • Lenders must consider a borrower’s other obligations like student loans, car loans and credit cards.

 

What if a borrower doesn’t meet all those guidelines? A homebuyer could still get a mortgage, but only if the mortgage payments don’t exceed 43% of the borrower’s pre-tax income.

What other requirements are there? When judging ability to repay, lenders can’t use payments based on interest-only loans or so-called negative-amortization rates, in which mortgage balances grow over time.

They also can’t use teaser rates, which adjust higher after a set term. Loan terms cannot exceed 30 years, and up-front fees, such as points paid to reduce interest rates, must not be excessive.

To be clear: The rules don’t prohibit those unconventional types of loans. But lenders, in deciding whether to give out such a loan, must judge a borrower’s ability to repay as if the loan were a conventional loan.

When will the rules go into effect? The rules start to kick in by January 21, but lenders will have 12 months to fully implement them.

What about jumbo loans? The ability -to-repay rule covers even the large, so-called jumbo loans, which are not backed by any government agencies such as Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. But Stevens of the mortgage bankers group said he still expects jumbo lenders to follow the qualified mortgage guidelines. That will give them legal protection.

Are there any exceptions? People with subprime adjustable-rate mortgages or other risky loans who are refinancing can do so without going through the full underwriting process required by the new rules.

The CFPB is also proposing that mortgages issued by certain non-profits for low-income homebuyers be exempt from the rules. The agency also wants to make exceptions for some refinacings made through the Home Affordable Modification Program and for some loans issued by small community lenders. These proposals, if approved, will be finalized this spring.

Filed Under: Blog, news Tagged With: , , ,

Open houses today – December 2nd 2012 – via Dom Naidoo

December 2, 2012 by Leave a Comment


Happy Sunday everyone!! I hope you are enjoying the weekend and getting needed rest and relaxation.
It has been a rainy, wet & soggy weekend here in Southern California. We are not complaining!!
If you are a home buyer looking for open houses this weekend, please use the helpful slide below. It will give every open house that is scheduled for today.

Do not hesitate to call me with any questions or if you would like to view a home for sale that is not open this weekend. Thanks

 

 

Real Estate Broker

A real estate broker or real estate agent is a person who acts as an intermediary between sellers and buyers of real estate/real property and attempts to find sellers who wish to sell and buyers who wish to buy. In the United States, the relationship was originally established by reference to the English common law of agency, with the broker having a fiduciary relationship with his clients.

Estate agent is the term used in the United Kingdom to describe a person or organization whose business is to market real estate on behalf of clients, but there are significant differences between the actions and liabilities of brokers and estate agents in each country. Beyond the United States, other countries take markedly different approaches to the marketing and selling of real property.

In the United States, real estate brokers and their salespersons (commonly called “real estate agents” or, in some states, “brokers”) assist sellers in marketing their property and selling it for the highest possible price under the best terms. When acting as a buyer’s agent with a signed agreement (or, in many cases, verbal agreement, although a broker may not be legally entitled to his commission unless the agreement is in writing), they assist buyers by helping them purchase property for the lowest possible price under the best terms. The real estate broker “broker” is obligated to provide fiduciary duties to whomever that broker services as client, this agency relationship can become very confusing; if the broker is helping both the buyer and seller, this is called dual agency. Traditionally, the broker represents the seller, and has a fiduciary duty to the seller. If the broker suggests to the buyer that he will help them negotiate the best price, then it is said the broker is practicing undisclosed dual agency, which is unethical and illegal in all states . Under a dual agency transaction it is vital the broker discloses to either/or part whom they represent as client, and whom they represent as customer. A real estate broker owes his client fiduciary duties, those duties include care, confidentiality, loyalty, obedience,accounting & disclosure. A real estate broker owes his customer fair & honest dealing. A real estate broker must request all parties(seller & buyer)sign a dual agency agreement, to protect their license.

information retrieved from the California Association of REALTORS & wikipedia.com

SEARCH BY AREA

Bel Air – Holmby Hills Beverly Center – Miracle Mile Beverly Hills Beverly Hills PO Beverlywood Brentwood Cheviot Hills – Rancho Park Culver City Downtown L.A. East Los Angeles El Segundo Hancock Park Malibu Malibu Beach Marina Del Rey Pacific Palisades Palms Palos Verdes Estates Playa Del Rey Playa Vista Rancho Palos Verdes Redondo Beach Rolling Hills Estates Santa Monica Sunset Strip – Hollywood Hills West Topanga Venice West Hollywood West L.A. Westchester Westwood – Century City

open houses in Los Angeles December 2nd 2012. Open house for sale and rent in Los Angeles. Find your open house list here.

Filed Under: Areas, Blog, open house Tagged With: , , , , ,

Open houses this weekend – November 3rd and 4th 2012

November 2, 2012 by Leave a Comment



Here are the open houses this weekend in Los Angeles. If you are a home buyer looking for open houses this weekend, please use the helpful slide below. It will give every open house that is scheduled for this coming weekend.

Filed Under: Areas, Blog, open house Tagged With: , , , , ,

Venice real estate CA 90291 homebuyers – how much can you afford to pay for a home?

October 6, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Happy Saturday everyone! We hope you are enjoying your weekend and getting some needed rest and relaxation! Here is some helpful information regarding your home purchase affordability. Venice real estate is a hot market and home buyers need to be prequalified and ready to purchase as soon as possible as the buyer competition is fierce!

Are you looking to purchase a house or condominium in the Venice area? Do you know how much you can afford to pay each month? Here is a simple home affordability calculator. Please contact us with any questions regarding purchasing your home as well as getting more information to obtain a mortgage loan. We are Venice real estate experts specializing on first time home buyers and Venice home listings.

 

 

Search for homes in your city:

Bel Air | Beverly Hills | Calabasas | Culver City | El Segundo | Hancock Park | Hermosa Beach | Malibu | Manhattan Beach | Mar Vista | Marina del Rey | Pacific Palisades | Palms | Playa Vista | Playa del Rey | Redondo Beach | Santa Monica | Topanga | Venice | West Hollywood | West Los Angeles | Westchester | Westwood – Century City | Woodland Hills

bankowned button
first time homebuyers

 



Westside Properties is a full-service real estate boutique brokerage based in
Venice serving the entire Westside of Los Angeles.  We proudly represent
the finest properties throughout the Westside.


We work as a team and combine our extensive real estate experience, powerful
resources and connections to benefit you whether you are looking you buy or sell
a home in today’s exciting and lucrative real estate market.


Call us now to get started on the road to buying or selling your next home. 310.459.8191
x411

or email
mywestsidehomefinder@gmail.com







To preview the finest real estate and the best deals on the Westside of Los
Angeles including Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica, Malibu, Brentwood, Bel Air,
Beverly Hills, Westwood, Century City, Marina Del Rey & Mar Vista please visit
our website: http://www.westsidehomefinder.com/ When
you are ready to view the properties or just have a question, please contact
us:
310.459.8191 x366 or mywestsidehomefinder@gmail.com

Filed Under: Blog, venice real estate Tagged With: , , ,

New Malibu Real Estate – Just Listed! 3725 Seahorn Drive Malibu 90265

August 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment

We're sorry, but we couldn't find MLS # 12617205 in our database. This property may be a new listing or possibly taken off the market. Please check back again.

Filed Under: Areas, Blog Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Debunking the “instant equity” myth

June 6, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Q: If I buy a home that previously sold for more than $400,000, but I pay only around $200,000, doesn’t that mean I have instant equity?

A: In a word? No.

Here’s the deal. In real estate, we think of equity as the difference between what your home is worth and what you owe on it. It’s the amount of your home’s value that you actually own, after any mortgage or other debts that are secured by the property.

Historically, the way homeowners hoped to build equity in their homes was primarily by paying off their mortgages. However, over the last decade or so, this evolved so that many homeowners expected their primary means of building equity would be by the stratospheric appreciation in home values. If homes simply kept growing in value, then equity would continue to build, as a matter of course.

Given these definitions, technically, the phrase “instant equity” should refer to the difference between what your home is worth at the time of closing and your mortgage balances — i.e., what you owe on it. For most buyers, that would mean their instant equity was the amount they had put down on the home.

However, people typically use the phrase “instant equity” to mean that you’ve bought a home that is worth more than you paid for it (not what you owe on it). It is this use of the phrase that you’re likely getting at.

The fact that the home sold for more than $400,000 at some time in the past (a time near the top of the market six years or so ago, most likely) is entirely irrelevant to your equity position on it now. You might indeed be closing this transaction with instant equity, but if so, that would be because the property is currently worth more than the $200,000 purchase price, not because of what it was worth in a time that is long gone — a mystical fairyland in which banks lent mortgage money without checking on borrowers’ ability to repay it, which ultimately led to a dramatic climb in home prices.

Some would say that whether or not you have instant equity, the fact that the property once sold for $400,000 shows that (a) a buyer was once willing to pay that, and (b) that the property could climb to that price again. These facts are both true, strictly speaking, but do not in any way help you determine whether this particular property is the windfall opportunity that you seem to think it might be.

Here’s why: A home’s value at any given time is what a willing and qualified buyer would be willing and able to pay for it at that time. Today’s market dynamics are simply not comparable to those of yesteryear, so you cannot assume that a buyer on today’s market would pay a top-of-market price for the place.

A buyer could not and would not pay $400,000 on today’s market for that home; if he needed a mortgage to fund the purchase, the bank and appraiser would simply not allow him to do so. And if he were a cash buyer, it just wouldn’t make sense for him to pay such a price, presuming that he could buy another, similar home in the area for closer to $200,000 than $400,000.

The only way for you to know whether you have instant equity in this home, and how much, is to figure out what you believe the property is worth on today’s market, and calculate the difference between whichever of the following you find to be the most relevant for your purposes: (a) the amount of loan indebtedness you have on the property or (b) the amount you paid for the property.

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson

Tara-Nicholle Nelson is an author and the Consumer Ambassador and Educator for real estate listings search site Trulia.com.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , ,
«Older Posts

The information being provided by CARETS (CLAW, CRISNet MLS, DAMLS, CRMLS, i-Tech MLS, and/or VCRDS) is for the visitor's personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties visitor may be interested in purchasing.

Any information relating to a property referenced on this web site comes from the Internet Data Exchange (IDX) program of CARETS. This web site may reference real estate listing(s) held by a brokerage firm other than the broker and/or agent who owns this web site.

The accuracy of all information, regardless of source, including but not limited to square footages and lot sizes, is deemed reliable but not guaranteed and should be personally verified through personal inspection by and/or with the appropriate professionals. The data contained herein is copyrighted by CARETS, CLAW, CRISNet MLS, DAMLS, CRMLS, i-Tech MLS and/or VCRDS and is protected by all applicable copyright laws. Any dissemination of this information is in violation of copyright laws and is strictly prohibited.

CARETS, California Real Estate Technology Services, is a consolidated MLS property listing data feed comprised of CLAW (Combined LA/Westside MLS), CRISNet MLS (Southland Regional AOR), DAMLS (Desert Area MLS), CRMLS (California Regional MLS), i-Tech MLS (Glendale AOR/Pasadena Foothills AOR) and VCRDS (Ventura County Regional Data Share).

Date last updated: 5/20/13 11:59 AM PDT

This IDX solution is (c) Diverse Solutions 2013.