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Blog Details for "3 Oceans Real Estate"
3 Oceans Real Estate3 Oceans Real EstateThe San Francisco Bay Area Real Estate Blog Articles
Feng Shui For Homes: Yep, There?s An App For That Too!
2009-08-18 04:30:00 I was chatting with a friend of mine from India the other day and, as is my habit, the conversation turned to real estate. He mentioned to me that his father is a big proponent of Indian “Feng Shui ” — how the home should be laid out, its orientation, its colors, and so forth. Over ... More About: Articles , Homes
The Innovator?s Dilemma in Real Estate Redux: Redfin Proves You Can Turn a
2009-07-19 20:07:00 In Redfin CEO’s Glenn Kelman’s inimitable “Aw Shucks” writing style, he announced recently that the discount online hybrid brokerage has turned its first monthly profit. While one month certainly a trend does not make, it is an important milestone in the company’s development. If Redfin can make money while a) charging a lot less than ... More About: Articles , Estate , Real Estate , Industry
Tales From The Front ? The Market on July 12, 2009
2009-07-13 22:10:00 Since so much of what we read about the real estate market is looking at it nationally, or statewide, it is easy to forget that real estate is local. In fact, it is probably the only product that still is local. Here in Los Altos, the market has really picked up starting in early May. Consumer ... More About: Market , Tales , Front , July
What Happened To The Market? ? A retrospective on June 2009
2009-07-06 22:23:00 With the warming weather, June saw the market continue to heat up, as Buyers jumped back into the market aggressively, resulting in strong sales across the area, especially for single-family homes under $1.5 million. Homes that are attractive to the bulk of the market, with updates, attractive floorplans, and four bedrooms ... More About: Market , Consumer , Retrospective
Why Borrowers Default ? Interesting Reading
2009-06-06 06:24:00 I saw this on a blog on the Wall Street Journal , but a recently released paper by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta looked at loan defaults on loans with a high mortgage payment to income ratio, and found that rising interest rates DID NOT significantly correlate to default rates. The two main indicators of a ... More About: Interesting , Reading , Consumer , Mortgages
The Market Report ? June 2009
2009-06-05 22:35:00 I send my clients a monthly market update and thought I’d share it with the blogosphere. If you agree and think that I’m a genius, please comment below. If you disagree and think I’m an idiot, keep your thougths to yourself. You can send me an email to subscribe to your city of interest (Atherton, ... More About: Market , Strategy , June , Consumer , Report
Pendings, Applications and Multiple Offers all UP
2009-05-16 00:09:00 Fellow contributor sent this to me, and I thought is was worth sharing. I’ll have Administrator Kevin re-post this under his authorship when he has a minute…. We are finally seeing seeing a little sunlight through the economic gloom, both nationally and locally. Take a look at these new statistics, and some anecdotal data from here ... More About: Applications , Offers
Buydowns and the Bottom
2009-03-31 16:22:00 If you were in the market to buy a $2,000,000 home home in the Bay Area, would it make a differnce to you if the monthly investment was less than $5,000 with a 30% down payment? And I’m not just talking about the mortgage payment, I am talking about complete, tax adjusted cash flow including a 4.25% 30-year mortgage fixed for 10 years, property taxes and homeowners insurance. Sound too good to be true? It’s not. And yes it beats market rental rates by thousands. Interest-rate buydowns are one of the most effective methods for both buyers and seller to obtain what they want, which of course is value. For the sellers, buying down an interest rate can have up to 8X the power over a price reduction, depending on the cost to buy the rate down. For buyers, a lower rate means higher qualification and bragging rights of having the lowest mortgage rate on the planet. In the example above: If the buyer was qualified up to $1.8mm at 5.5%, they are now qualified at ... More About: Bottom
Change, Logic and Money
2009-01-23 23:22:00 January is a month typically filled with many things inspirational, and I must say that January 2009 appears exceptional. In listening to Obama’s inaugural speech on Tuesday, my own interpretation was, “The power of change begins with me. With you. The sooner we all believe that we can change things for the better, the sooner we ACT to make things better.” Would you like a tax credit of $7,500 for buying a home? And I mean a REAL credit, not the 0.00% loan that the 2008 stimulus package was enactingfor firs time home buyers? Well, that’s the latest possible modification going forward as part of the 2009 Stimulus Package, and it’s NOT limited to first time home buyers. There’s discussion that ANYONE wanting to buy residential real estate will be entitled to this $7,500credit. As you know, a tax credit directly offsets the amount of federal tax that you may owe the federal government—it’s not a reduction in taxable income—which makes this a very co... More About: Money , Change , Logic
Will a short sale hurt my credit score?
2009-01-15 21:14:00 When I meet with homeowners who are struggling with their mortgage are maybe behind on payments and have no equity in their home, we always discuss their options when it comes to avoiding foreclosure. We usually get through my report and if it appears that their only option is to sell their house in a short sale, I always get this question – “Will a short sale hurt my credit score? And if so, by how much?” I have been doing a lot of research on this topic recently, and what I have found is there is a lot of mis-information out there. It’s tough to find any definitive information about the impact of a short sale or foreclosure on one’s credit report. I recently came across some great information provided by a mortgage broker and former underwriter in Southern California, Catherine Coy, on the www.BiggerPockets.com forums, where she explains that in terms of the Fair Issac scoring model, there is no difference between a foreclosure, a short sale,... More About: Credit , Sale , Hurt , Score , Short
Mortgage Mania 26 – …And Henry Giveth Again
2008-11-26 05:30:00 You would have to be living under a rock to have missed this today, so here is a newsflash for all you subterranian dwellers. Henry Paulson’s latest bailout plan now consists of borrowing $800 Billion from The Fed to buy up mortgage assets, consumer credit card debt and car loans. In his article, “Fed bets $800 billion on consumers“ on CNNMoney today, writer Chris Isidore shares Uncle Henry’s latest plans: “The Federal Reserve and Treasury Department on Tuesday unveiled a plan to pump $800 billion into the struggling U.S. economy in an attempt to jumpstart lending by banks to consumers and small businesses. The government hopes that these initiatives will enable more money to flow to consumers in the form of loans than has occurred so far in previous bailout plans. One program will make $200 billion available from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to holders of securities backed by consumer debt, such as credit cards, car loans and student loans. T... More About: Mortgage , Mania
Mortgage Mania 25 – Now What?
2008-11-15 01:53:00 Henry giveth, and Henry taketh away . . . When Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson asked Congress for $750 Billion (yes, that’s with a B) financial bailout package, the justification was to buy up distressed mortgage assets so that banks would start lending again, and hopefully the epidemic of foreclosures sweeping the nation would be stalled. The new plan doesn’t include that, of course, which has led to everyone asking, now what? Lately, I have been holding open houses in Palo Alto pretty regularly, and almost everyone coming in asks me the same question: How is the Market? We discuss the market trends of homes taking longer to sell, increasing numbers of price reductions, the importance of pricing and preparation, etc. The big shift we are seeing now is the effect of the stock market crash last month. Much of the wealth in Silicon Valley is tied to the stock market (options, grants, etc.). It’s how we pay our executives and employees, reward performance (bonuse... More About: Mortgage , Mania
Which Job Would Be More Frustrating: Social Media Manager at NAR, or Cloth
2008-10-10 07:55:00 I’d say it’s a toss-up. At least at the nudist colony there might be some, uh, ancillary job benefits, while the NAR position would require moving to Chicago. And that’s just a start. Alerted by several folks, including those at NAR Wisdom, about NAR’s new “Social Media Manager ” position, I find myself puzzled. NAR and its state and local brethren are, at heart, finely tuned political action machines — that’s what they’re built for, it’s what they do best, and it’s what you would expect from a trade union. I remember a year or so ago a small local town — Atherton, I believe — thought a good new revenue source would be to tax Realtor (r) commissions at the point of sale. Dozens and dozens of Realtors showed up for the town hall meeting — practically more Realtors than the town had citizens! These Realtors came from far and wide, and very few of them had anything to do with Atherton. They...
The Tweet-Cops — Law Enforcement’s Use of Social Media
2008-10-09 20:01:00 Despite being a late adopter of technology generally, the real estate industry has embraced social media better than most industries have, and arguably behind only politics and technology. Here’s an interesting use of social media from a completely different industry: law enforcement. Joanne Fraser, who sells real estate in Los Altos CA, informs me that a local police department (Mountain View) is now on Twitter. (See here.) They don’t have a lot of followers or updates yet, but kudos to them for embracing social media as a way of staying better connected to the community. Turns out the Scottsdale police department is also in on this. Neither Scottsdale nor Mountain View, however, are still quite “there.” They’re using Twitter right now only as a way of disseminating information: 14 year old takes seizure medication. It is unknown when she took it last. She has long brown hair and is wearing green shirt, blue jeans. SPD in area of 28000 N. 59t... More About: Social , Media , Cops , Law Enforcement , Tweet
McCain’s debate night bombshell
2008-10-09 06:01:00 Did you see the debate last night? During one of the questions about the economy and the financial crisis, McCain dropped a bombshell! When Tom Brokaw asked about what needs to be done to help the housing market, McCain suggested that Government should buy back all these defaulted loans and then give these people new loans at the current market value of the home. Hmmmm. Will this work? I think not. Why? Well, let’s see how this would work… Joe Homeowner has a house that he bought for $500,000 with a loan from Fly-By-Night Subprime Lending, Inc. The house is now worth $400,000 Joe, like everyone else, has lost a lot of equity in his home Unlike other Americans who are responsible and ARE paying their mortgage, Joe qualifies for the Government to buy back his subprime mortgage, because he’s NOT paying his mortgage. The Feds buy his mortgage for $500,000 and immediately give him a new mortgage at $400,000, which he may or may not be able to afford So now Joe... More About: Debate
Are Digital Cameras And PDA’s Really The “Latest In Advanced Te
2008-10-08 23:20:00 From the “What decade are we in?” department, comes this choice gem of a promotional email from our good friends at the California Association of Realtors. They’re running an Expo next week, and a promotional email just arrived in my inbox, from which I quote: Don’t miss this opportunity to learn the latest advances in technology such as text messaging, picture messaging, camera phones, PDAs and many other technologies… And in the next room, we’ll be talking about fax machines, rotary phones, and photocopiers! The full promo: Take home MAX’S TOP TIPS A Technology Survival Guide for PDA-Smartphones and Digital Cameras Technology is evolving, and it is affecting our lives and our profession. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn the latest advances in technology such as text messaging, picture messaging, camera phones, PDAs and many other technologies that agents are using to maximize their marketing and communication. Sign up t...
Let’s End The Housing Crisis Here And Now … A Modest Proposal
2008-10-08 02:12:00 Even us “glass half-full” types have to admit the news these days is bad. Any day Congress passes a $700BN and has to tag on only another couple billion or so of Christmas ornaments to get it passed, well, on that day, you know things were urgent, and they had to act fast. Wooden arrow manufacturers, Caribbean distillers, and certain other recipients of congressional largesse pork may be quite happy now, but hopefully the remaining $700BN will be spend actually trying to solve the problem. And that’s where my modest proposal comes in. Fundamentally, this crisis is about housing values, or more specifically about uncertainty around housing values. Behind most of the bankrupties, the bailouts, the CDO-thing-a-majiggies … lies a portfolio of mortgage loans whose value is … 3 cents on the dollar? A dime? A quarter? 47 cents? Nobody knows, and therein lies the problems. Our fearless leaders have proposed spending the $700BN largely on buying th... More About: Proposal , Housing , Modest , Crisis
And Another One Bites The Dust…
2008-09-26 04:54:00 Apparently at least a handful of government financial regulatory employees were doing something today other than figuring out how much money Wall Street needs to keep from further imploding… The New York Times reports that JP Morgan Chase has taken over troubled lender Wamu. What next?
What’s Happening In This Market? A Liberal Dose Of Mixed Metaphors To
2008-09-19 04:44:00 Movies. Shoes. Phases. What do they have in common? All have been recently used as metaphors describing the economy or predictions of where the economy is going. On the day that the Fannie and Freddie s$#@ hit the fan, Sherry Chris of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate quoted Realogy CEO Alex Perriello, “I feel like I am in Imelda Marcos’ closet – the shoes just keep dropping.” Indeed. Fast forward a few days and we get the Bawld Guy, America’s foremost maxim-generating machine, reassures us that we ain’t all gonna die. He’s seen this movie three times before, and the asteroid doesn’t hit earth. Finally, Nikcolai Kolding, also of Better Homes and Gardens, brings out an interesting diagram explaining the phases of the real estate market: ["Sides", for the uninitiated, refers to each of the two "sides" of a transaction.] The diagram suggests that transaction volume, not price, is the best leading indicator of a change in the marke... More About: Market , Liberal , Mixed
See Tim Ferriss Speak in San Francisco. Discount Code BIZSCY148
2008-09-16 03:20:00 Hello ladies & gents I know this has nothing to do with staging But many of you who read my blogs know I am passionate about technology and its application to small businesses. My business certainly has benefited from technology tremendously and I would not have found the success that I have without using technology to streamline processes and lower my overheads. With that said, I am one of the co-organizers for BizTechDay and I just found out we have booked Tim Ferriss of 4-hour Work Week for our keynote! Here are the details: BizTechDay – Technology Bootcamp for Entrepreneurs and Business Owners Saturday October 25 All Day Event BiztechDay is the only conference that puts your business first before technology. Come meet Timothy Ferriss, best selling author of 4-Hour Work Week and George Wright (Marketing Genius behind the YouTube WillitBlend Campaign) and learn hands-on steps and ideas to take your business to the next level. When: Saturday, October 25th, all day event Whe... More About: San Francisco , Code , Speak , Discount , Francisco
Attention All You Crazy Drivers In The Fair Oaks Neighborhood: Those Traff
2008-09-11 06:15:00 Having spent much of my life in former British colonies, I am well versed in various British-isms: marmite (yuck), lifts (not elevators), sprinkling my words with extraneous u’s … and the correct use of roundabouts — or “traffic circles” as they’re commonly known on this side of the Atlantic. Sadly, many of the folks here in Silicon Valley seem to have missed that part of driver’s ed. To reduce the tempatation of using the streets of Fair Oaks (in Menlo Park) as a convenient shortcut to avoid delays on Marsh Road and on Middlefield Road, the local neighborhood installed roundabouts traffic circles a while ago. Most drivers slow down as they navigate around these obstacles, but some of the more aggressive drivers see them as a handy and challenging obstacle course, careening around them at full tilt, seemingly on two wheels. Both the fast and the considerate drivers, however, still don’t seem to understand the most basic rule o... More About: Drivers , Crazy , Attention , Neighborhood
Mortgage Mania 19 – The Jumbo Strikes Back
2008-09-09 21:08:00 Amid all the celebration and hullabaloo associated with the recent drop in conforming interest rates as a result of the Treasury Department taking over management of GSE’s Fannie May and Freddie Mac, there has been scant analysis of the elephant in the room, namely Jumbo (aka non-conforming) loans that are part and parcel of home purchasing here in Silicon Valley. The GSEs hold or have securitized nearly half — roughly $5 trillion — of all mortgages in the U.S., and in the current environment with private lender constraints, they account for the vast majority of all new mortgages in California. This bailout (oops, did I say bailout?) removes much of the risk to lenders of writing mortgages for under $729,000 locally, decreasing to $649,000 next year, because they can resell these loans to the government backed and now managed GSE’s. But what about loans over $729,000? Well, Wall Street and the secondary market will still be willing to buy those that are con... More About: Mortgage , Back , Mania
Mortgage Mania 18 – Can You Say Taxpayer Bailout?
2008-09-09 18:28:00 What The Government Seizure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Means To You Unless you have been hiding under a rock the past couple of days, you couldn’t miss the announcement that the U.S. Department of the Treasury has placed government backed mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into a conservatorship. Under the terms of the deal, the federal government is authorized to take up to an 80 percent stake in the companies, and, as part of its duties under the conservatorship, will review both Fannie’s and Freddie’s financial condition quarterly, as well as inject money into the operations as needed. Tommy Fehrenbach of Stern Mortgage in Palo Alto had this to say about the Treasury Department’s move. “To promote market stability, the companies will be allowed to buy more mortgages through the end of 2009. However, starting in 2010 the number of mortgages they own will gradually be reduced at a rate of 10% per year, eventually stabilizing at about $2... More About: Mania
Good News About Real Estate in the Mercury? Well Sort Of
2008-09-03 03:47:00 Long-time readers know that I do my newspaper reading online via the New York Times. In a throwback to a quieter time, I do subscribe to the San Jose Mercury News on Sundays as we like to peruse the articles and share witty banter about the headlines over morning coffee. In an interesting twist, I also receive the paper on other random days of the week . . . but I digress. When I picked up the paper on Labor Day (Second Sunday?), the headline “Home Sales Raising Hopes” bravely attempted to be seen over the front and center HURRICANE HITS GOP main headline. What’s this I thought, positive news about the housing market from the Merc? Real ly? I have grown weary and wary of the Merc and its drumbeat of foreclosure of the week, gloom and doom, and reinforcing that real estate is local, and my market in Palo Alto varies just a bit from south San Jose. If you don’t believe me, visit Altos Research and compare the chart for median home price over the last couple of y... More About: Estate , Real Estate , Good News
Timing the Market, A Banker’s Viewpoint
2008-09-01 20:22:00 Credit for this post really goes to 3 Oceans contributor Eric Trailer who sent me this content in a letter this week. My clients got it last week, and the blogoshpere can now benefit. We can assume that Eric has better things to do on Labor Day than blog. I’m guessing something involving his lovely wife and son . . . To see current market data and price trends over the past year for local communities and confirm or refute Eric’s prognostications on the local market in Palo Alto and the surrounding communities, CLICK HERE to see real-time market data, courtesy of our friends at Altos Research. As you have likely been hearing, there continues to be more and more evidence that it will cost prospective home buyers more to purchase a home in select areas of the Bay Area as they allow time to go by. Why? Let’s look at the basic reasons, then review an example: 1. The median price across the board in Palo Alto and the surrounding communities has risen s... More About: Market , Viewpoint , Banker , Timing
900 University Ave, Palo Alto: Attention, Madam Secretary Rice: We Have T
2008-08-05 04:01:00 Image via Wikipedia Ms. Condoleezza Rice Secretary of State Kevin Boer, 3 Oceans Real Estate Chris Iverson, Ventoux Real Estate Dear Madam Secretary, We understand based on recent news events (include Mr. Obama’s pre-emptive European victory lap), and on the harsh constitutional reality that your present employer will soon no longer be needing your services, that you may soon be looking for a new residence, perhaps near to your past employer Stanford University . It seems, in fact, that Mr. Bush has already begun his own search, so there may be some urgency to this matter. Allow us to suggest a residence suitable for a person of your experience and discerning taste: the Squire House at 900 University Ave in Palo Alto . This property is currently on the market, listed by the local Alain Pinel triumvirate Carol, Rosemary, and Nicole, for only $12.5M. First of all, this home is a leisurely 20 minute walk down University Ave straight into the heart of the Stanford Campus: Secondl... More About: Attention
Hate Speling Misstakes And Bad Pictures in the MLS? Support My Campaign For
2008-07-28 18:53:00 Having a little too much post-Inman fun and excitement… More About: Pictures , Hate , Campaign , Support
A Housing Rebound? – Looking for the bounce
2008-07-23 19:00:00 CNN Money is a favorite consumer source for news and sensationalism about issues affecting us financially. A friend uses it as his homepage, and sent me this article on indications that the housing market is pulling out of its downward spiral. Judging by the commentary on the Yahoo news service that picked it up, most people think it is another self-serving article written by real estate agents who want to further dupe consumers into buying homes and further leveraging them selves with unnecessary debt. There, I said it, so you can save your comments. Here in Sillycon Valley, we are continuing to see variations on the Tale of Two Cities theme, with markets like Palo Alto and Menlo Park holding up strongly (click the links to see current market data), while prices in parts of Sunnyvale and San Jose have fallen off a cliff this year. We won’t mention Sacramento, because it’s not nice to kick ‘em when they’re down. So, the key leading indicators for monitoring t... More About: Housing , Bounce
Geeks Of The World Rejoice! Behold The First-Ever Twitter-MLS!
More articles from this author:2008-07-23 07:59:00 I’ve been accused — rightly, I might add — of being a geek. I also happen to be in real estate. You put the two together, plus a keen interest in using new social media tools like Twitter , and what do you get? The Twitter-MLS! For a long time, MLS searches have been available via email. Recently, some real estate search providers — like our friends at Trulia and at Diverse Solutions — have enabled MLS searches via RSS feeds. (That’s actually the technology I use on the sidebar to provide the link searches.) As the latest new big online thing, Twitter has attracted a massive cult following, and as a permission-based communication tool, it’s ideal for sending out news snippets such as new listings. Here’s how it works: Sign up for an account at Twitter if you haven’t done so already. Head thither and “follow” my Twitter “Menlo Park MLS” account. Other towns in the Bay Area will follow shortly. Sit bac... More About: World , Geeks , The World , Behold 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
