Jeff's Blog

The Washington Post reports that further work has been done on extending the current new home buyer tax credit. Bills to extend the maximum $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers, which expires Nov. 30, are pending in both the U.S. House and the Senate.Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, a Connecticu...

Good news on the appraisal front.  From the National Association of Realtors (NAR): WASHINGTON (July 23, 2009) - The following is a statement by National Association of Realtors® President Charles McMillan: "NAR and our 1.2 million members are pleased that the Federal Housing Finance Agency has i...

The National Association of Realtor's is reporting 5 months of increased pending home sales.  We are seeing similar activity in the West as well as the Sacramento region. The report: Pending home sales are up for the fifth consecutive month, the first time in six years for such a streak, accordin...

Hello Neighbors,As we continue to recover from these crazy times, the Feds are creating new legislation at an alarming rate. These new rules are rolling out a bit too quickly - and without a thorough analysis of the impact to the consumer. Don't get me wrong - the goals are important, and the ste...

Today, the Wall Street Journal reported that almost a quarter of owner occupied single family homes have a larger mortgage than the home's value.  If you are in need of a loan modification, feel free to contact me.  Neighborly Realty can assist you to find the resources to help. A report from Equ...

USA Today reported today: Economic recovery is still a few months away, say economists surveyed by USA Today, but two-thirds of them think existing-home sales have bottomed out. Both housing and automotive markets "have the potential to generate some quite large percentage increases," says Bill C...

Hi Neighbors, Freddie Mac has produced a video that shows late-paying borrowers how gathering a few financial documents before calling a mortgage servicer can cut the time needed to determine their eligibility and process their application for a loan modification under the Making Home Affordable ...

Some of the homes my first time home buyers and investors have checked out look like they may have had a shady past.  Sometimes it's angry prior owners or renters.  Other times it may have been illegal activity.  For Bank Owned REO homes, the Realtor representing the bank and the bank itself may ...

A followup to an earlier blog entry.  RadarLogic is reporting a 6.9% increase in home prices for the Western Region that includes Sacramento, Denver, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Phoenix, San Jose and Seattle. For year-over-year reports, Sacramento had a 21% decrease in home values from May of 2009 ...

I've written before about the problems faced by home buyers and sellers recently with the new rules for appraisers.  This is a national set of rules, and I've seen both buyers and sellers affected by the new rules.  In one case getting an appraiser out of Southern California to appraise a house h...