The market has been going for two weeks now.   I have personally bought the absolute best pita chips I have ever had, as well as some delicious hummus (both made fresh by Hummus Heaven in San Leandro) at this market.   Today, I purchased 3 tubs of huge, delicious strawberries for $5.00, as well as lemons and swiss chard, all grown here in northern California.   I also purchased a gluten free, vegan chocolate fritter that is terrific.    

Thursday’s are now a perfect opportunity for people who have never experienced this quaint little community (the population is only about 4,000) to visit a place many have never seen.    The weather is normally very sunny in Brisbane, so you can come to purchase your goodies and then take a lovely walk through the town.   Experience our hidden staircases leading to San Bruno Mountain or simply walk throughout the beautiful hills to check out our many very unique homes.    If you have time or feel like a more level type of walk, please check out the beautiful Brisbane Marina.   It is a delightful and peaceful place to visit.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about how to get here and what you will find when you arrive!

 Kathy Wall
Prudential California Realty
(415) 608-4168
California Real Estate License #01163766

One of the speakers will be from “Keep your Home California” a non profit company that helps people to stay in their homes by doing loan modification.

After that, we will discuss short sales and foreclosures…how they work and what the pros and cons are, as well as what will be expected of you as the seller.

Lastly, we will have a discussion about how to rebuild your credit once you have either done a short sale or lost your home.

It should be an interesting and informative evening. It is free and will be held at the Millbrae Library, Meeting Room A in Civic Center Plaza, Millbrae at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 22nd.

I hope that you can make it! We will serve refreshments and there will be a raffle at the end.

Kathy Wall
Prudential California Realty
(415) 608-4168
kwallprudential@aol.com
DRE# 01163766

I attended a meeting yesterday with one of the top appraisal companies in the Bay Area, a company by the name of Axis.    Their very difficult job these days is to let the banks know exactly how much your home is worth. 

Receiving your appraisal can sometimes be shocking, particularly if you believe your home is worth more than all of the other homes in the neighborhood.   Following are just things that you need to take into consideration when reviewing an appraisal you have received:

1)    If you have spaces in your home that are unpermitted, the appraiser cannot consider them in their appraisal.   They will only consider legal rooms in their appraisal and their primary consideration is the gross living area, not the garage, basement or stairs.  

2)   Is every part of  the house connected to the rest?   If you cannot access the whole home through the finished interior, the separate entry area may not be considered as part of the gross living area (GLA) and is given a separate value, even if  it is a legal space.      

3)   The size of your yard may or may not help your appraisal.   If the land is flat and usable, it will get more weight in the appraisal than a big lot with no usuable space.    In addition, if your home has a view it will, possibly, get a better valuation.  

4)   Appraisers can only consider comparable sales in the same neighborhood as yours.    Unless there are absolutely no othe comps, they will not use sales from adjacent neighborhoods.  

5)   They try to use sales data no older than 90 days, so if your neighbor’s home sold 6 months ago, they will most likely not take that into consideration.

6)    If the appraiser notices significant defects, such as large cracks in the foundation, plumbing/electrical that is clearly not permitted, they will take that into consideration.

All that being said, if you receive an appraisal that you are positive is not correct, you have the right to appeal the appraisal.   They key to your appeal will be to clearly show that there are good reasons why your home should be valued higher than other properties in the area.    You need to be clear, consise and present cold hard facts.   

And, when appealing or disageeing with an appraiser, it is important to remain calm and as pleasant as possible.  Remember, they are not out to harm you, they are simply doing their job.   Like all of us, they are not perfect, however and most appraisers are willing to listen if you have data that may change their valuation.    Keep in mind that although the appraisers have guidelines they must follow, making an appraisal still has subjective factors.  One appraiser may give more weight to a bay view than another one might.

Lastly, if you have an appraisal appointment set up and realize before the appraiser comes that he/she is from another area and knows nothing about your area, you have the right to request a different appraiser. 

I hope that you find this information helpful…If you have additional questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Kathy Wall
Prudential California Realty
(415) 608-4168
DRE #01163766

For me, the choice was a relatively simple one because I have always hated the idea of a landlord telling  me what I could and couldn’t do in my home, so I always knew I would try to do whatever I could to purchase my own home.       

In the end it often comes strictly down to the money.   Sometimes, it simply doesn’t make sense to purchase a home, particularly if it means that you will be struggling to make the payments each month, let alone pay for property insurance and taxes.    When my son and his wife were trying to decide whether to continue renting or buy a home, they went to this website and found it to be very helpful:  http://www.decisionaide.com/MPCalculators/Menus/MP_Calculators.asp.     When you get there scroll down the page and you will find a link for Renting vs. Buying.    

I have found home ownership to be a very empowering thing….In tough times, it can be hard to keep things going, but the rewards of owning your own home are many, including really good tax deductions.

If you do decide to buy, I know that there is a wealth of information available about homes on the web, but I highly recommend getting yourself a good Realtor to help guide you through the very complicated process of writing offers, reviewing seller disclosures, etc.   A good Realtor will be your advocate all the way through the purchase negotiations and and long after you own the home. 

Kathy Wall
Prudential California Realty
(415) 608-4168
DRE #01163766

In today’s world I am regularly asked by folks whether they should just give up, walk away and let their home be taken by foreclosure or try to “hang in there” until they can find another solution.

This is a really difficult question to answer.   There are so many factors involved.   Ethicially and morally, I believe that you should do everything you possibly can to honor the contracts that you entered into when you purchased the property, even if the property is no longer worth what you paid…as long as you can still afford to make the payments.

However, the incredible stress of trying to hold on when you can’t afford to make the payments can be all consuming and emotionally destructive.     When all else fails, sometimes the only possible answer is to walk away.   Before doing that, however, you should explore all other possible options, such as:      

Loan Modification – This is a very difficult process and is not always successful but if you are tenacious and don’t give up,  it is possible.    It requires constant follow up with the bank.  They will keep switching you from person to person.  They will lose your documents and you will have to re-send them, but if you hang in there, you can very possibly get your interest rates and payments lowered.   

Whatever you do, however, don’t fall for one of those scams where they say they will get you a loan modification if you pay them a bunch of money up front.  This is something you can do yourself.  You just need a lot of patience and time to make phone calls.

If getting a loan modification fails, you should then try to “short sale” the property.   This is one step before the foreclosure process.    Basically, you put the house on the market and when you have an offer, try to get the bank to accept the offer price.   Your real estate agent will help you through this process.    It is not nearly as painful as the loan modification process because you have someone helping you with the paperwork and with contacting the bank.

The good thing about a short sale is that it usually doesn’t affect your credit as badly as a foreclosure would and some banks will give the sellers some money at the end to use towards moving expenses.   Short sales and foreclosures will be discussed in greater detail in future blogs, but please don’t hesitate to call me if you have questions prior to that time.

Kathy Wall
Prudential California Realty
(415) 608-4168
kwallprudential@aol.com
DRE License #01163766

I did everything that I could to be upbeat while meeting with all of them, but two of them wanted $1,500,000 for homes that were either in much need of updating or that had been updated in a particular style that would not be appealing to a large number of buyers.   Both of those homes were cluttered and had several pets roaming around, which would make them hard to show.   The owners said they “sensed a lot of negativity” when I made a few recommendations about things they could do increase the value of their homes.  

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am about the least negative person around….I always try to put a positive spin on everything…but it’s my job to try to help owners get the best possible price for their home, so I have to tell them things that would help them or I wouldn’t be doing them justice.      

One of the owners was at least $500,000 too high in their asking price, the other was at least $300,000 too high and the last one, a small condo, ended up being priced with someone else for $30,000 higher than it should have been.  

Needless to say, just like everyone else, I need business and don’t want to lose out on listings.   That being said, what’s the point of taking a listing that won’t sell or that will stay on the market for months & months?  

Any thoughts from my fellow professionals or recent home sellers?

Kathy Wall
http://www.kwall.prucal.com/

This is the first of a series of articles that will highlight various neighborhoods in San Francisco and on the Peninsula.     In this article, I will talk about a couple of San Francisco neighborhoods….West Portal and Bernal Heights.     Both are thriving areas and that has caused me to wonder:  

Why are some neighborhoods so popular?   

West Portal, as an example, is busy every day and every night.   It has tons of restaurants….everything from Mediterranean (Bursa Kabob) to Peruvian (Fresca) and even a Polish restaurant (Old Krakow).    They have a lovely, old fashioned neighborhood movie theater that seems to do quite well and the most popular “boutique” Goodwill store around, as well as other more high end shops.   And, of course, there’s your requisite “Starbucks”.     People come to the neighborhood from all over for it’s charm and warmth.   

Although not quite as popular as West Portal, Bernal Heights is also a thriving neighborhood.    It doesn’t have the movie theater as a draw, but it certainly has it’s share of good restaurants…Piqueos is fantastic for Peruvian food,  Chez  Maman, Liberty Cafe and many more.    

Bernal is famous for it’s  many staircases winding through the neighborhood.   The architecture is amazing with Victorians next to ultra modern homes (see photo above)  and homes that are located on “paper streets”  (streets that are streets on paper only and are really staircases).   A wonderful home that I have listed right now is located on one of those streets and is quite beautiful and unique.   (21 Rutledge…see photo below)

All of this brings me back to the question of why these neighborhoods are so popular?  What made them change from plain old neighborhoods to vibrant communities where people stroll the streets shopping and dining?    In the case of Bernal Heights, I know it wasn’t always like this, because I lived there in the lates 60′s and early 70′s.    At that time, it was genuinely a ghetto (the most wonderful ghetto in the world, because I made many great lifetime friends there, but a ghetto nevertheless!)    Now, it’s considered a very desirable neighborhood.   What changed?

It’s possible that these changes are brought about by good economic times…When the market is hot, new people come to neighborhoods that they might not normally have checked out and then their friends start coming, too.   

Or, it could be that one or two nice businesses move in and then others follow, with the people moving in once they see the nice businesses and begin to explore the areas.  Throughout San Francisco and the Bay Area, there are popular areas and not not so popular, even though some of the neighborhoods have great weather and nice homes, as well.  

I don’t really have an answer…Any thoughts?  

Kathy Wall
Prudential California Realty
(415) 608-4168
kwallprudential@aol.com
Licence #01163766

Since this house has always been immaculate, I knew that something was radically wrong, so instead of entering the house, I first called the owners.   When I was unable to reach them, I decided to call the police.    Although it turned out that the intruder had already left, I’m so glad that I did call them, because it turns out that they were able to get really good evidence of who had entered.

This home had previously been “staged” and furnished, but the owners had requested that the staging be removed due to cost concerns, so it is now completely vacant.    Although we kept the front drapes closed so that people would not notice that it was vacant, someone clearly noticed, broke a downstairs window and spent at least one night in the property, apparently ripping down one of the drapes and using it as a blanket.     

He left behind a baseball hat, a tee shirt, a mess in one toilet, a small amount of blood in the other bathroom and, quite foolishly, an envelope with his name and, believe it or not, his inmate #.   Scary…  It terrifies me to think what would have happened had he still been in the property and I been foolish enough to go in.   The police think that he spent the night, probably did his drugs and then took off.

My reason for writing this is to give a couple of hints to real estate agents and, especially, to owners of vacant properties.    

For owners of these properties and their agents, I would suggest the following: 

1)      Keep the curtains and/or blinds closed

2)     Have a few lights set on timers in the house, so that during the evening, it appears that someone is    living in the property.

3)     You may even want to leave a radio in the property that is set on a timer, so that voices can be heard from outside the house.

4)      If you’re a Realtor or the owner of the property and, when you open the door something looks odd, do not enter the property.   Call the police.   

My story had a safe ending, but had the bad guy still been there, it could have been an entirely different situation.    Be careful.    There are an awful lot of desperate people in the world right now.

Kathy Wall
Prudential California Realty
(415) 608-4168
www.michaelandkathy.com
DRE License #:   01163766