Natural hazard disclosures and the seller’s agent
Gone are the days of minimal or delayed property disclosures.
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Tag: flood
Rising seas to swallow thousands of California homes by 2050
The coming decades will see coastal areas across the state impacted by flooding and erosion.
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Sea level rise to increase California inland flooding
As California’s sea level rises, flooding will creep further inland.
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The wrap-around blanket of homeowners insurance
This article presents information on the function and coverage of homeowners insurance policies.
Read MoreThe Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement (NHD): included in marketing packages to create transparency and attract buyers
This article comments on the early use of the Natural Hazards Disclosure (NHD) statement by the listing agent when marketing property to properly inform a prospective buyer and the selling agent before the price is set and an offer is submitted to the seller. Also discussed is the liability protection afforded to the listing agent and seller by upfront delivery of the NHD.
Read MoreThe governor’s $10,000 housing tax credit
On January 13, 2010, Governor Schwarzenegger outlined his proposal for a $10,000 California state housing tax credit as part of his California Jobs Initiative. The credit would provide $200 million worth of tax credits for the...
Read MoreIf M.C. Escher were a lender: defaults would rise while foreclosures fall
An unsettling paradox has emerged: mortgage delinquencies are on the rise, but lenders are increasingly sluggish to send out notices of defaults (NODs) to troubled homeowners. As the mortgage meltdown spreads to higher tier...
Read MoreThe effect of home equity borrowing on the real estate market bust
This article examines the impact of home equity borrowing on the current real estate market bust, and the indicators of an unhealthy amount of home equity borrowing as a warning system for future housing recessions. As everyone...
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Fear mongers’ inflation prediction unjustifiable
This article comments on the unfounded conspiracy theory held by inflation pessimists that the...
Read MoreInterest-only loans a source of present and future woe
During the recent millennium boom, interest-only loans gained enormous popularity across the United States, especially in California, Florida, and Nevada. Many buyers who took out these purchase-assist loans have grown...
Read MoreIncreasing trouble for owners of income property
While foreclosures on loans made to homeowners are well underway (about 40% completed for this recession in California thus far), income property owners have only started to experience the negative cash-flow pain of the current...
Read MoreIncreased home construction supported by government subsidies
California construction, while on the rise from February to June 2009, fell in July. The pace of single family residence (SFR) construction during July 2009 was at an annual rate of 22,000 starts; 37% below one year ago. U.S....
Read MoreOnce again, speculators are a plague on the market
First-time homebuyers looking to become homeowners during this “buyer’s market” are running headlong into a flood of speculators looking to make a quick buck from flipping cheap property. First-timers, who are mostly relying on...
Read MoreSpeculators thwart first-time buyers
First-time California homebuyers, which brokers and builders hope will revive the real estate industry by absorbing the glut of REO properties on the market, have encountered surprising difficulty purchasing low-end property...
Read MoreApril home sales numbers going nowhere
Statewide, 37,967 homes were sold in April, up 4.8% from March and up 21.9% from one year ago. The statewide median price paid for a home was $221,000, down 0.9% from March. The month-to-month decline in price has been less than...
Read MoreLender, escrow and referral fees
This chapter analyzes redundant charges imposed on buyers and sellers for the basic services necessarily rendered by lenders, escrow companies and title insurance companies to earn the primary fee they charge. The hidden costs...
Read MoreCapitalize on the positive indicators while they’re here
Many current market indicators, such as slowing price depreciation, shrinking inventory, and increased buyer competition, open up an oasis of sunny optimism in an economic world saturated with dire news. However, multiple...
Read MoreSpeculators take advantage of low home prices, with uncertain results
In increasing numbers, buyers are acquiring real estate owned (REO) homes as speculators with the sole intention of flipping them for profit. If enough of these investors pile into the market, another jump in supply will occur...
Read MoreThe foreclosure floodgates have been lifted
The number of NODs recorded in late 2008 fell as the government-mandated foreclosure moratoriums took hold. Riverside County is the record-setting county in California for NOD recordings and trustee’s sales, and this April,...
Read More“Shadow inventory” could further depress home prices
Banks are holding between 30-60% of their REOs off the market, inventory known in the industry as shadow inventory. In the Bay Area, for example, banks repossessed 51,602 residential properties between January 2007 and February...
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