Real Estate Investment 
General Topics affecting / related to the 1-4 unit Residential Real Estate Investment Market
There are currently 27 blog entries related to this category.
Fannie Mae Extends Offer to Cover Closing Costs for Buyers of their HomePath Properties
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011 at 12:14pm. 848 Views, 0 Comments.
As part of their neighborhood stabilization program, Fannie Mae is offering buyers’ assistance through a couple of different programs, HomePath and First Look.
HomePath
HomePath helps buyers buy covering their closing costs, up to 3.5% of the home’s purchase price.
To qualify, buyers must be purchasing a HomePath property; this is a home that is owned by Fannie Mae, usually as the result of a foreclosure or owner forfeiture. Buyers need to make the initial offer on the home on or after June 14, 2011, and the purchase must close by October 31, 2011; initial offers made prior to June 14 are not eligible.
View full details on qualifying for this program.
Search for HomePath properties.
Read an FAQ on the HomePath program.
First Look
In addition to…
Earthquake Insurance: Do I have it? Should I get it?
Wednesday, May 4th, 2011 at 1:18am. 510 Views, 4 Comments.
With the recent natural disasters in Haiti, Chile and Japan I know many Californians have been asking themselves if they are properly prepared for an earthquake of similar magnitude. I think many people realize they are not adequately coverd but either aren't sure what they should do, don't know if they can afford to insure themselves against the risk or don't know if the cost of the insurance makes financial sense. The website below has some great information to help people answer questions regarding whether or not earthquake insurance is right for you.
http://earthquakeauthority.com/
Good First Time Homebuyer Data to keep in mind for Los Angeles Real Estate Investors
Tuesday, February 8th, 2011 at 7:52pm. 555 Views, 0 Comments.
According to an article published 2/8/2011 in National Mortgage Professional Magazine, a recent Coldwell Banker survey of 300 consumers who had just purchased their home found that 87 percent said that finding a "Move-In" ready home was important. In addition to looking for "Move-In" ready homes there were several additional interesting trends among first time home buyers in 2010:
- 67 percent said the market afforded them the opportunity to buy a home sooner than expected
- Half said they found a home in a more desirable neighborhood than expected
- 61 percent were able to get the home at a better price than expected
- 40 percent got more space than expected
- 43 percent locked in a lower interest rate than expected
According to the…
Waiting for Los Angeles Real Estate prices to rise before selling?
Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011 at 6:05pm. 353 Views, 0 Comments.
Standard and Poors Rating Services are predicting it will take 49 months to clear out all the bank owned "Shadow Inventory" held by U.S. financial institutions at the end of the 4th Quarter of 2010. This is only 1 of the important factors that has to take place for home values to begin to rise, we also need unemployment levels to decrease and general consumer confidence to improve. If you are thinking of waiting to sell for prices to "come back" to what you think your property is worth based on 2005-2007 market peaks I advise preparing yourself for a significant waiting period.
FHA extends anti-flipping rule for additional year
Wednesday, January 19th, 2011 at 4:30pm. 323 Views, 0 Comments.
Federal Housing Administration has extended the time they will allow sellers who have owned for less than 90 days to re-sale a property. I'm assuming the same restrictions as before will exist (i.e. 20% max appreciation, full home inspection by lender, 2 appraisals etc., etc.) If you are interested in finding out more info on this topic please call me at 310 874-1278
http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-harney-20110116,0,6473194.story
This is good news for Real Estate Investors, First-Time Homebuyers and the Real Estate market in general. Which basically means this is good news for the overall economy.
IET Real Estate Los Angeles - Quote of the Day January 18th, 2011
Wednesday, January 19th, 2011 at 12:12am. 333 Views, 0 Comments.
"The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary man takes everything either as a blessing or a curse" Don Juan, Tales of Power
I think to achieve your mission in any walk of life you have to look at your obstacles as a challenge and refuse to accept undesireable outcomes as inevitable fate. Its amazing how much control over your future you can create but it takes foresight, initiative and effort to create your own path.
Buying Signal for Los Angeles Real Estate?
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010 at 6:45pm. 392 Views, 0 Comments.
I've read alot of books on investing on many different topics from oil, to stocks, to Real Estate.
- Reminiscences of a Stock Operator - Edwin Lefevre
- How to Make Money in Stocks - William J. O' Neil (founder of Investors Business Daily newspaper)
- biographies and autobiographies on men like: Warren Buffet, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Bill Gates
- Liars Poker - Michael Lewis
- The Prize - Daniel Yergin
- Rich Dad/Poor Dad - Robert Kiyasaki
- and many more...
I've studied different industries and different investors who have made money in all sorts of economic times. 1 thing I noticed is that many of the people who have been most successful started doing something at a time when nobody else wanted to (for one reason or another, it was difficult,…
California Cities with Rent Control Ordinances
Thursday, November 11th, 2010 at 1:39am. 2993 Views, 2 Comments.
Some form of rent regulation now exists in fifteen California cities:
- Berkeley
- Oakland
- Beverly Hills
- Palm Springs
- Campbell (mediation only)*
- San Francisco
- East Palo Alto
- San Jose*
- Fremont (mediation only)*
- Santa Monica
- Hayward
- Thousand Oaks
- Los Angeles
- West Hollywood
- Los Gatos*
*These rent control cities do not have just cause eviction provisions.
Los Angeles Real Estate Summer of 2010: "You gotta pay to play"
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010 at 12:27am. 577 Views, 1 Comments.
Facts of Todays Los Angeles Real Estate Market
Prices are stabilizing, Bank owned inventory is going down, Short Sales are increasing which means long wait times, the fiasco in Europe is causing interest rates to drop to ridiculous levels, this will be the last hurrah for low interest rates, I think they will go up to the mid to high 5's and everyone will complain because they are too high which will slow down sales volumes and potentially have a downward effect on prices. The buyers that think they are going to wait to buy because prices are about to collapse won't get what they want, prices will yo-yo but obviously nothing like the drop we saw from 2005-2009. If you can't afford a house for sale in the Los Angeles Real Estate market you want to be in…
Get your Los Angeles County Property Taxes Re-assesed Starting Today 6/1/2010!!
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010 at 1:51pm. 1512 Views, 0 Comments.
Whats the one good thing about dropping home values?
Getting your property taxes re-assessed.
Today, June 1st 2010 is the begginning of the period that the LA County Tax Assessor will begin to review appeal applications for decline in value. The Assessors office has automatically begun to proactively review values from January 1 to June 1, to see if you Los Angeles County property assesment has been reduced click here . If you disagree with the value, the last day to file for a formal assesment appeal is November 30th, 2010.
This process can be done online now and there is no charge to have your property reviewed for re-assessment.
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