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How To Buy A Bank Owned Home

admin — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:29:38 +0000

Ok, a little humor in today’s market never hurts. We think you will enjoy this A very cute online video

http://sandiegohomeblog.com/2009/10/05/how-to-buy-a-bank-owned-home/

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Madoff Beach House Sells Big

admin — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:50:32 +0000

Madoff beach house sells big
The Ponzi swindler’s Montauk getaway goes to a mystery buyer for more than its $8.75 million list price.

NEW YORK (Fortune) — It looks like Fed chief Ben Bernanke is right in saying the recession is ending: Today, Tiffany’s & Co. advertised a $115,000 diamond and platinum bracelet in its page three New York Times spot — and convicted swindler Bernie Madoff’s Montauk beach house sold for more than its $8.75 million list price.

See Inside This Home

The real estate agent handling the property won’t disclose the buyer — nor the exact price — but says contracts have been signed. “It did go for over the list price,” Joan Hegner, a broker with Corcoran Group, told Fortune. There were between five and 10 offers on the property, and more than 28 showings since it went on the market in late August, she added.

The house, nestled on a beach in Montauk — a town at the farthest reaches of Long Island known for its surfing and fishing — is a relatively modest getaway for a family as wealthy as the Madoffs. Completed in 1982, it featured a Formica kitchen and small bedrooms.

Locals were skeptical that Corcoran — enlisted by a U.S. Marshal-picked management company — could even get the asking price.

But the property, which boasts sweeping ocean views, was built closer to the beach than would be permitted under today’s strict zoning regulations. And it offered the added bonus of the trophy value of nabbing the vacation home of the biggest swindler in history.

Anticipating multiple bids on the property, the U.S. Marshal service planned a kind of silent auction. But according to Hegner, there was no bidding war. The mystery buyer’s bid stood out as “the best and highest.”

By Nina Easton, Washington Editor http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/17/news/economy/madoff_beach_house_sells.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2009091713

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US Housing Market Report. Housing Foreclosure Cloud

admin — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:42:07 +0000

US Housing Market Report

Some clouds in housing report gain. Overall increase in starts is tempered by downturn in single-family component

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — New home building increased overall in August, a government report said Thursday, but the gain was clouded by a dip in new construction of single-family homes.

The Census Bureau reported Thursday that builders broke ground for 598,000 new homes during August, up 1.5% from a revised 589,000 in July. That matched a consensus analyst forecast compiled by Briefing.com.

Building permits rose 2.7% to 579,000 from a revised 564,000 in July.

A troubling aspect of the report was that starts of new single-family homes fell 3% in the month. Overall starts were higher due to a big gain in multi-family housing starts.

According to economist Jeff Rosen of Briefing.com, multi-family home starts tend to vary much more than those of single family homes. He places more importance on the drop in single families than what could be an anomalous rise in multi-family starts.

The housing starts report was the latest in a series of releases that indicate that the market may have bottomed. These include improvement in new home sales, existing home sales and housing prices.

On Wednesday, the National Association of Home Builders reported their index of homebuilder confidence had risen a point to 19, its highest level since May 2008.

Helping to boost demand for new homes has been the first-time homebuyer tax credit, which has enabled many builders to reduce their inventories of unsold homes.

“Many builders have not only reduced excess inventory, but now are actually reporting such low inventory that they need to start more homes to replace those they’ve just sold,” said Brad Hunter, chief economist for Metrostudy, a real estate analytics firm.

Both starts and permits are still well off from their levels of a year ago. The number of starts is down 29.6% from 849,000 last August, and permits dropped 32.4% from 857,000 last year.

Foreclosure cloud: There are some other clouds on the horizon. Foreclosures continue to trouble many markets; another 76,000 homes were repossessed by banks in August. That was actually an improvement over recent months, but the expectation is that the rate of foreclosures will begin rising again.

That’s because a great number of non-conventional mortgage loans, including interest-only mortgages and option ARMS, will reset over the next year or so, yielding substantial increases in the monthly mortgage payments for homeowners. Many people will not be able to afford the increases.

With interest-only loans, homeowners pay just the interest for a fixed number of months, usually 60, before they have to start paying off the mortgage at fully amortizing rates. There was an explosion of these mortgages issued in 2005, so many will reset in 2010.

Option ARMs are loans in which borrowers are permitted to make minimum payments every month, payments that are less than their monthly interest charges. Many borrowers use that option for as long as they can, but once the mortgage balance reaches between 110% and 125% of the original loan balance, the loans reset into a fully amortizing mortgage — and payments rise steeply since the balances themselves have also gone up.

Real estate analysts predict a spike in these resetting loans, which might force another wave of homeowners into foreclosure.

The fear is that all these foreclosed homes will flood the market and drive down prices even more for existing homes, making it harder for new-home builders to compete.

According to real estate analyst Mike Larson of Weiss Research, builders might be more confident except for concern over the end of the first-time homebuyer’s tax credit, which enables buyers who have not owned a home for the past three years to take as much as $8,000 off the federal taxes they pay.

That program lapses on Dec. 1, although Larson figures the odds of extending it at better than even. “Still, builders may be scaling back until they see what happens to that,” he said. To top of page

By Les Christie, CNNMoney.com staff writer. http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/17/real_estate/August_housing_starts/index.htm?postversion=2009091714

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FSBO Funny Real Estate Sign

admin — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:55:00 +0000

The law says you must give full disclosure of any problems with a house when you sell it. Here’s someone who followed that law to the letter.

Click here to Search the complete Phoenix Metro area MLS for FREE. Bette Zerba – GRI, and Trisha Brooks, GRI Re/Max, are ready to help you find that Phoenix metro area new home, sell your home, or look for commercial property. With today’s real estate market, bank owned, REO, Foreclosures, you need a Realtor who is knowledgeable, can negotiate and is ethical. You also need a sense of humor, and Bette Zerba, and Trisha Brooks not only will meet your real estate needs, but also will make you smile. It’s A Great Day In Phoenix Real Estate! Put a smile on your face, Call Bette 602-791-1766 and Trish 602-618-3053 today .

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Real Estate Humor Mish Mash

admin — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 22:37:00 +0000

Real Estate Mish Mash Humor

1. I have a temporary mortgage. What do you mean temporary? Until they foreclose.

2. Realtor: first you folks tell me what you can afford, then we’ll have a good laugh and go on from there.

3. The dream of the older generation was to pay off a mortgage. The dream of today’s young families is to get one.

4. If you think no one cares you’re alive, miss a couple of house payments.

5. My buyers went through debt consolidation. Now they have only one bill they won’t pay.

6. If you want to know exactly where the property line is, just watch the neighbor cut the grass.

7. This country is great. It’s the only place where you can borrow money for a down payment, get a 1st and 2nd mortgage and call yourself a homeowner.

8. Sign next to FSBO-We shoot every third agent and the 2nd one just left.

9. The trouble with owning a home is that no matter where you sit, you’re looking at something you should be doing.

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Happy Hanukah from Not My Monkey

admin — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 21:48:00 +0000

Happy Hanukah from Not My Monkey

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

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Not My Monkey Christmas Greetings

admin — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 21:38:00 +0000

Not My Monkey Holiday Greetings

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

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Are You Addicted To Your iPhone

admin — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:50:00 +0000

Are you addicted to your iphone

I think the iPhone has spoiled my touch-interface experience. I keep coming back to my Laptop and keep trying to flick the touch pad to get the screen to scroll up and down. Instead it’ll just move a couple of lines and I keep thinking something is broken.

It’ll only be a matter of time before I try to turn my laptop on its side thinking it’ll go into vertical mode.

Ok, and just the other night I ran my iPhone battery dead playing, staying up much to late, playing Texas Holdem with people from around the world…real time play! I wish I could win like I did in a real casino with real money!

As a Realtor, my iphone provides me with so many useful gadgets that it blows my mind! From widgets that show homes for sale by location, estimated value of any home, mls apps, calculators for mortages, gps, where to eat when I am out of my area, traffic updates….i can go on and on.

There are over 6200 iphone widgets. If you have an iPhone, go explore them in tyhe Apple Widget area. Or, see them all online at http://eco.netvibes.com/widgets/iphone?category=1&page=204

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Michael Jackson Faces Forced Sale of Neverland

admin — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 20:16:00 +0000

Michael Jackson Faces forced sale of Neverland.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Michael Jackson’s famed Neverland Valley Ranch in California will be foreclosed and sold on March 19 unless the pop star pays a balance of nearly $25 million, property records showed on Tuesday.

FoxNews.com celebrity columnist Roger Friedman reported on the Web site (http://www.foxnews.com) that Jackson has been formally apprised of the foreclosure and that legal documents have also been filed with the Santa Barbara County Recorder’s office.

“You are in default of a deed of trust …,” Jackson was told in the five-page filing, according to a copy of the document published by FoxNews.com. “Unless you take action to protect your property it may be sold at a public sale.”

According to the documents, if Jackson fails to pay the outstanding balance, estimated at $24.5 million, Neverland would be sold to the highest bidder at a public auction on the courthouse steps.

The county recorder’s Web site shows that a Notice of Trustees Sale was filed against Neverland Valley Ranch on Monday but no further details were available and a spokeswoman for the office declined to comment.

Jackson’s publicist, Raymone Bain, did not return calls seeking comment on the foreclosure notice.

The onetime “King of Pop” has owned the 2,800-acre (1,133-ha) ranch in the rolling foothills above the California coast since 1988, naming it after the whimsical island where children never grow up in J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan stories.

Jackson, 49, famously outfitted the property with a private zoo and amusement park and festooned it with statues of Peter Pan characters.

But the reclusive, Grammy-winning singer has spent little time at Neverland since his June, 2005 acquittal on charges that he sexually molested a young boy there after plying him with alcohol.

In 2006 state authorities ordered the property shuttered and fined Jackson for failing to pay his employees or maintain proper insurance, and the zoo animals have since reportedly been removed.

Jackson, who proclaimed himself “King of Pop” in the 1980s and scored one of the top-selling pop albums of all time in “Thriller,” has since seen his fame as an entertainer eclipsed by the sometimes bizarre details of his personal life. (Editing by Eric Walsh)

Click here to Search the complete Phoenix Metro area MLS for FREE. Bette Zerba – GRI, Re/Max, is ready to help you find that Phoenix metro area new home, sell your home, or look for commercial property. With today’s real estate market, bank owned, REO, Foreclosures, you need a Realtor who is knowledgeable, can negotiate and is ethical. You also need a sense of humor, and Bette Zerba not only will meet your real estate needs, but also will make you smile. It’s A Great Day In Phoenix Real Estate! Put a smile on your face, Call Bette today 602-791-1766.

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Tenant Letters to Landlords. Dear Landlord Letters

admin — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 20:03:00 +0000

Dear Landlord Letters

Kitchen repairs
Dear Landlord, because I realise that some landlords can be rather particular about this kind of thing, I am hereby requesting your permission to remove my drawers in the kitchen.

I found a cockroach in my food. My doctor says I’m sick of it. Will you please send someone to fumigate?

Dear Landlord, our kitchen floor is very damp. We have two children already and would like a third, so could you please send someone to do something about it.

I am requesting urgent repairs to my stove. It causes backfires and recently burnt my knob right off.

Bathroom repairs
Dear Landlord, the toilet in the second bathroom is blocked and we cannot bathe the children in there until it is cleared.

My toothbrush got stuck in the basin. Please send someone to get it out, because I cannot wash my hair.

Dear Landlord, my lavatory seat is cracked. Could you please tell me where do I stand on this?

I am having difficulty bathing myself. Please send someone to help with the bath.

Dear Landlord, our toilet seat is broke in half into three pieces.

Our lavatory is blocked. The boys next door keep throwing their balls on the roof.

Dear Landlord, this is to let you know that our toilet seat is broken and we cannot get e-TV.

Plumbing repairs
Dear Landlord, my water has a strange colour and smells funny. It is too gross for me to taste. Please could yousend a man to look at my plumbing?

The sewer is blocked and drain water is forming a dam. I don’t think my dogs can swim in it. Please send someone to save them.

Dear Landlord, would you please send a man to repair my downspout? I am an old-age pensioner and need it straight away.

Dear Landlord, there are spiders that climb up the water spout, and when the rain comes, they come out. Can you please do something?

Dear Landlord, would you please send a repairman to fix the bath tap? It is very uncomfortable for us, because my wife got her toe stuck in it.

Dear Landlord, I woke this morning and found my water boiling.

Exterior repairs
Dear Landlord, will you please fix our cracked sidewalk? Yesterday my wife tripped on it and fell pregnant.

Dear Landlord, remember the broken paving stone I reported? It was too small to repair back then, but I have broken four more pavers since then. Please send someone to repair them, before I cause more damage.

Neighbour complaints
The woman next door entertains men at all hours of the day. They get quite loud sometimes. Please do something before my husband decides to go over there himself.

Dear Landlord, this letter is to inform you that there is a terrible smell coming from the man next door.

The guy next door has a large erection in his back yard. It is dangerous and unsightly. What can I do about it?

Dear Landlord, I want to lay a complaint about the farmer across the road. Every morning at 5:30 his cock wakes me up, and it is getting too much.

Dear Landlord, I want to complain about the neighbour’s dog. It barks all hours of the day and night. It leaves little “gifts” in front of our door. I might still get used to the noise, but I find the poo hard to swallow.

Other complaints
Dear Landlord, when those repairmen were here, they stuck their dirty tools in my wife’s new white drawers and made a mess. Please send some men with clean tools to finish the job and keep my wife happy.

50% of the walls have rising damp, 50% have plaster crumbling off them and the other 50% are just plain filthy.

Dear Landlord, my wife hurt her ankle very badly when she put her foot in the hole in your back passage. Can you please cover it up or something?

Dear Landlord, could you please tell me when our repairs will at last be done? My wife has now become an expectant mother.

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