I read in Los Angeles Times, 8/20/2010 about how professional investors now are flocking to the local courthouses in hope of getting a super deal at the public auctions.
"Hoping there are big profits to be made in the aftermath of California's housing collapse, the investors are looking for the business of buying foreclosed homes at distressed prices.
The investors, primarily private equity funds and groups of wealthy individuals, purchase the homes at public auctions, which are held daily on the steps of local courthouses. They refurbish the properties and try to sell them for quick profits.
Not long ago, the typical home flipper was an amateur tapping a home equity line or savings for an investment property. But professionals have rushed in, partly because of sparse investment opportunities elsewhere.
Now there is a swarm of new investors that is making a treacherous and labor-intensive business even tougher.
Investors must do their homework on dozens of homes for every one they buy. Legal and other impediments usually prevent them from going into homes prior to buying them, leaving no way to gauge repair costs. And despite being foreclosed on, the original owners often still live in the houses. That forces buyers to pay them to leave, a dynamic known as cash-for-keys.
The influx of new players is pushing up auction prices and squeezing profits. The average discount at auctions - the difference between a home's sale price and its actual value - is 21.6%, down from 28% in January 2009, according to Foreclosure Radar.
It is busy around the courthouse. A semicircle of people is crowded around the auctioneer. Most were clad in cargo shorts and flip-flops. A few sat in lawn chairs. But their laptops and cellphones, as well as the thousands of dollars' worth of cashier's checks they clutched, marked them as professional investors girding for battle.
Competition at the auctions is brutal. The daily auction ritual begins each morning when banks signal which homes they are likely to dispose of that day. That sets off an early-hours scramble as would-be buyers speed through suburban neighborhoods to investigate the homes.
There are many risks in the foreclosure business. People who have lost their house in foreclosure sometimes vent their anger by smashing walls, knocking over water heaters or ripping out toilets, some have even take the cabinetry out. A terrible crime like murders can also have happened in the house and such a one can be very difficult to sell for the investor."
And remember, mostly the investors have not had a possibility to see the houses inside!
(Partly taken from Los Angeles Times 8/20/2010 by Walter Hamilton/Alejandro Lazo)
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
Funny Videos-You Tube-about realtors
Thursday, August 19, 2010
OLD DOGS - Funny Film - LAUGHTER is the best MEDICINE
Film: OLD DOGS with John Travolta and Williams.
This is so a funny film and I laughed laud many times. To laugh laud feels so good.
Read here what I read about "Laughter" in the book I read right now about Body Language:
"Why Laughter is the Best Medicine"
As with smiling, when laughter is incorporated as a permanent part of who you re, it attracts friends, improves health, and extends life. When we laugh, every organ in the body is affected in a positive way.
Our breathing quickens, which exercises the diaphragm, neck, stomach, face, and shoulders. Laughter increases the amount of oxygen in the blood, which not only helps healing and improves circulation, it also expands the blood vessels close to the skin's surface.
This is why people go red in the face when they laugh. It can also lower the heart rate, dilate the arteries, stimulate the appetite, and burn up calories.
Neurologist Henri Rubenstein found that one minute of solid laughter provides up to forty-five minutes of subsequent relaxation. Professor William Fry at Stanford University reported that one hundred laughts will give your body an aerobic workout equal to that of a ten-minute session on a rowing machine. Medically speaking, THIS IS WHY A DAMN GOOD ALUGHT IS DAMN GOOD FOR YOU."
(Body Language by Pease)
So see the film and LAUGH !
Marianne
This is so a funny film and I laughed laud many times. To laugh laud feels so good.
Read here what I read about "Laughter" in the book I read right now about Body Language:
"Why Laughter is the Best Medicine"
As with smiling, when laughter is incorporated as a permanent part of who you re, it attracts friends, improves health, and extends life. When we laugh, every organ in the body is affected in a positive way.
Our breathing quickens, which exercises the diaphragm, neck, stomach, face, and shoulders. Laughter increases the amount of oxygen in the blood, which not only helps healing and improves circulation, it also expands the blood vessels close to the skin's surface.
This is why people go red in the face when they laugh. It can also lower the heart rate, dilate the arteries, stimulate the appetite, and burn up calories.
Neurologist Henri Rubenstein found that one minute of solid laughter provides up to forty-five minutes of subsequent relaxation. Professor William Fry at Stanford University reported that one hundred laughts will give your body an aerobic workout equal to that of a ten-minute session on a rowing machine. Medically speaking, THIS IS WHY A DAMN GOOD ALUGHT IS DAMN GOOD FOR YOU."
(Body Language by Pease)
So see the film and LAUGH !
Marianne
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Home prices rise in most cities
HOME PRICES RISE IN MOST CITIES
I found an article in the Signal today that says that Home Prices rise in Most Cities.
It says that:
"Home prices rose in nearly two-thirds of US cities this spring as buyers took advantage of tax incentives that gave the struggling housing market a temporary jolt.
The median sales price for previously occupied homes rose compared with last year in 100 out of 155 metropolitan areas tracked in the April-to-June quarter, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. That compares with 91 out of 152 cities in the January-to March quarter. Fourteen cities had double-digit price increases.
But the boost to the housing market in the second quarter faded shortly after tax credits expired at the end of April. Home sales fell in June and are expected to plunge further in July. Prices are expected to follow in the second half of the year.
The LOWEST mortgage rates in decades haven't been enough to energize buyers. Home loan applications were virtually flat last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday."
What do I feel? There are absolutely fewer buyers in the market, but time is really good for these buyers. They get an extremely low interest rate and they have better time to look around and get the house they want.
Marianne
I found an article in the Signal today that says that Home Prices rise in Most Cities.
It says that:
"Home prices rose in nearly two-thirds of US cities this spring as buyers took advantage of tax incentives that gave the struggling housing market a temporary jolt.
The median sales price for previously occupied homes rose compared with last year in 100 out of 155 metropolitan areas tracked in the April-to-June quarter, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. That compares with 91 out of 152 cities in the January-to March quarter. Fourteen cities had double-digit price increases.
But the boost to the housing market in the second quarter faded shortly after tax credits expired at the end of April. Home sales fell in June and are expected to plunge further in July. Prices are expected to follow in the second half of the year.
The LOWEST mortgage rates in decades haven't been enough to energize buyers. Home loan applications were virtually flat last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday."
What do I feel? There are absolutely fewer buyers in the market, but time is really good for these buyers. They get an extremely low interest rate and they have better time to look around and get the house they want.
Marianne
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Shall I use family/friend to sell/buy my house?
SHALL I USE ONE A FAMILY MEMBER OR A FRIEND TO HELP ME SELLING OR BUYING A PROPERTY?
This is not really an easy answer but if you are in such situation consider these arguments and see for yourself what is right for you.
Have a family member or friend helping me:
Positive: Could save you money in commission.
Negative: Could cost you money if he/she is not good enough, risk for serious troubles if anything goes wrong with the deal, no pressure on the agent (=family member/friend) as it normally would be without any close relationsship. Less professionalism.
"NEVER MIX MONEY / BUSINESS WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS". It was what my grandpa (lawyer) tought my mom and she has taught me. There is a big risk that you will lose a friend and/or a family member over some money issues. It is not worth to do it.
Marianne
This is not really an easy answer but if you are in such situation consider these arguments and see for yourself what is right for you.
Have a family member or friend helping me:
Positive: Could save you money in commission.
Negative: Could cost you money if he/she is not good enough, risk for serious troubles if anything goes wrong with the deal, no pressure on the agent (=family member/friend) as it normally would be without any close relationsship. Less professionalism.
"NEVER MIX MONEY / BUSINESS WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS". It was what my grandpa (lawyer) tought my mom and she has taught me. There is a big risk that you will lose a friend and/or a family member over some money issues. It is not worth to do it.
Marianne
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Texting - a NEW LANGUAGE?
Hi,
I have just learnt that young people (I think mostly between teen-agers or am I wrong?) have a kind of other language they use when they are texting. I know that I am far from young and my kids are not living home anymore so I am a kind of outdated in that aspect but WOW this is a kind of interesting.
Do you know what that means if you get it in a text message? WTWPY? I did not.
It means "What time we picking you up?"
You might know what LOL or BRB means, or maybe not either. It means LOL (laugh out loud) and BRB means (be right back).
This is an actual "alphabet lingo" that makes up this texting language.
It works one of two ways. One, they take the first letter of every word they want to say and rund them together ith no punctuation whatsoever.
Or two, they take out every vowel from each word and rund those vowel-less "word" combinations together, with spaces in between. It looks like this: B HM SN, MVS GT OT L8 for "Be home soon, movies got out late."
So here is some other short cuts you might need to learn:
ADDY - address
AML - all my love
NUM - number
AIGHT - alright
B4U - before you
B4N - bye for now
BC - because
BF - boyfriend
BFFTTE - best friends forever 'till the end
BON - believe it or not
BTW - be the way
BZ - buzy
C-P - sleepy
C-T city
C/S change of subject
CRAT - can't remember a thing
DA - the
DAT - that
DDSOS - different day same ol' stuff
DOOD - dude
F@F - face to face
FBOCD - Facebook obsessive compulsive disorder
FCOL - for crying out loud
G2G - got to go
GAS - got a second
GAWD - God
GF - girlfriend
GI - Goggle it
GN - goodnight
GRATZ - congratulations
GRRLS - girls
HAK - hugs and kisses
H/O hold please
HAR - hit and run
IDC - I don't care
IDK - I don't know
JK - just kidding
L8R - later
MSOCD - My Space obsessive compulsive disorder
RITE - right
SU - shut up
TM - them
TTYL - talk to you later
TY - thank you
UR- your
WASSUP - what's up?
W/E - whatever
WUT - what
YW - you're welcome
Isn't it interesting? WOW.
Marianne
I have just learnt that young people (I think mostly between teen-agers or am I wrong?) have a kind of other language they use when they are texting. I know that I am far from young and my kids are not living home anymore so I am a kind of outdated in that aspect but WOW this is a kind of interesting.
Do you know what that means if you get it in a text message? WTWPY? I did not.
It means "What time we picking you up?"
You might know what LOL or BRB means, or maybe not either. It means LOL (laugh out loud) and BRB means (be right back).
This is an actual "alphabet lingo" that makes up this texting language.
It works one of two ways. One, they take the first letter of every word they want to say and rund them together ith no punctuation whatsoever.
Or two, they take out every vowel from each word and rund those vowel-less "word" combinations together, with spaces in between. It looks like this: B HM SN, MVS GT OT L8 for "Be home soon, movies got out late."
So here is some other short cuts you might need to learn:
ADDY - address
AML - all my love
NUM - number
AIGHT - alright
B4U - before you
B4N - bye for now
BC - because
BF - boyfriend
BFFTTE - best friends forever 'till the end
BON - believe it or not
BTW - be the way
BZ - buzy
C-P - sleepy
C-T city
C/S change of subject
CRAT - can't remember a thing
DA - the
DAT - that
DDSOS - different day same ol' stuff
DOOD - dude
F@F - face to face
FBOCD - Facebook obsessive compulsive disorder
FCOL - for crying out loud
G2G - got to go
GAS - got a second
GAWD - God
GF - girlfriend
GI - Goggle it
GN - goodnight
GRATZ - congratulations
GRRLS - girls
HAK - hugs and kisses
H/O hold please
HAR - hit and run
IDC - I don't care
IDK - I don't know
JK - just kidding
L8R - later
MSOCD - My Space obsessive compulsive disorder
RITE - right
SU - shut up
TM - them
TTYL - talk to you later
TY - thank you
UR- your
WASSUP - what's up?
W/E - whatever
WUT - what
YW - you're welcome
Isn't it interesting? WOW.
Marianne
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