Green Real Estate Appraiser

10 Things Real Estate Agents Won’t Tell You

Posted on June 20, 2014 | Leave a comment

1. I’m Using Your House to Sell Myself.

I’m not sure if I understand Mr. Burton here when he says,”Some Agents See Only the ME in HOME!” OK, there are plenty of over inflated egos practicing real estate. Many of which you can see on cable television. But why would someone waste their time and money pumping up their ego when they could be making a sale?

2.You Might Never Get the Chance to Buy Your Dream House!

Yes, if you do not have adequate resources or a good credit score you may have trouble competing in today’s real estate market. Any real estate agent not properly preparing you for what lies ahead is not helping you. Also, the market has recovered to where we’re starting to see Pocket Listings unofficially come onto the market. Mr. Burton sees this as a threat to prospective buyers since there does not appear to be a level playing field, and to some degree Mr. Burton is right. This is why working with a local professional came make all the difference!

3. Our Commisions Aren’t Set in Stone

If Mr. Burton were to review the California Association of Realtors listing agreement he’d see that this is spelled out in the listing agreement. Historically the standard residential commission has been 6 per cent – which is typically split between the two brokers (unless the broker has both sides of the sale which oftentimes is called “Double Ending” ).Then if the agent is not the broker, that side of the commission is split again. Also, there are “Discount Brokers” that will list your house for a smaller commission. Lots, acreage, and commercial properties may also have different commission ranges.

4.Your Home Isn’t Worth As Much As You Think

Here Mr. Burton may have some insight. Some agents will tell you whatever they think you’d like to hear your house is worth to get the listing. Then wait for the seller to drop the price to what the market will pay. That’s no way to list a home for sale. Pricing it as close to the threshold of what it eventually sells for – when you first list the property – will get you the best price for your property. That would take an ethical realtor that knows what they’re doing.

5.Young Buyers Don’t Want Your Old House

Mr.Burton explains that young buyers don’t want to do a lot of work and repairs. Who does? Unless of course you’re willing to pay less for something you can add value to? Generalizing what young buyers wants is at best curious, and humorous. In fact, I think Mr. Burton is way off the mark without going into recent surveys about what young buyers are really looking for. In the end, it’s all about price.

6.Another Agent Can Get You More Money

Mr.Burton suggest you should chose a successful local real estate agent with a good track record. Duh!

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55,000 SD Owners Still Underwater

Posted on June 18, 2014 | Leave a comment

Nearly five years after the Great Recession, more than 55,000 San Diego County homeowners are still underwater on their mortgages, says an analysis released this week by the real-estate website Zillow.

The report found that in the first quarter of the year, 12.6 percent of homeowners with mortgages in San Diego County owed more on their properties than they were worth, down from 21 percent a year earlier.

The drop in those underwater was aided by big home price appreciation in 2013, which during the summer peaked at 24.1 percent year-over-year. Still, the annual gains slowed in the second half of the year, and weren’t enough to get everyone’s value to recover to a point that they could sell their home for a profit or at least break even to get out of their loan.

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Home Equity Lines About To Come Due for Many

Posted on June 17, 2014 | Leave a comment

Exploding real estate values gave millions of Americans the motivation to borrow against their home. They would take out home equity lines of credit, or HELOCs, meaning they could get cash for their equity.

Between 2004 and 2007, more than 325,000 San Diegans took out home equity lines of credit, totaling around $40 billion, real estate tracker DataQuick reports. Borrowers make interest-only payments on the loan for 10 years. After that, the line of credit converts to a mortgage and must be paid back — typically at a higher interest rate.

Had home values kept rising, paying back the loans might have been easy, through a refinance or another line of credit. Today, however, many who bought during the housing bubble are just glad their homes have regained their original value, which plummeted during the Great Recession. Their equity disappeared, but the lines of credit remained. Now the bills from that first wave of HELOCs, taken out in 2004, are coming due. Homeowners must start paying on both interest and principal on the outstanding balance, and often at higher interest rates of 5 or 6 percent.

While many equity lines have been resolved, this year, 14,000 San Diegans who owe an average $71,000 from outstanding lines of credit are facing a jolt in their monthly payment, Equifax reports. On average, monthly payments will jump from $200 to $700 after the line of credit resets into a mortgage.

In all, the San Diego metropolitan area has about 115,000 total loans and just under $8 billion outstanding, Equifax says. Of that, roughly two-thirds of these loans are likely to reset to mortgages in the next 3½ years.

“It’s one of those ticking time bombs that’s eventually going to happen,” said Bruno Lizarraga, a loan originator at San Diego-based Community Housing Works.

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only

10 Things Real Estate Agents Won’t Tell You

55,000 SD Owners Still Underwater

Home Equity Lines About To Come Due for Many

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