http://thepropertypontiffs.typepad.com/weblog/ The Pontification of all things Real Estate A real estate rant from those of us pontiffs at The Carrigan Group. Here we will discuss all things real estate (financing, sales, purchase, investing, development, economy, politics relating to, employment in, and anything else we Pontiffs feel the need to rant about) to pontificate: pon·tif·i·cate (pn-tf-kt, -kt) n. The office or term of office of a pontiff. intr.v. (-kt) pon·tif·i·cat·ed, pon·tif·i·cat·ing, pon·tif·i·cates 1. To express opinions or judgments in a dogmatic way. 2. To administer the office of a pontiff. en-US Mon, 03 May 2010 13:02:55 -0700 http://www.typepad.com/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification http://thepropertypontiffs.typepad.com/weblog/2010/05/why-overpricing-your-home-is-a-costly-mistake-in-oh-so-many-ways.html http://thepropertypontiffs.typepad.com/weblog/2010/05/why-overpricing-your-home-is-a-costly-mistake-in-oh-so-many-ways.html In the end it costs the seller and the agent a lot of money. It costs the seller money in interest, and mortgage payment that were paid the many days it was on the market too high, utilities, and possible cost them the home they wanted to buy because this home was sold on contingency. It costs the seller in value because the seller is not going to try that hard for a market worn, stale, and old listing. Economy Real Estate In General Real Estate Southern California Ryan S. Carrigan Mon, 03 May 2010 13:02:55 -0700 http://thepropertypontiffs.typepad.com/weblog/2010/04/the-14-most-common-mistakes-people-make-when-buying-a-home.html http://thepropertypontiffs.typepad.com/weblog/2010/04/the-14-most-common-mistakes-people-make-when-buying-a-home.html Here are some of the most common mistakes buyers make when buying a home. What we pontiffs wanted to do is better inform our loyal followers to these so they will be better prepared going into the process all together. We understand that many will know to go with a Carrigan Group advocate and you can avoid many of these problems, but some can’t and so this will help you better inform your agent to protect yourself. 1. Ignoring the costs and effects of low credit score… What score should I have? Well I wish I could tell you but I can’t it varies, there is so many variables involved, what is your income, what type of credit do you have, what is the amount of liabilities do you have, and are you leveraged too high? But I can tell you that below 650 it will cost you, in many ways this number will affect you and your wallet. For example, your car insurance will be more expensive, your loan interest may be higher, your payments for furniture and other installment contracts will be higher, you may be turned down for loans, apartments, and even jobs because of it (regardless that it is against the law, you may never know the real reason) and you may be required to put more money down. Current Affairs Economy Education Real Estate In General Real Estate Southern California Riverside Ryan S. Carrigan Mon, 26 Apr 2010 14:25:34 -0700 http://thepropertypontiffs.typepad.com/weblog/2010/04/not-all-bad-news-some-rosy-sometimestax-debt-forgiveness.html http://thepropertypontiffs.typepad.com/weblog/2010/04/not-all-bad-news-some-rosy-sometimestax-debt-forgiveness.html Let me explain in simple terms what happened. If your friend gives you $200.00 and you spent the money, but later you cannot pay him/her back, and they are nice enough to get what they can from you and forgive the rest, say like taking only $125.00 instead of $200.00, then the Tax Gods deem that you have been enriched by $75.00 and that is considered income and must be included in all your gross wages as well. The TAX MAN NEVER goes away! The Bank loan on your house is the same way, if you owed $350,000.00 on the first and $50,000.00 on the second and you could not get a loan mod (or wish not to take one) and the home was put up for sale (by a FINE Firm such as The Carrigan Group….I’m just saying), and the bottom line proceeds came only to $135,000.00 to the first and $5,000.00 to the second loan, the IRS and the state tax Board sees you being “enriched” by $260,000.00, and you are taxed on that as income ADDED to your regular income. Scary, very scary, isn’t it? Real Estate In General Ryan S. Carrigan Wed, 14 Apr 2010 09:29:26 -0700 http://thepropertypontiffs.typepad.com/weblog/2010/04/where-are-we-now-or-why-in-my-humble-opinion-bofa-sucks.html http://thepropertypontiffs.typepad.com/weblog/2010/04/where-are-we-now-or-why-in-my-humble-opinion-bofa-sucks.html Wow, this market can be very frustrating, especially when you are dealing with BofA. Short sales and negotiations are taking forever, and BofA is the prime suspect. These banks have it all, a sweet deal of making trillions of dollars off people during the hot real estate market, the a bigger killing on the refi-boom, then the government steps in and says they are too big to fail, and bails them out and BofA gets 45 billion dollars. Wow, that’s a lot of money, our money (mine and yours), they whine and cry how they need our help when they are the number one reason we can’t get out of this slump! If you listen to our award winning podcast, “what to expect” you can see the frustrating long process it is to get a short sale done. BofA is notorious for losing files, faxes, and other important documents when it is beneficial to them to stall the process. They constantly play the negotiator roulette, one week you work with one the next they are gone. Then they tell you that everything has to start over again and they need updated files before they can move on, then when you think that it is on its way you are told to call back, then you NEVER hear from them again, and weeks later after phone calls, emails, and faxes, you have to call a different number to fax to a different fax line, or they want you to start over and email them. Then after that, and more weeks have gone by, nothing, absolutely nothing, and no one can tell you what’s going on or where it is, and no one can answer “where are we now?” Meanwhile you have the property losing value, buyers losing interest, and your hair is falling out and your clients think you don’t know what you’re doing. One problem is, before this the big bad evil mortgage bank was Countrywide, man EVERYONE loved to hate countrywide, then BofA bought Countrywide and decided to eat the poison they were selling and become an even more evil company. BofA is so inept, the right hand has no idea what the left hand is doing meanwhile their foot is in their mouth and they really don’t care, it’s that simple. Obviously, (all you BofA lawyers back off) this is in my own humble yet important opinion and is based entirely on the numerous occasions that this has happened to me and my agents personally, I am not here just to bash but to scream from the mountain tops that this is happening and its wrong! Another problem is they are backed up, I understand that, but please let’s get some semblance of order, let’s keep the files moving, and let’s start approving deals. Now our government is also trying to sweeten the deal and pay the banks an extra few thousand for every deal they close, WOW, that should have changed things huh, do ya think? Well... Real Estate In General Real Estate Southern California Riverside Ryan S. Carrigan Tue, 13 Apr 2010 12:23:28 -0700 http://thepropertypontiffs.typepad.com/weblog/2009/07/california-spirals-downward-the-madness-continues.html http://thepropertypontiffs.typepad.com/weblog/2009/07/california-spirals-downward-the-madness-continues.html California’s long spiral downward….could get worse, Ok so it’s July and well we are still here, we are still alive, maybe not alive and kicking, but alive none the less. However, every day I just have to shake my head and wonder where the heck we get our state legislators? What world do they live in? Do they not see what we see? Can they not understand what they are trying to do and have done is only going to make it worse? The sad answer to all these questions is NO. The far left have run this sate and have been in control of ALL levels of this state for a long, long time. What do they have to show for it? Well let us see: The lowest rated schools in the nation One of the Highest income tax rates in the country Unbearable worker’s comp rates Extremely unfriendly business environment Highest paid school administrators in the country WAY WAY WAY too much Union control over every aspect of our lives Highest Sales Tax in the country Some of the highest DMV rates in the country Lowest pass rate on the high school exit exam in the country (not a surprise why they canceled it and no longer want to give it) One of the highest illegal alien population in the country (And don’t just think it’s all from Mexico (all you minutemen out there)) High corporation taxes High estate tax rates High capital gains rate taxes Highest total of Gas taxes WE ALREADY HAVE A CAP AND TRADE FAILURE ON ENERGY in this state (we had it for years and it has only made energy MORE costly and raised our taxes on it) High property tax and property transfer fees and taxes as well as codes in order to sell your home. Unlicensed and unregulated Department of corporations finance lenders throughout the state The largest most bloated constitution in the country AND we even beat out some countries for length Rampant welfare fraud, worker’s comp fraud, medi-cal fraud, insurance fraud With all this and much more, what is Sacramento democrats, and their union thugs want now? More taxes….oh, oh, sorry they call it “Revenue”, and they don’t want to really cut spending at all. Sure they want to threaten that they’ll cut emergency services or throw poor children out into the street. Will they cut their own salaries? Cut their staff? Cutoff all their own perks (such as travel, hotel, food, car expenses, personal phones, personal assistants, and vacation pay)? No, will they cut back on the per-dium and salaries paid to the thousands of board and committee members? Assembly woman Noreen Evans a few days ago before a conference committee on the budget. “This mantra out there ‘live within our means,’ while it sounds really nice, while it sounds really simple and it sounds really responsible, it’s meaningless” They want to say that they don’t want to hurt the poor and yet they raise sales taxes, they... Current Affairs Education Ryan S. Carrigan Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:54:02 -0700