Charlotte’s San Francisco Real Estate Blog

Honestly, you should not worry. Net net; Fannie Mae, who is responsible for the underwriting guidelines for about 85% of all loans issues, is lowering the debt to income ratio to a high of 45%. Basically they’re saying you should not be given a loan that is equal to 45% of your income. And that sounds like pretty good advice. 45% is still a very big percentage. As long as you look at property that you can afford, you should not have any trouble getting a loan.

Homebuyer Seminar- Topics

Place: Zephyr Real Estate, 215 West Portal Ave., San Francisco   Cross St: Vicente

Date:  11/14

Time: 10:30AM-12PM

Who Should Attend:  Anyone who hasn’t bought a property in the last two years

Focus: The rules of the banking world have changed.  My Saturday morning seminar will address how the changes will affect or possibly prevent your home purchase and provide solutions to work around the new realities.

Additional Topics- customized to group’s interest

·         When you are locked in to an offer?

·         When is the Seller locked in?

·         Offer Strategies/Offers that get accepted

·         Home Search Strategies for finding and making preemptive offers on  desirable  properties

·         Speed Wins

·         What happens after you make an offer?

·         The San Francisco Real Estate Purchase Contract- what do you need to know?

·         BMR Properties

·         Down Payment Loan Assistance Program

·         FHA loans

·         Conventional Financing

·         Banking Timelines (Boring, but important)

Seating is limited to 8 people; Please R.S.V.P to Charlotte Erwin  415-279-0289

Having grown up in Durham, North Carolina, I accept the absurdity of a headline promoting “homes under $875K” as if they were blue-light specials at the Walmart. Granted they are not, and granted we are talking about a lot of money. Where I grew up, you were living very large in anything over about $450,000. But we don’t live in North Carolina, we live in gorgeous San Francisco, and those are the rules of the game here.

If you have children, and want them to live with you, you probably need at least a three-bedroom living space. I have spent a good deal of time and gas money searching for just such homes. My goal is your goal- find the nicest and largest place in the best hood I can for the least amount of money.

Following are three homes I think you could live in comfortably with your cubs- Pictures AND a financing scenarios with a few different downpayments to follow.

666 26th Ave - Three Bedroom, two bath with additional Attic Space and full In-law downstairs: $875,000K

849 45th Ave: 3 Bedroom, 2 Bath, 1879 Sq Feet

$799,000K

Finally: 719 33rd Ave: $749,000K, a 2 Bedroom, 1 Bathroom home with a room for expansion in basement:

Here’s How Your Payments look with $175,000 down:

$875,000 Purchase, with $175,000 down: (20%)

Closing Costs: Approximately $14,760

Principal, Interest, Taxes and Insurance Monthly Payment: “PITI” $4,968.66

$799,000 Purchase, with $159,800 down (20%)

Closing Costs: Approximatly $13,762

Principal, Interest, Taxes, and Insurance Monthly Payment: “PITI” $4,537.00

$749,000 Purchase, with $150,000 down (20%)

Closing Costs: Approximately $13,101

Principal, Interest, Taxes, and Insurance Monthly Payment: “PITI” $4,252.00

Have Questions? Want to know how much house you can afford? Embarassed to admit, but could you use help with a budget? There are no stupid questions!!! I will analyze your budget, I will tell you how much you can purchase, and most importantly, I CAN find you a great home whatever your budget is.

Charlotte Erwin

DRE # 01845369

415-279-0289

Washington, November 02, 2009

Pending home sales rose again, marking eight consecutive monthly gains – the longest streak since measurement began in 2001, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

The Pending Home Sales Index,* a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in September, rose 6.1 percent to 110.1 from a reading of 103.8 in August, and is 21.2 percent higher than September 2008 when it stood at 90.9. The gain from a year ago is the largest annual increase on record, and the index is at the highest level since December 2006 when it was 112.8.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the momentum is understandable. “What we’re witnessing is a rush of first-time buyers trying to beat the expiration of the tax credit at the end of this month,” he said. “Home values will stabilize sooner rather than over-correcting. That, in turn, will mean wealth stabilization for the vast number of middle-class families and lay the foundation for a durable economic recovery.”

So- perk up, my Laddies and Lassies! 

We’re gonna be fine.

Real-estate prices increased for the fourth consecutive month, but consumers are feeling more glum, a disconnect that shows how rising unemployment continues to weigh on households even as the economy improves.

The S&P/Case-Shiller home price composite 20-city index rose 1.2% in August from July, with help from lower mortgage rates and a push from the $8,000 federal first-time home-buyer tax credit that expires next month.

JUST THOUGHT YOU SHOULD KNOW. However, as an astute follower of all things financial, you know that we are not out of de woods just yet. Business bankruptcies increased October 09 versus September 09 slightly, and people feel gloomy.

Here’s a question: Do you think home sales will drop December 2009 versus December 2010 without the stimulus of the Tax Credit?

I will pick one winner for a bottle of wine if any of youse loyal readers take the time to answer that one.

Maybe the answer is live well while living within your means until this storm blows over…

It was a dark and stormy night. Three pirates sat around a fire. “Joe,” said one, “Tell us a story.” “Allright,” said Joe. “I’ll tell you a story. “It was a dark and stormy night. Three San Franciscan City Officials sat around a fire. Joe, said one, “We’re running out of money for the Down Payment Loan Assistance program.” “Arrrggghhh,” says Joe, “Then Blimey if we’ll not have to cancel anybody who hasn’t been processed yet, slash the maximum loan amount to $60,000, and only lend it to the poor, damned souls trying to buy short sales and REO properties. Arrr,” said he, “Arrr” You heard it. I lived it. My lovely client was awaiting a response to her offer on a condo we expected a “Yes” to, when we found out the City had slashed the loan amounts and completely changed the guidelines, knocking her out of the running after having gone through the workshops etc, gotten approved, and worked really hard to find a place. Could we not have had a bit more of a headsup on this one?

AND NOW, THE TERRIFYING TALE OF THE SELLER WHO CHANGED HIS MIND….BUT DIDN’t TELL YOU, HOPING TO CATCH YOU IN THE “YOU ARENT REMOVING YOUR CONTINGENCIES ON TIME WEB OF HELL”

How’s this- you are in contract on a place you really like. You get the property inspected. There’s a problem and you decide to negotiate with the seller. Guess what? He/She may have changed their mind about selling and if you don’t remove your inpsection contingency, they will kick you out of contract. FAIR? No. Can He Do That?  Yes. YIKES!!!! What are your options?

You will have to drop your contingency, take the hit to fix whatever the problem discovered in the inspection was, or move on and find a new property to buy without a wacko seller.

OK THEN, FoLKS, Although this is Halloween week and the two stories above are true, as we like to say in Improv class, “You’re fine. You’re healthy, you’re happy, and everything’s good.” Now start the scene over. The reality is that MOST sellers are NOT crazy and you can and will have a good life and a great new home should you decide to buy.

We all have status. Whether low, medium, or high status, we all move through the world wielding our status. For many of us, losing status can be more terrifying than death. Marketing, in many ways, is a means of communicating the improved status one can enjoy from associating one’s personal brand with the brand of a community, a home, a car, or other material things. Home ownership is a means of expressing one’s status. The difficulty of buying a home stems from fear of exposing our status, for example if we can only afford a home in an area we don’t think matches up to our status, real or desired. Buying a home that is less than what we want or in an area that is not our number one choice means a reevaluation of what our material possibilities are. The recession has changed some people’s economic lives forever. Like a lot of people, I believed in a continual upward progression of wealth, with any given home being a place I’d camp out at for a few years until my increasing economic power would allow me to buy a better home in a better neighborhood. I was raised on the American Dream, and I don’t think I’ll ever put it away. My goals have changed. I now think that the path to personal freedom lies in escaping debt. I imagine a future now that includes paying off the house I live in and staying in it, saving money and giving myself the gift of lower cost of living.  I believe in home ownership, because renting can only leave you poor, but more and more I believe in letting a home be a place that offers you shelter, security, and the chance to stop the never-ending run to the top of the financial mountain. And, if I plan on living in my neighborhood indefinitely, maybe I’ll try harder to make it a better place to live, rather than a place to invest.

The Fed decided we are not out of the woods yet and left interest rates unchanged in this week’s meeting.

Good thing, I say! Interest Rates are magical and mysterious, but one thing you must know-

Billions of Chinese forced to save by an authoritarian government is what stands between you and very ugly interest rates. They keep buying our Treasuries, which keeps our interest rates artificially low, which means you can afford a lot more home than traditionally you ever could, which means more people can buy it from you when you need to move, which means you can get a higher price for it than if that money was going to pay for interest. Capiche? Hug a Chinese National today.

Here’s a sampling of rates from Guarantee Mortgage;

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words:

Here’s a stumper: what is the percentage of homes listed for sale with NO PICTURES? A staggering number, is the answer. If you are planning on listing your home, you most likely will interview a couple of realtors and then choose the one you think will do the best job in selling your home for the most money. I am blown away by the number of homes for sale that have no pictures. I’m writing about this because clearly some sellers think that not having pictures of their home is not a problem. Well, here’s my policy: NO. NADA. Un-Uh. I would not dream of sending a listing without pictures to a buyer, or of going to check out the property for myself on tour. Why would I? People rightfully expect their agent to be efficient with their time. Likewise, on any given Tuesday I will always have more properties than I have time to see. The Tuesday Broker’s Tour features homes in each district for brief, 1.5 to 2 hour windows. Why would I drive to a listing I assume is hideous because the seller/listing agent doesn’t bother with a photo? I wouldn’t, is the answer.  So a good question to ask is : “Are you planning on having professional photos taken and posting them on the MLS?”

Manners Matter:

Next on my “so easy I want to laugh and cry because of how often it happens and it’s so insanely stupid list”: Listing agents who don’t respond to buyer’s agents’ questions about their listing. I work for Zephyr. I’ve never been the type to shout my company’s praises from the rafters, but Zephyr is not any company. When I call another Zephyr agent, or email them, the response time is somewhere between 5 minutes and an hour. So, like yesterday, when my clients saw a condo that’s been on the market for 166 days, that seems reasonably priced, that they loved, that they’d essentially like to move forward with, and I call the listing agent at another company, and that guy’s out of town, and his back up doesn’t answer or return phone calls and emails, I start thinking, “OK. There’s nothing wrong with this property that a good agent couldn’t fix.” And I am sorely tempted to call the owner and tell them just what a crap job their agents are doing for them.

A good question here is “What is your standard for response times to buyer’s agents?” Also effective is to request a weekly update on realtor interest, calls, emails, and showings.

I take my hat off to my new friend Rocky Papale, who has acheived the rare Edwardian/Craftsman Home remodel on his property at 538-11th Ave. with taste, historic preservation, and a modest nod to modernity. I saw the home today, whilst touring, and was delighted. The original built in leaded-glass cabinetry, pocket doors, crown molding and flooring has been retained, with all the hardware stripped and cleaned. The result is original hardware that looks like nothing I’ve seen anywhere, shines like silver, and adds a gorgeous patina to the home, as the built-ins are numerous. Two sets of french doors were added, something to remember when you look at a home that may be dark. One set leads from the formal dining room to a lovely deck; the other from a sitting room off the kitchen to the backyard. Photos are the only way to share this property, so here it is;

Divine. Call me if you’d like to see this special home. I can be reached at 415-279-0289.