The best way to serve our family and friends is to help them connect. It’s got that wireless feeling.  Years ago our local MLS wondered if they should join in southern California. Leadership moved forward and connected the dots to our future.

At the same time I am part of a group, way beyond sharing locally. It is exciting to plug into the Canadian market, the European countries and find the agents through this amazing relationship freeway! Should I really say AIRWAY!

Look for new listings as I forge ahead with this organization.  You must have questions. Call me and ask for I am looking forward to sharing this new information. Global open houses.

How do I give back?  With time, money and attention. No special order- they all apply to the realtor that can take you home. Time to drive you around and show you the

amazing beach areas.   Coming to California?  We are ready for you.

That Poison-is an odorless gas that can set off your new alarm if you have one! Cost is only about 30 dollars in a single family home. Who needs it?
Do you have an attached garage?
Do you have a fossil-fuel (wood) burning fireplace? (or appliance)
There you have it.
If you have a detached garage and no fireplace… then you don’t need one.
For thirty dollars you can give your family a safer home.

<a href=”http://www.LaBeachHomeLink.com” mce_href=”http://www.LaBeachHomeLink.com”><font size=”5″> Search All Homes Now </font></a>

Picking Real Estate Pros Is for the Dogs
When Candy Spelling, the widow of legendary Hollywood producer Aaron Spelling, decided to sell her home, she let her dog pick out the real estate professional for the job.

Spelling asked her security service to bring her beloved Wheaten Terrier Madison in each time she met a candidate and watched how the dog reacted. If Madison did not respond pleasantly, she took the individual off the list.

Sally Forster Jones, an associate with Coldwell Banker Previews International in Beverly Hills, was the winner. She will co-list the 56,500-square-foot mansion, known as ¢â‚¬Å“The Manor¢â‚¬Â in the exclusive Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, for $150 million, making it the most expensive house on the market in the U.S.

Both Spelling and Jones told the Associated Press that they are unsure how many rooms the 56,500 square feet, three-story mansion has.

Source: The Associated Press, Alex Veiga (03/27/2009)

The Associated Press has long written short stories that are worth telling. Years ago it carried a story about my dad, Knocky Parker, because he left the hospital to visit his class at University of South Florida. Imagine your professor showing up in robe pj’s and slippers to say…”it’s ok folks, I’ll be back.” Short and funny stuff, or heartwarming the news is usually interesting around animals. I loved the story carried in The Christian Science Monitor, of the US veteran and the rescue of a mongrel and what it took to get the dog back home with him. Both the story on my dad and the veteran caused problems with -red tape. The hospital was shocked to find they were in the news as well as the US Govt.

Back to dogs and real estate.

The story of the seller and her trusted dog. Yes its news when its Candy Spelling, the mansion and that nobody knows how many rooms it has.

Hard to see the excess of it all in these times as well. However, trusting dogs has long been around. My very first listing came when the dog chose me.
I was sitting in a room being interviewed by the family selling the home their mother lived in. A small brown dog came into the room and sat down, right on the end of my foot. The moment was sweet and fun as one of the family shouted out-She’s the one! That dog is a toe-sitter and that’s our new real estate agent!  The house sold for 601K in a short time and it broke the record of price in a track of homes that never sold for more than 600K. That was enough years ago that the prices have not gone back to below 600K in that part of Torrance, Beverly Hills or Century City where I worked over those years. Things may change but never our love for dogs. I had some advantage perhaps- in this, I was born in the Chinese year for the Dog.

 Realtors are already feeling the recovery. Our coaches and network realtors tell us Riverside is getting mulitlple offers. We love it. We are getting multiple offers in the South Bay on any listing that is well priced. Any? You say?  Yes. Torrance zip code 90503 Listing only 3 days old got 4 offers and over asking. If you are not getting offers..you are priced too high. Its pure and simple. The buyers are out there. Open houses are full of people. Torrance 90505 has people anxious for the spring offerings coming out. The Gvt. backed hold on REO’s has held back the tidal wave expected by many since October, extended another 90 days last month. Buyers started buying. It stabalized the fear and the interest rates helped.  If the REO’s pour out in mass it will shock people buying  about the value of any property. The tepid part will be the result of the REO’s and the GVT and the lenders all trying to strengthen up the faith in the buyers. The fact is that the homebuyers who want to buy now and live in the property for 5 to 10 years will get a good deal.

Investors have also hurt this market by keeping the home they like and using the other properties as an ATM machine. They are walking away from investments, turning in the keys ( as Susie Ormand suggests to them) and because everything is upside down and overwhelming people can’t see the good guys from the ones with a real loss, health, jobs and the like.

Positive note….remember in Los Angeles  people are getting homes at 2004 prices.

Feb. 18, 2009

Dear C.A.R. Member,

Earlier today, President Obama unveiled the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan, which will offer assistance to as many as 9 million homeowners, while attempting to prevent the destructive impact of foreclosures on families and communities.

The plan contains three main components, and only applies to primary residences. The loans referenced in the plan cannot exceed Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae conforming loan limits.  I¢â‚¬â„¢ve outlined the plan in greater detail below.

The first component is directed toward homeowners suffering from falling housing prices who still have equity in their homes, but no longer have the 20 percent equity needed to refinance.  Under the plan, homeowners who have conforming loans owned or guaranteed by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae will be allowed to refinance their homes, even if they do not have 20 percent equity left in the house. The U.S. Treasury Dept. estimates that about 5 million homeowners will be helped by this portion of the program.

The second component, known as the Homeowner Stability Initiative, is designed to assist homeowners who are ¢â‚¬Å“underwater¢â‚¬Â on their mortgages. The $75 billion initiative will bring together lenders, servicers, and the government so that all stakeholders share in the cost of the modification.  Primary mortgages would be reduced to monthly payments that do not exceed a 38 percent debt-to-income ratio, with the costs of doing so borne by the lender. The government and lender then would split the costs of further reducing the monthly payments until they were at a 31 percent debt-to income ratio. An important aspect of the initiative is that homeowners do not have to be delinquent to participate.

The Homeowner Stability Initiative also will create incentives for servicers, mortgage holders, and homeowners. Servicers would receive an up-front fee of $1,000 for every eligible modification meeting the initiative¢â‚¬â„¢s guidelines. Guidelines are scheduled to be released by March 4. Mortgage holders will receive an incentive payment of $1,500, and servicers $500, for modifications made on loans that are current but at risk of imminent default.

The final aspect of the Homeowner Stability Initiative is creating clear and consistent guidelines for loan modifications. The Obama Administration plans to work with federal agencies, banking and credit union regulators, and the private sector in order to develop loan modification guidelines that can be implemented across the entire mortgage market. While adoption of the guidelines will be voluntary for the private sector, all financial institutions receiving Financial Stability Plan assistance going forward will be required to implement the loan modification guidelines.

The government estimates that between 3 and 4 million homeowners will benefit from the Homeowner Stability Initiative component of the plan.

The third component of The Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan is supporting low mortgage rates by strengthening Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  The Treasury Dept. plans to increase their Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements with both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from its current $100 billion in both entities to $200 billion in each. The Treasury Dept. also will continue to purchase Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-back securities in order to help promote stability and liquidity in the marketplace.  Additionally, the Treasury Dept. will increase Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac¢â‚¬â„¢s portfolios by $50 billion, for a total of $900 billion. The Obama Administration will work with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to support state housing finance agencies in serving home buyers, such as CalHFA. Funding for this will not come from TARP money but from the Housing and Economic Recovery Act.

While some of the details still are being developed, such as the modification guidelines, the Obama Administration plans on using programs and funding already allocated for The Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan and will need little legislative approval for programs under the plan.

We¢â‚¬â„¢ll keep you updated on the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan as more details and information become available to us.

Sincerely,

James Liptak
2009 President
CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®
 
 

Wall street and the Banks. Oversimplified but it is a fact. When the loan was sold nobody cared about it after that. It was repackaged and sold and sold and sold and all that paper is worthless now. Everyone I know wonders about the great Christmas movie of all time-”Its A wonderful Life.” (deregulation of the Power plants in California had the same disastrous effects of greed- its cosing more to get it back on track.)

We have to make our way though this and it starts by caring enough to regulate again.

 Another stimulus package? Still wondering what happened to the first one? The same urgency is here to do something and do it quickly. If the forclosed homes being held up in government mandates get unleashed we will see a financial New Orleans. The Levees holding back the rising waters will create more damage than fixing it now will ever cost.

Everyone knows this is a serious threat to a great depression. The news is fractured in another divide. Television news is an appalling “People” magazine or local car chases through the streets. The middle of America is pushing forward in only one way I know-blogging, commenting, speaking up till we can speak out!

RISmedia a real estate information leader in communication wrote today that mid February they want to vote on this package.

This is the communication:

In an e-mail sent by the Democratic National Committee, the president also urged voters to host or attend an ¢â‚¬Å“Economic Recovery House Meeting¢â‚¬Â this coming weekend, where a videotaped message from party chairman and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine would be played to answer questions about the stimulus spending.

¢â‚¬Å“I hope to sign the recovery plan into law in the next few weeks,¢â‚¬Â Obama said in the e-mail. ¢â‚¬Å“But I need your help to spread the word and build support.¢â‚¬Â

Republicans feel they are closer to the spirit of the plan than Democrats. There is a divide- Everyone has an opinion from economists to nonpartisan Budget leaders.

Public works Democrats:

To quicken spending, Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., are expected to push to increase funds available for public works projects.

Real Estate Republicans:

Republicans are taking the lead on housing, proposing a one-to-two-year government guarantee for a 4% interest rate on 30-year loans for creditworthy borrowers. Members haven¢â‚¬â„¢t yet worked out a definition of ¢â‚¬Å“creditworthy,¢â‚¬Â but GOP officials suggest it would include virtually anyone with a current loan or seeking a new one who¢â‚¬â„¢d qualify under normal lending rules.

Important real advice:

The plans ¢â‚¬Å“won¢â‚¬â„¢t reverse the current economic downturn,¢â‚¬Â said economist Mark Zandi, who advised Republican John McCain during last year¢â‚¬â„¢s presidential campaign and recently testified on Capitol Hill. ¢â‚¬Å“It will be severe, regardless. But (the stimulus) will provide a very vital boost to the flagging economy if it¢â‚¬â„¢s passed quickly, in the next few weeks.¢â‚¬Â

Also being widely discussed among Republicans is a plan to give home buyers a tax credit of up to $15,000, or 10% of the cost of a home this year, whichever is lower.

The plain fact is right before our eyes. The last package was quickly moved into the banks and the very worst thing seems to have happened. Wall street and The Banks did not move the money out into the public. They paid themselves, unheard of amounts of money 35 Million