Real Estate and Bank Owned Properties In Silicon Valley

As I once heard brilliant financial guru Steve Forbes say (paraphrase) “. . . we had a chance to fix the mortgage crisis back in ’07;  if we had just let it crash, it would have been painful, but we would have recovered in 6 months.”  A free economy tends to correct itself, but it’s just not the ...

Remember the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit?   It was perhaps the only effective or successful federal economic program in the past five+ years.  Well, Even those rare government programs that actually work are fraught with fraud.  Go figure. As early as last October, there were reports of fraud...

There’s been a lot of discussion on the subject of Strategic Default over the last year or so, with no shortage of passionate viewpoints.  It’s a favorite topic in all forms of media.  The last time we posted an article on this subject (Feb ’10) it created a virtual firestorm of response. Ethical...

We were recently asked this question while being interviewed by the local ABC TV news station.  What prompted the interview was an article and statistical survey published by RealtyTrac: “Forelcosure Sales Account for 31 Percent Of All Residential Sales In First Quarter.” According to RealtyTrac,...

This is the first step in shopping for a home, and maybe the most important.  If you have the right loan, it will save you untold frustration after you have your offer accepted.  If you wait until after you’re in contract, there’s too much pressure and not enough time to make a thoughtful choice....

On June 8, 2010 voters in Santa Clara will have a once–in-a-generation opportunity.  The City of Santa Clara and the San Francisco 49ers have collaborated on a flawless development plan.  The city council and staff have been exhaustively diligent, and the plan is brilliant in every facet.    Most...

Regretfully, all is not what it seems on Craigslist.  On a recent REO listing we received numerous calls inquiring whether the property was for rent or for sale.   Shortly after we posted the home on the multiple listing service someone posted a Craigslist ad offering the property for rent at a r...

Owners that can actually make their loan payments, but choose to walk away, accounted for 1 in 4, or 25% of all foreclosures as of June 2009.   That was over six months ago, and the numbers have probably gone up since the initial studies (these data can be easily verified via a quick Google searc...

No doubt there is a shadow inventory.  In fact, our sources indicate a substantial, almost incredible number of foreclosed homes in the national bottleneck.  Our original post on this topic was “Shadow Inventory, yes.  Banks holding back, not likely”.  As indicated, this was posted in rebuttal to...

Unbelievable.  The old adage is true: “if you come to the ballpark every day, you’ll see something you’ve never seen before.”  Agent behavior never ceases to disappoint me, like vandalizing listings.  Have you heard the one about agents that steal keys from lockboxes to discourage competing offe...