Jeffrey de Jesus

If You Want to Sell Your Home, Don’t Make These Mistakes!

jeffreydejesus — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 19:27:35 +0000

I usually write about the things you should do when you want to sell or buy a home. Sometimes there are suggestions mixed in about what not to do and that’s the foundation of this week’s column. It’s pretty easy to get caught up in looking forward to where you’re going to relocate next when your home sells. However, let’s not put the cart before the horse—Most of the time sellers—need or want to sell their current home in order to make that transition into the new one. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the mistakes sellers make when they put their home on the market.[Source - Realty Times]

Disney World’s New Thrill Ride: Selling Luxury Vacation Homes

jeffreydejesus — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 01:53:46 +0000

Walt Disney Co. plans to unveil Wednesday its first foray into residential real estate in more than a decade with a pricey vacation-home development in Florida’s Walt Disney World. It’s a risky move. Disney will offer homes priced between $1.5 million and $8 million in a state where the foreclosure rate remains among the nation’s highest. In Orlando, where brokers say home values have dropped between 50% and 60% from the peak, Disney’s pricing would put its homes near the top of the market. According to Realtor.com, the average price of new listings in greater Orlando this year is just over $243,000. [Source]

Borrowers exit troubled Obama mortgage program

jeffreydejesus — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 01:52:19 +0000

The Obama administration’s flagship effort to help people in danger of losing their homes is falling flat. More than a third of the 1.24 million borrowers who have enrolled in the $75 billion mortgage modification program have dropped out. That exceeds the number of people who have managed to have their loan payments reduced to help them keep their homes. Last month alone,155,000 borrowers left the program — bringing the total to 436,000 who have dropped out since it began in March 2009. [Source]

Median price for Bay Area homes sales up

jeffreydejesus — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 02:56:40 +0000

Bay Area median prices for all home sales in May topped $400,000 for the first time in nearly two years, as the amount of real estate purchased in higher-end areas kept climbing, while sales of more affordable homes and foreclosures continued to fall, according to a report released Thursday.

Meanwhile, May prices for resale single-family homes – that is, not newly constructed houses – also rose to $434,000, an 8 percent increase from April, according to data analyzed by MDA DataQuick, a San Diego real estate research firm.[Source]

The Realities of Real Estate: What does it cost to sell a house?

jeffreydejesus — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 02:27:42 +0000

Whether or not you use a real estate agent, the process of selling a house will involve certain costs with respect to taxes and possible closing fees. If you make the smart decision to employ a real estate agent (hey, we’re agents, what do you expect us to say?), there also will be commissions to consider. So it’s important to know your financial bottom line before you sign a contract of sale. Just because a buyer says he’ll pay you $400,000 for your house doesn’t mean you’ll walk away from the settlement table with a $400,000 check in your pocket. In this week’s column, we’ll go through some of the typical expenses associated with selling a house,and explain how they are calculated.[Source]

Transform Your Home with Home Staging

jeffreydejesus — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 02:41:01 +0000

We know that dressing for success is important when it comes to establishing an image. Well, when it comes to selling your home, it’s important to dress it up too. Staging homes has become increasingly more popular because it works. I think of it like setting the stage for a theatrical production. The director wants everything on the set to have a specific place. Using a critical eye, the director makes sure that the set ambience (furniture, decorations, and even open space) is going to convey the exact feel she intends.[Full Article Here]

Luxury Hamptons’ Homes Sell Again

jeffreydejesus — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 12:16:35 +0000

The federal homebuyer tax credit helped bolster sales across the country, but it doesn’t explain the rebound in New York’s tony Hamptons real estate market, where many would-be buyers have incomes too high to qualify for the credit.[Full Article Here]

Grid Alternatives – Volunteer to help install a solar electrical system

jeffreydejesus — Sat, 29 May 2010 04:13:31 +0000

Grid Alternatives utilizes volunteers to help install solar electrical systems around the Bay Area. Receive free training and invaluable experience.

Their mission statement: GRID Alternatives’ mission is to empower communities in need by providing renewable energy and energy efficiency services, equipment and training. Since 2001, GRID Alternatives has been working to bring the power of solar electricity and energy efficiency to low-income homeowners, and to provide community members with training and hands-on experience with renewable energy technologies. We believe making energy choices that are good for the environment can go hand-in-hand with improving the lives of those living in low-income communities. [Source]

Real estate news – Parkmerced in default

jeffreydejesus — Wed, 26 May 2010 09:26:53 +0000

The commercial real estate meltdown has caught up with one of the largest apartment complexes in the country — San Francisco’s Parkmerced.

The complex’s owner is due to announce that the loan on the property is in default.

“Parkmerced and its lenders engaged a special servicer (a company that specializes in handling loans in default) to support the payments of the loan on the property,” said Seth Mallen, an executive vice president of Stellar Management, a co-owner of Parkmerced, in a statement to be released Wednesday. [full article here]

Banks Bristle At Reverse Mortgage Rules

jeffreydejesus — Sun, 23 May 2010 19:32:44 +0000

Earlier this spring, as the state Senate was getting ready to pass a bill cracking down on foreclosure procedures, Sen. Susan Tucker, D-Andover, decided the time was right to strike. The Andover Democrat put together some language to include in the bill dealing with another housing related issue: Reverse mortgages.

Reverse mortgages are a way for senior citizens whose mortgages are fully or mostly paid off to pull out some of that equity for their day-to-day needs without risking losing their home. Essentially loans written based on age and home value, reverse mortgages don’t need to be paid off until the borrower moves out or dies. [full article here]