Imagine shopping around, from dealer to dealer, for a second car and paying $6,450 for
it. Then, the following week you read on-line that there is a program for a person in your situation where such a car is FREE! You would not have to pay even $1.00 for that car. What would you do? Do you really think that auto dealer is going to refund your money? Do you think any of them will fess up to not knowing about such a program?
This is what I deal with often – not in cars but Veteran’s Benefits. Many so-called VA Lenders fail to ask one simple question of every Veteran. “Do you receive any disability pay from the VA?” The failure to ask that question costs disabled Vets thousands of dollars unnecessarily.
Let’s say a Vet buys a $300,000 home and uses their Eligibility for a no-down VA. If that Vet receives disability pay, he/she does NOT have to pay the “VA Funding Fee”. A first time user of their VA Home Loan benefit has a Funding Fee of 2.15% of the VA Loan amount. So, our $300,000 sales price and VA Loan amount would have a $6,450 Funding Fee as part of the Veteran’s costs. HOWEVER, if the Lender asks that question and does the proper paperwork for the disabled Vet, the Veteran’s Administration will waive that $6,450 VA Funding Fee. Good news for the 267,318 disabled CA vets (3,268,045 nationally).
“It’s who you know that makes all the difference in the world”. That is true. But even if your Uncle Bob is an auto dealer, if he doesn’t know that your situation has benefits we have to tweak the slogan: “It’s not just who you know but what they know that counts”.
Do you know of any such situations? I’d love to hear from you.
‘Houston…the Eagle has landed’. I enjoyed recently the celebration of the Lunar landing. Let’s change the wording to fit our times: “Buyers, we’ve landed, and are now lifting off”.
Home values in San Jose, Morgan Hill, Gilroy, Hollister and San Juan Bautista “have landed” at the bottom of their value slide and are beginning to “lift off” that bottom. We are not going to see these prices again for a very, very long time, if ever again.
Here’s the affect of waiting to buy a home: A home listed today for $350,000 and goes up 5.0% in value will then be worth $367,500. A buyer who waited and then buys this home will need $985 MORE CASH and $268/mth MORE INCOME to qualify for this same home.
If the interest rate is at 6.0% (vs. the 5.0% used above) when the buyer decides to purchase this increased-value-home, their income will need to be $843/mth. HIGHER to qualify!
Some prospective home buyers may be calling out: “Houston, we’ve got a problem“. The erosion of their purchasing power may make them permanent renters.
My crystal ball recommends that those who want to buy a home climb on board NOW while they can. What does yours forcast?
In a Hollister listing interview the inevitable question came up and I gave the answer I have heard myself offer more and more lately.
The question: “How much of a commission do you charge”?
The answer: “If your competing homes for sale are offering 2.5 or 3.0% to the selling office you should offer at least 3.0%. The first sale you need to make is the Selling Agent’s interest in showing your home. You want to do everything possible to encourage those agents to enthusiastically promote your home. If you instruct me to collect a lower commission, half of which goes to the Selling Agent, they will see that lower commission when searching for homes to show their buyers. We want to ENCOURAGE them to show your home. A lower commission being offered by you while competing homes are offering more will be discouraging to them.
“The home will sell itself – once the agent and their prospective buyers actually tour your home. We just need to do all we can to make your home appealing to the prospective buyers AND their agent”.
This answer seems to resonate as a new thought with most sellers and typically the issue is settled. Now! If we could just find a buyer for this nice, upper-end home! Anyone want a producing vineyard and nice home in the Spring Grove Area of Hollister?
If you have been waiting to buy a home in Hollister review the following sales activity and then go buy your Hollister home.
The Average Sales Price (ASP) increased 15.2% from May to June! Hollister’s ASP in June was $287,900 whereas a month earlier the average was $249,900. Compared to June 2008 however, Hollister’s ASP was down 14.7% .
A valuable indicator: the “Closed Sales to New Listings ratio” (CS:NL) is actually in conflict with the jump in ASP. June’s CS:NL ratio dropped to 56.9% from May’s 89.6%. We saw the same drop in Gilroy for June however, their ASP also dropped. The harbinger of things to come, may lie in the nice increase of Hollister’s CS:NL over 6/08’s ratio of 40.2%. Just wait and see. As our CS:NL ratio increases so will our ASP.
Nearby Morgan Hill’s homes experienced an increase in both the CS:NL ratio and ASP.
My strong advice: if you plan to buy a home this year do it now. We see nothing that suggest prices will drop or even level off in the foreseeable future. Likewise I think interest rates for home loans are about as low as they are going to get.
For your own study of the actual Multiple Listing Service figures go onto “Client Portfolio” on the navigation bar. There you can see a great deal of real-time data. Enjoy.
Here’s the good news Gilroyans: Our Closed Sales-to-New Listings-Ratio (CS:NL) nearly doubled that of 
the same time last year. June’s CS:NL ratio was 87.3% vs. 47.6% in June last year. The “bad” news is that June’s CS:NL ratio was down from May’s 93.5%.
As you would expect, Gilroy’s Average Sales Price (ASP) of $395,900 dropped 3.8% in June from the month prior ($411,500). Likewise, the ASP was down 32.5% from 6/08’s $586,800.
While interest rates and prices are still down buyers who want the American Dream, Gilroy-style, should jump on the shrinking inventory of homes. Gilroy’s home prices will go up.
Down the road in Hollister the CS:NL ratio also dropped from May to June but the ASP went UP 15.2% in that same month! Compared to ‘08 Hollister is following Morgan Hill and Gilroy’s trend of an increasing CS:NL ratio.
For your own study of the actual Multiple Listing Service figures go onto “Client Portfolio” on the navigation bar. There you can see a great deal of real-time data. Enjoy.
The Morgan Hill housing market is beginning to show some promising signs: The Closed Sales-to-New Listings-Ratio (CS:NL) rose nicely to 89.2% in June from 51.5% in May. June’s ratio nearly doubled 6/08’s of 47.2%. As you would expect Morgan Hill’s Average Sales Price (ASP) also rose in June, up 10.2% from May. However, the ASP of $614,500 is down 31.5% from last year’s average of $898,200 in June.
The best hint of what’s to come is the nice increases in CS:NL. As that indicator continues to increase the ASP is bound to go up.
Next door: Gilroy’s activity seems to be headed in the right direction. While June’s CS:NL ratio dropped slightly from May to June, June’s ratio nearly doubled over last year’s figures. The Average Gilroy Sales Price was lower in June than May by 3.8% and down 32.5% from a year ago. Stay tuned however.
As I update these ‘09 figures I predict an increase in ASP in both Morgan Hill and Gilroy.
For your own study of the actual Multiple Listing Service figures go onto “Client Portfolio” on the navigation bar. There you can see a great deal of real-time data. Enjoy.
In these Dog Days of Summer it seems like every other home I show in Gilroy lately has a pet door in the garage door entry to the home. There is nothing more exciting than to have “Spike” come blasting through the door to check out who is in his home.
Gilroy, as well as virtually every other city, has a building code requiring that homes be built with a firewall between the attached garage and the home. Many house fires begin in the garage so the firewall is engineered to impede a fire which starts in the garage from spreading to the home. Most jurisdictions require the firewall to provide such a delay for up to two hours.
While making “Spike’s” life a little more convenient the homeowner who puts a pet door in the the door leading into the home from the garage may have problems collecting from their homeowners insurance where a fire began in the garage.
I find it interesting that many insurance agents say homeowners with such pet doors will still be covered yet home inspectors seem compelled to address this issue in their written reports.
Occasionally, a homeowner will cut the firewall for attic access or to install a drop down ladder. They may face the same dilemma with their insurance company.
Building Code also requires that your garage-to-home door have a functioning, self-closing, hinge. For obvious reasons that door needs to close so that the firewall retards the spread of a garage fire. For reasons beyond me some homeowners disengage such a hinge. Again, such a move may prove costly later.
So, why not check with your homeowner insurance agent and see what their position is on the doggie door dilemma. We can check with the City’s code enforcement folks. Sorry “Spike”. Of course the standing rule remains: “caveat emptor”.
I listened to home inspector today as he inspected a house I sold in San Jose. He was talking about the importance of smoke alarms and how most homes only have an “ionization” or a “photoelectric” type detector but not both. Up to that comment I had smugly checked off that my home had a smoke alarm and we were set. I realized, however, that I didn’t even know which type I had. Then the inspector referred to some studies that suggest people can sleep right through the constant pitch of a smoke alarms going off – almost like getting used to “white noise” or constant background sounds.
Enter “alarm and voice” devises and variable pitch alarms. The newest alarms even talk to you: “Warning, Warning, Fire, Fire“. Then they put out a variable pitch alarm. When the inspector mentioned “the other type of alarm: “the CO2 detector” I knew I needed to get updated. “You know that Carbon Monoxide is called the ‘Silent Killer’, right?. Well there is an alarm for that too”, he offered. While I vaguely remember thinking about that in the past I did not install a CO detector in my home.
I found “National Fire Protection Association” website to be very helpful. I quickly realized that my home was not adequately equipped with the most up-to-date smoke detectors nor do I have enough detectors in my two story home. I’m headed to Lowe’s for all three types of alarms.
How about your home? I recommend that you go to NFPA’s website
I had fun making the Video Tour for 1890 Orchard Rd. in Hollister, CA. Why not take a few minutes to watch it? As you do you will notice 3 things: One, this fresh 3 bd. 2 bth. home is nicely appointed and quite comfortable: Two, it sits on a peaceful, flat 5 acre parcel and is all decked out for your horses; and Three, this home is only a 1/4 mile from the Santa Clara County line so it is perfectly located for a comfortable commute, shopping at the Gilroy Outlets, hitting the beach or walking along famed Cannery Row. 15 minutes South and you are in Hollister. Another 30 min. and you arrive at the Pinnacles National Monument and, in 40 min. to the East you are on Hwy. 5 heading for Yosemite or Disneyland. Give me a call for your own tour of this nice property. I promise – you will be impressed.
Have you noticed Morgan Hill’s housing activity? Wow! Recovery is well underway in our quaint town. In May there were 73.6% more Closings than in May ‘08. This is the 5th straight month this year where our Closings have increased over last year’s figures. To date, Closings have increased nearly 60% (59.4%)!
On the other hand New Listings of Morgan Hill homes for sale were down for the 5th straight month. The number of May’s New Listings were down 55.4% vs. 5/08 and year-to-date the drop totals 23.5% over the same period last year!
In nearby Gilroy the same housing trends are happening! Gilroy’s number of Closed Sales is up 128% from 2008! 128%! Wow! Our New Listings were lower by 27.9%.
The affects of ‘Supply and Demand‘ are being felt here in Morgan Hill and Gilroy. While the interest rates are still wonderfully low I wouldn’t wait to buy.
