USDA Rural Development Loans are going away! If you are using the USDA Rural Development loan program as part of your business building tool, you need to know this program is going away. According to the USDA Rural Development, the funds for this program are projected to be gone by the end of April. In order to meet the USDARD's cutoff of funds, many lenders will stop taking loan applications by the end of March. If you have a USDA loan in progress, I would highly recommend you check with the lender today about their timelines for shutting this program down. 03/12/2010

California and Arizona Home loans will be up to 95% LTV Soon! Good news for California and Arizona home buyers! Starting February 22, 2010, mortgage insurance companies are easing up on their guidelines on conforming home loans! Homebuyers can put 5% down on conforming home loans again! It's about time! This is a good sign for the real estate market in California and Arizona. You can now buy a home without having the more restrictive FHA guidelines that usually scare home sellers from accepting an FHA loan offer. There are a few restrictions to consider, here's the list: All buyers must have a 720 Fico score or higher Owner Occupied Only Single Family or Condos only Debt to Income ratios can not exceed 41% for all LTVs over 80% This is a nice turn of events for both home buyers and home... 02/11/2010

Vintage Home Sells in Ridgeway Historic District, Sonoma, California Last year I was involved in helping a retired couple moving from Michigan to the wine region in Sonoma, California to be closer to their daughter (a single -mom) and three grandsons. The original plan was to find a home close to their daughter, who was renting a vintage home in the Historic Junior College District in Santa Rosa, California. Their love of vintage properties inspired them to make an offer on a property within walking distance of her and the boys. However, short sales with long closing dates were not working since their desire to relocate 8 to 10 months later or bidding the property up thousands of dollars was not in the game plan.  This has happened many times in my real estate career and when we discuss... 02/08/2010

As many of you already know I recently completed my courses for my state exam.  However, after my Real Estate Practice class I am torn between two worlds.  Some Real Estate Professionals consider the "old school"  methods of a sign a lockbox and a contract is the only way to go.  However...  After attending RAINCAMP  and becoming a marketing major I have been truely awakened to the endless capabilities of technology and there is no telling what is still to come....  I personally can not see how a simple For Sale sign can even hold a candle to some of the virtual tours and complete listing advertising.  It is absolutely amazing how far technology has come.  Anyway... what I am trying to achieve with this post is some diverse feedback on both the pros and cons of the "old school" method a... 01/28/2010

These massive scissors can be found in downtown Santa Rosa at Courthouse Square. 01/17/2010

Internet Lead Conversion: It's Just Like Dancing! No, I'm not going to be doing a dance for you today! Although, if you give me a good song, I'll make up a great dance move just for you! I view my internet leads like dancers who just stepped on my dance floor. Some of them are experienced and some of them are so new, they don't even know where to face. I'm the lead dancer and my client is the follower. (Not sure if those are the proper terms! Any dancers in the audience? Can you help me out with the terminology? Thanks!) Start the Music! Before I start this dance, let me start by saying I get my internet leads almost the same way a real estate agent does, but my leads have a slightly different agenda. Most of my leads are shopping for a rates, not homes. That's usually the first thing t... 01/15/2010

Last night my wife and I practically ran into this little guy as he finished his making his web in front of our house.  He's a beautiful specimen that's about 5 inches long and quite healthy. One step to the right and my head would have been covered by our friend's web. Since I've been practicing my photography and editing skills, I thought I would try the macro setting on my canon to see what kind of effect I could get. I was pleasantly surprised by the details I captured in this shot. I'm sure the pest guys have their sprays loaded and ready to shoot our friend to oblivion! LOL! Enjoy! So... would you call this a garden spider? 01/15/2010

FHA Home Loans - Santa Rosa, CA - New Short Sale Rules 2010 I don't know if this has been mentioned, but it's well worth noting. FHA has loosened up the guidelines for home owners who had to go through a short sale of their owner occupied home. This new change will allow home owners who went through a short sale to re-enter the real estate market as home buyers again. If you think about the number of previous home owners who were locked out of the real estate market, you'll understand the significance of this change in the FHA short sale rules for 2010. Millions of home owners will be able to buy a home again with a home loan! That means more transactions for the real estate industry! I can see the wave of buyers building in the horizon already. It's just a matter of time for this news ... 01/14/2010

Median home prices in the Wine Country hit $389,000.   For those who do not know the difference between average, and median, that means half the homes sold were under $389,000, and the other half over.  The price increase is a great sign especially for a month when sales tend to be very low.  There's a real lack on inventory out there.  If you want a home, your going to be fighting a lot of first time home buyers, and a lot of investors for very few homes.  I experienced this in November when I helped a client buy a home in Windsor.  In the 300,000 - 400,000 range, there were on 12 homes for sales, and of those, only about 4 were really move in ready.  Low prices, low interest rates, and home buying incentives coupled with low inventory has created a buying frenzy. Here are this weeks a... 01/14/2010

This week I found out someone in my world committed suicide over the holiday. I wasn't close to this person, but I was truly saddened by their actions. This person left behind loved ones who will have to deal with many unanswered questions and years of mixed feelings from sadness to anger. I've been fortunate not to lose someone close to me to this action, but I know how it feels to lose someone you love. At the risk of being too transparent, I will share with the world that I've been suicidal in my past when I was much younger. Thank god for my supportive family and friends who helped me crawl out the pit of darkness. Ever since, I heard this news, I've been bothered by it. Probably because I've gone through the process and know you can come out of it with help. So, here's my attempt a... 01/14/2010

Well, I'm starting the year with a bang! As most of you know, the new GFE rules have taken effect. Well, it turns out they can be costly as we trip over all the new proceedures involved with these rules. My first bump in the road is going to cost me some money. Here's the situation: The purchase contract shows the selling lender paying the transfer taxes but the short sale addendum that's 20 pages long states the selling lender will not pay the transfer taxes in two sentences and 8 point type. We received the purchase contract from the realtor with the addendum to follow. Client converted preapproval to real deal, locked rates which started the GFE clock for disclosures. We disclosed everything under the sun to borrower within 48 hours of application per new rules. Realtor gives us shor... 01/14/2010

01/13/2010

I was doing some research this morning about real estate and came across this site I thought you might like to know about. It's a consumer oriented website created by the National Association or Realtors. I don't have time to explore the site today,but will check it out soon. If anyone has tried the site out, feel free to leave some feedback. Thanks! http://www.houselogic.com/ 01/12/2010

This morning, I couldn't find words to post anything on my blog, so I decided to read instead. Well, as usual, I will go from one article to another to the next and back to something else that interests me. Today was not exception, I started on AR, went to CNN, over to facebook, turned right on blogger and jumped over to twitter absorbing articles and opinions until I ran into this video on youtube. It's about having more fun in life which is exactly my motto for 2010 and beyond. So, I thought I would share it in hopes the video will inspire others like it inspired me today. Enjoy! If you can't see the video, the link is here.   01/12/2010

This is a beautiful mural painted in a breezeway between two building in downtown Santa Rosa.  The breezeway was too narrow to take a full frontal photo.  So this was the best I could do.  01/10/2010

  My wife and I were walking through a neighborhood, when I spotted this from 4 blocks away! This Agave Plant was about four 6 feet tall and one of three on the property. It was a beautiful sight that I wanted to share. Dave Roberts, an Activerainer in Healdsburg, would know more about this plant. I'm going to drop him a line to see if he can help out. 01/10/2010

Was walking around Santa Rosa yesterday and came across these to signs:       I guess it beats more No Parking signs! 01/10/2010

I was walking around Santa Rosa today and saw this... 01/09/2010

LoCoco's Cucina Rustica - Santa Rosa Ca - Italian Restaurants - Sonoma County Wine Country Lifestyle My wife and I don't go out to dinner often so we tend to be very picky with the places we like to go to eat. If we find a new restaurant that's not very good the first time we go there, we usually don't come back. Through the years, we've narrowed down the list of our favorite restaurants to a handfull of places that we love going back to depending on the type of food we're both in the mood for. One of our top notch most favorite restaurants in the Sonoma County Wine Country is LoCoco's Cucina Rustica. Most people just call it LoCoco's. We call it delicious Italian! My wife grew up in Florence Italy, so she's always looking for a great Italian Restaurant whenever we visit a new town. Wel... 01/08/2010

That's right, I did feel like Tinker Bell! That's because my stomach was fluttering and I was looking at the Walt Disney Concert Hall from the 18th floor of the Omni Hotel across the street. Ok, let me start from the beginning so I can share my wonderful experience with you more clearly. I've been pegged as a Relator! I just finished a personallity profile in my sales training class that had me pegged. It turns out I'm a relator. As a relator, my positive attributes are described as dependable, supportive and respectful. My Negative attributes are Awkward, unsure, and conforming. I can tell you, the awkwardness is like the Hulk trapped in my body. All it takes is an uncomfortable situation to turn me into Mr. Awkward Extradinaire! In order to supress this beast, I've spent the last 30 y... 01/07/2010