Jumbo Loans Are Hard To Get?

by cindy ~ July 19th, 2009 ~ Miscellaneous, Uncategorized Comments (85)

Menlo Park and Atherton real estate is pretty pricey, but the rewards can be priceless!  Jumbo real estate loans are the norm here on the peninsula in the beautiful bay area of CA.  So, I thought this article (see link below) was pretty accurate about the difficulties of getting jumbo loans now compared to a couple of years ago, and the trickle down affect.  Getting a jumbo loan is taking longer.  They are available but you really have to know a great Mortgage Broker (which I do!), provide tons of documentation now, better have a great credit score, and leave plenty of time to get prequalified BEFORE you go look at buying a new house. 

Several groups are pressuring the Obama Administration to make some changes to the existing jumbo standards to help rebound jumbo loan heavy markets such as ours.  If it is done responsibly! and smartly, it should help rebound our economy….and that is a good thing.  Jumbo loans should not be hard to get.  There are still far too many areas in the U.S. that require jumbo loans for home ownership.  It is a demographic that has been neglected and can certainly help with a responsible rebound.  Of course, it only makes sense if the applicants are WELL qualified and responsible!  You can tell from some of the nasty comments below the story that responsiblility and total qualification is key.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2009-07-14-sales-jumbo-loans_N.htm

Hope you find this article helpful.  If you need any recommendations on great mortgage brokers to help you, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Giving Back and Doing the Right Thing

by cindy ~ July 14th, 2009 ~ Miscellaneous Comments (105)

Forget about real estate in Menlo Park, Atherton, Palo Alto or any where for the moment.  Giving back is always a rewarding experience and the right thing to do in life.  On Sunday, July 12, 2009 I had the opportunity to participate in the Livestrong Challenge in San Jose, CA.  I jogged and walked the 5K with the darling daughter of brain cancer survivor, Brian Fox from Florida.  Brian Fox is an amazing man who has survived brain cancer for 4 years.  I was fortunate to support Team “Grey Matters”, a great group of people (from Menlo Park and the surrounding area), that included Brian and his daughter and several others who whole heartedly supported and bicycled a challenging 50/65 miles, or ran/walked/jogged in the 5K.  See my Facebook Page for photos at http://facebook.com/pages/menloathertonpeninsularealestatenewsbyCindyLiebsch .  Of course photos never do justice to the experience, but trust me, it is worth your time next year at this annual event.  You will be happy you participated in some way, and made a difference giving back and doing the right thing in life.  The Livestrong foundation is wonderful.

June ’09 Sales for the Peninsula Area

by cindy ~ July 9th, 2009 ~ Atherton, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Portola Valley, Statistics, Woodside Comments (87)

The sales numbers are now in for June.  I think you will find it interesting to compare June 2009 sales to June 2008.  Average real estate sales prices are down in Atherton, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Los Altos and Woodside but, are UP in Los Altos Hills and in Portola Valley compared to June of 2008. New listings, current inventory and Days On Market (DOM) are up – no surprises there, it has been a buyers market and not a seller’s market this year.  Note that the percent of list price that was paid to Sellers was down in every community on “average” about 3% in 2009 versus in 2008.  Total volume in sales was down in 2009 by over $44, 407,800.00 – whoa that is a big number, but it could have been worse.  Menlo Park, Palo Alto and Portola Valley were down significantly in sales volume and significantly contributed to that loss of $44.4M+ in real estate sales volume.  Atherton, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Woodside were up in sales volume in June of 2009 versus in June of 2008.  More homes sold in Atherton, Los Altos and Woodside in June of 2009 than in June of 2008, and that made up the difference, even though there was a loss in average sales prices for each of those communities.  Buyers saw the reduction in average sales prices for those communities as values and pounced on the opportunities to move into/within those communities – very smart!  Keep in mind the chart below shows only those properties that sold on the multiple listing service and NOT those that sold “off market”.  So, all in all, it could have been worse – such as the losses sustained in the Midwest, but we are in a lucky bubble of a real estate area – and we are doing ok. 

Let’s see what happens in August…which is usually a painfully slow real estate sales month.  Stay tuned for more sales data.  Go to my website www.propertiesbythebay.com to see what is currently for sale by community, or to request any other special report that you might be interested in seeing. 

In the meantime, enjoy these wonderful summer days.  We are so fortunate to live in the best area in the U.S.A. 🙂

Atherton Homes for Sale and Pendings

by cindy ~ June 28th, 2009 ~ Atherton, Best Values Comments (104)

This morning Atherton, CA has 50 homes for sale from $1.695M to $16.800M. 13 Atherton homes for sale are now pending, and expected to close escrow by end of August. Of those 13 homes pending; 4 are between the asking price of $798K to $1.450M, 6 are pending between the asking prices of $2.295M and $2.950M, 1 is pending at the asking price $4.8M, 1 is pending at the asking price of $5.995M, and final pending asking price is $7.9M. Big numbers!   The question continues…have we hit bottom yet?  With pending numbers like that, one could surmise that buyers are feeling there are good values and now is the time to buy in one of the most affluent towns in America.  In the past, Atherton has enjoyed soaring property values.  Given the current inventory of homes left for sale in Atherton, I still think there are good values to buy.  I would personally buy 149 Karen Way as well as a couple of others…

http://www.idxre.com/idx/listingsMap.cfm?cid=38098&lstp=hotSheets&hid=21536

Check out the hotsheets on my website on a daily basis to see what is for sale, what is open for Sunday tour (see under Property tab by community), and the latest monthly average sales prices by community at the bottom of my home page – average prices are not as bad as you would think. 

www.propertiesbythebay.com or, www.cindyliebsch.com

I still think it is a great time to buy before interest rates go up and the good values get sold.

Maintenance Post

by cindy ~ June 27th, 2009 ~ Uncategorized ~ Comments (0)

knip8jx6e3