David Ethridge's (davidethridge) Blog

We are hosting a couple of Home Buyer Seminars this summer for people who want to learn how to find and finance a home in the current market. This is great for first-time home buyers, but also for investors or for anyone looking to purchase a foreclosure or short sale. The meetings will be held o...

In yesterday's blog Update on First Time Home Buyer Down Payment Assistance programs I went over some of the programs available to help first time buyers with their down payments. Most of the programs work by offering a "silent second mortgage." One of my regular blog readers was unfamiliar with ...

I wanted to give you guys an update on some of the local First Time Buyer Down Payment Assistance Programs. Long Beach: all the funds for 2008/2009 have been disbursed already. Applications for the program are suspended until 10/1/2009. If you want to take advantage of this program, contact me NO...

I have so many topics to blog about since I've been away for a while, but I thought I would start by telling you all a story that happened yesterday: Our office is representing the buyer in a purchase transaction in the City of Compton. We just did the home inspection on Friday and the escrow is ...

I haven't posted to my blog in quite a while. This has been a rough year for me so far. My father passed away on March 24 after dealing with lung and pancreatic cancer, so my focus has been on my family. He was buried at the beautiful Veterans Cemetery in Milledgeville, GA, having served in the A...

You may or may not be surprised to hear that I'm having problems getting a loan for one of my buyers. Now, that's nothing unusual in this market, but this particular buyer has 10% down payment (on a $225,000 condo) and a FICO of 712. As of Jan. 1 most MI (Mortgage Insurance) companies stopped ins...

I thought I would give an update to a post I wrote a few weeks back called Short Sales : An Endless Source of Frustration. I am happy to say that since that posting my client and I put in an offer on another short sale unit, right next door to the one I referenced in that blog entry. It's been ac...

I had mentioned in my last blog My First Trip To Probate Court that the situation was a lesson about the importance of living trusts. Some of you may wonder exactly what I meant by that, so please let me explain. As most of you probably know, when a person dies in California, even with a valid wi...

Being a newer agent, licensed in 2006, I've only ever done one probate sale in the past, and the court confirmation for that one had already been done. Well today I made my first appearance in Probate Court. My client is purchased an adorable studio condo in downtown Long Beach, with original har...

There has been a trend in recent years here in California (and many other Western states) towards drought-tolerant landscaping or xeriscaping as it's called. Benefits include money saved on water, as well as environmental benefits. Did you know, for instance, that grass lawns require more chemica...