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Desperately seeking real estate status

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Monday, August 10, 2009.

Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/j242/2788382414/in/photostream/" target=blank>Jessep242</a>.

It is said that marriage is a public statement of two individuals' commitment to each other. (This supposedly explains the need for witnesses -- though in my crowd, nuptial attendees view their job description as limited to eating, drinking and merrily gifting Crate & Barrel place settings.) In terms of life steps and commitments, a close second to getting hitched is getting housed -- buying and owning a home.

This begs the question: What does your house say about you? More importantly, how do buyers and homeowners consider the "public statement" factor, if at all, when they are choosing and customizing their homes? more...

How to score fix-up funds

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Friday, August 7, 2009.

Q: I just bought my first home. Like most of the homes I saw in my price range, it definitely needs cosmetic fixing to really make it livable -- paint, carpet and tile, and some sprucing up in the kitchen and bathroom. (It was a foreclosure, so some of the cabinet doors are missing, etc.) Honestly, I used almost every dollar of my savings just to buy the home, so I didn't have any money left over for repairs. I thought I'd be able to go get an equity line and finance the work that way, but have been turned down by the bank. They said there's no equity in my home to borrow against. What did I do wrong, and do you have any suggestions?

A: The reality that is dawning on you is one that hits almost every seasoned house hunter at the entry-level price range these days: Close of escrow is actually going to be the beginning, not the end, of your homebuying adventure. more...

Short sales don't come cheap

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Thursday, August 6, 2009.

Q: My wife and I have both had major reductions in our income over the last couple of years, and are in the process of trying to complete a short sale on our home. We have a contract with a buyer, and my mortgage lender has assigned a negotiator to my file. We submitted all the financial paperwork, hardship letter and other documents they requested, and the bank finally responded after several weeks. But their response was that they would allow the short sale to go through only if my wife and I would sign a promissory note agreeing to pay the bank $20,000 over the next 10 years.

We really can't afford these payments on top of our other bills and housing costs, but we wanted to do a short sale so that we could look forward to buying a home again in a couple of years. If we don't agree to the $20,000, the house will be foreclosed on. Should we agree to pay the $20,000? more...

Reassessment fight a losing battle

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Wednesday, August 5, 2009.

In the case Phelps v. Orange County Assessment Appeals Board No. 1, a leased shopping center was held in trust, with Phelps as the income beneficiary of the trust. On Phelps' death, his interest as the income beneficiary of the trust passed to his four children. On this transfer, the Orange County Tax Assessor reassessed the value of the property and increased the property taxes. The trust appealed the property's reassessment to the Assessment Appeals Board, but the appeal was denied.

At trial, the court denied the children's petition to overturn the board's ruling, on grounds that the transfer of the income beneficiary interest did qualify as a "change in ownership" under Revenue and Taxation Code section 60, thus warranting reassessment. more...

Psychology's role in recovery explained

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Tuesday, August 4, 2009.

Image courtesy <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8967.html" target=blank>Princeton University Press</a>.

They say you can't judge a book by its cover, but the Sendak-esque gremlins standing gleefully atop the peaks -- and dangling with fright from the valleys -- of an economic-cycle chart along the cover of "Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism" do begin to make the case plead within.

The premise of authors George Akerlof and Robert Shiller is that Keynesian macroeconomic theory was only partially adopted via New Deal fiscal policies. more...

Secrets to scoring multiple offers

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Monday, August 3, 2009.

Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/brian_gautreau/497142122/" target=blank>bgautrea</a>.

I travel a fair amount, and am always curious as to how standard real estate practices vary in other areas. On a recent trip to New York City, I was surprised by the number of buyers who said that it was the norm for buyers to simply work with whomever the listing agent was, and that even buyers who had their own agents had never been in the car with their agents!

While I know this is trending toward the norm in many areas, I'm a buyer's broker and still do drive my clients around on buyers' tours. Sure, it's a high-touch service point, but more importantly, the time we spend in the car between stops is extremely valuable feedback time. more...

Second-guessing the purchase offer

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Friday, July 31, 2009.

Q: I just made an offer on a bank-owned house. The bank's asking price was $125,000, and I offered $120,000. I keep kicking myself, wondering whether that offer was too high. Was it?

A: I'm going to do some of my law school and philosophy professors proud, and disappoint others severely, by answering your question with a question: What do you mean by "too high"? more...

VA buyers face tough competition

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Thursday, July 30, 2009.

Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/barretthall/2108015107/">popofatticus</a>.

Q: I'm a first-time homebuyer using a Veterans Affairs (VA) loan with 100 percent financing. I'm having problems getting an offer accepted, as I'm competing with cash investors as well as other first-time buyers. Every property we find gets three to four offers on it by the day after it's listed.

A: With prices so low, and the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit deadline looming later this year, buyer competition has increased to the point where many homebuyers (first-time and otherwise) are running into multiple offers, over-asking sale prices and getting outbid on their target homes. more...

Technicality doesn't cancel loan

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Wednesday, July 29, 2009.

In the case of Melfi v. WMC Mortgage Corp., et al., the borrower refinanced his home mortgage with the lender. At closing, the lender provided the borrower with a notice of borrower's right to rescind the transaction within three business days, as required under the Truth in Lending Act (TILA).

The lender utilized the Federal Reserve Board's model form of notice, but left both the blanks for the date of the transaction and the actual rescission deadline blank, although the date of the transaction was stamped on the upper right corner of the form.

Under TILA, an improper notice of right to rescind extends the rescission period from three business days to three years following closing. more...

The real estate crash made simple

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Tuesday, July 28, 2009.

Japanese manga comics seem like a logical inspiration source for sneaker design or body art. On reading "The Skinny on the Housing Crisis: What Every Homeowner and Homebuyer Needs to Know," you'll see that manga also served as impressive inspiration for the 2009 Robert Bruss Book Award-winning title.

The "Skinny on the Housing Crisis" ("Skinny") is the inaugural title in a burgeoning series of comic book-format how-to titles intended "for really busy people." more...

Real estate multiples

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Monday, July 27, 2009.

Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14863785@N03/3049226055/">sburke2478</a>.

Pop culture seems riddled with "multiples." Interestingly enough, they tend to reflect a hybrid of good stuff and bad stuff.

For example, you'd think that multiple personalities are bad. Unless, that is, you're watching Showtime's series, "The United States of Tara," in which case (I must say with admitted bias from the fact that the protagonist is my namesake) they make for tragic yet enthralling entertainment. more...

Few options when $350K underwater

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Friday, July 24, 2009.

Q: Several years ago, my in-laws approached my then-husband and I with a real estate business proposal. (They owned a mortgage company.) We could buy the home of one of their clients, who was struggling financially, and let the owner lease it back from us for a few years until she was back on her feet and would buy it back from us under a lease-option agreement. We would get the tax write-offs and $10,000 from the sale, the owner/tenant would get her bills paid off from the sale, and we'd basically have to do virtually nothing. We agreed to do the deal, but we did it in my name only. more...

Builder delays could kill condo deal

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Thursday, July 23, 2009.

Q: I am having serious problems with the new condo I am trying to buy. We have been in escrow since early March, when we gave the builder a $5,000 deposit, and have had nothing but issues ever since.

First, the lender that the builder said I had to use couldn't close the loan, so the loan was moved to a second lender. Then the builder lost its FHA approval and just got it back last week. Since they have delayed the process so much, interest rates have risen to the point that the builder cannot live up to the deal it sold me on: I was promised a 4.75 percent interest rate with 6 percent closing-cost credit.

At today's interest rates we can't afford the condo. We have met every deadline the builder has given us, and it has not lived up to its end of the bargain. I feel the builder should somehow make it right, but I don't even know what it could do at this point. more...

Court forces buyer to forfeit twofer deal

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Wednesday, July 22, 2009.

In the case Natale, et al. v. Ernst, the buyer (Matthew Ernst) purchased a parcel of land from the seller (James Natale) on one side of the highway. Just before closing, the buyer and seller learned that the sale would necessarily include a small lot on the other side of the highway, which would be difficult to subdivide away from the parcel originally planned to be transferred.

The buyer and seller agreed to the sale of both lots at the original purchase price, on the condition that the buyer would make efforts to subdivide the additional lot and transfer it back to the seller and, if unsuccessful obtaining the subdivision by a certain date, have the small lot appraised and pay the seller the fair market value for it. more...

Become a homeowning smartypants

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Tuesday, July 21, 2009.

Cover image from <a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl/9780307405920.html">RandomHouse.com</a>.

About half the size of a folded Sunday edition of The Wall Street Journal, that esteemed publication's "Complete Home Owner's Guidebook" nonetheless packs quite the punch. Counterintuitively, but wisely, the "Guidebook," from WSJ Sunday editor David Crook, starts out with a set of Seven Keys to Smart Home Owning, the first of which is that your home is not actually an investment, but an expensive installment purchase with the potential -- not guarantee -- for a big rebate.

For the average WSJ reader, this sort of unconventional wisdom -- which is everywhere in this book -- might provoke a true rethink of their approach to real estate, and I mean that in a very good way. more...

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